Almost every machine ships with a bag or box of feet, and almost everyone uses two of them. The rest sit in a drawer for years because nothing explains what they are for.
Two in that box are worth finding today: the overcast foot and the blind hem foot. Both solve problems people usually work around, and you most likely already own them.
What you'll learn
- What the overcast foot does, and how its wire guides hold fabric flat
- Sewing clean overlock-style stitches on knit and stretch edges without curling or bunching
- What the blind hem foot does for invisible garment hems
- How the blind hem foot doubles as a fast, invisible way to attach quilt binding
The overcast foot: finishing edges without a serger
Knit and stretch fabrics curl at a raw edge, and a plain zigzag makes it worse — the stitch pulls the edge in and you get a tunnel of puckered fabric instead of a flat finish.
The overcast foot has a small wire or pin that sits right at the fabric edge. The stitch forms over that wire rather than pulling the fabric inward, so when the foot moves on, the edge lies flat. It is not a serger, but for finishing seams on a garment it gets remarkably close with equipment you already have.
The blind hem foot: not just for hems
A blind hem is the hem you cannot see from the right side, used on trousers, skirts and curtains. The foot has an adjustable guide that rides against a fold, so the needle catches only a thread or two of the outer fabric on each swing. Done properly, the stitching is invisible from the front.
The part most people never hear: quilters use the same foot to attach binding. The guide gives you a consistent, close line of stitching along the binding edge, which is faster than hand-finishing and far more even than trying to hold a straight line by eye.
Finding yours
Feet are rarely labelled in plain English. The overcast foot usually has a visible wire or prong extending beneath it toward the back. The blind hem foot has a vertical metal flange down the centre or side, often with an adjustment screw. Your machine manual's accessory page names them, and it is worth five minutes to identify what you have.
If a foot is missing, feet are matched to shank type and mounting — check with our high shank vs low shank guide, or send your model through the parts request form and we will confirm what fits.
Where to go next
Our presser feet guide covers the whole accessory box, and quilting presser feet explained covers the three worth using on quilts. For difficult fabrics, see the roller foot tutorial.
Stitch choice matters here too — sewing machine stitches explained covers which stitch each foot pairs with.
Shop machine parts and accessories, notions and machine needles — knits want a ballpoint needle, which matters as much as the foot.