SINGER 626E6 Touch & Sew - Manual (Page 38)

6. FREE-MOTIOIM STITCHING
Throat Plate ifi DARN Position
Stitch Length Selector in FINE Area
In free-motion stitching, you sew without a presser
foot and instead control fabric movement (and hence
stitch length) yourself, by means of an embroidery
hoop. Either a straight or a zig-zag stitch setting can
be used. Because you can move the hoop in any di­
rection — forward or backward, from side to side,
and even diagonally — free-motion stitching is ex­
tremely useful for intricate embroidery designs. On
the other hand, it is equally useful for that most
humdrum but necessary task, darning.
If you are embroideriiig, you can vary the length
of stitches simply by moving the hoop faster or
slower. The faster you move it, the more open the
stitches will be. A slow hoop movement will produce
closely packed stitches. You can also vary the width
of zig-zag stitches, from a hairline to the full width
of whatever stitch width setting you have chosen,
simply by moving the hoop. If you move it sideways
and stitch in a horizontal line, you will get a hairline,
if you move it forward or backward and stitch in a
vertical line, you will get a full stitch width. Thus
you can produce a ribbon-like effect in script lettering
or create delicate flower designs. This takes practice,
but you can achieve some lovely effects that look
much like hand embroidery. See pages 47 and 48
for specific directions.
For darning, the embroidery hoop used in free-
motion stitching enables you to hold the fabric taut
— a real advantage when your fabric is lightweight
or soft and thus is likely to pucker. See page 51 for
directions.
1. Have available an embroidery hoop large enough
to encompass the entire design or area to be
darned,
2. Remove presser foot.
3. Raise throat plate to DARN position.
4. Raise Stitch Length Selector to FINE area.
36