Creativity with Sideways Motion Foot #40C

BERNINA Sideways Motion Foot #40C allows you to sew stitches as wide as you want and in any direction…all without rotating the fabric! BERNINA 790 PRO, B 790 PLUS and B 880 PLUS come with Foot #40C in the box ready to sew Sideways Motion stitches. Have you stitched out the built-in Sideways Motion stitches? Have you created your own Sideways Motion stitch in Stitch Designer? Have you combined 9 mm stitches with Sideways Motion stitches in Combi-mode? Have you played with the Multi-directional Sewing feature? If not, read on! You’ll be amazed at what you can do with Foot #40C and Sideways Motion stitches!

Foot Design

Foot #40C comes in only one version. Since this foot is meant to be used with 9 mm machines, foot version C is the only version necessary.

The underside of Foot #40C is beveled along the edges of the needle opening. This allows the stitches to form in all directions creating perfectly stitched patterns.

Built-in Sideways Motion Stitches

Here are the Decorative Stitch folders in BERNINA 790 PLUS. Folders that have Sideways Motion stitches are indicated by a compass symbol in the lower right corner. Folder 201 is Floral; 501 is Satin; 801 is Heirloom; 1001 is Children; 1201 is Filigree; and 1601 is Quilting.

The same question comes up in every lesson on Sideways Motion stitches: How do I know if I’m sewing the stitches straight and not veering off to one side? The best way to keep everything aligned is to first make parallel lines with a temporary marker on your fabric. I draw lines 1/2” apart.

As the fabric moves, you want to guide it so the foot stays parallel to the drawn lines. Fingertip guidance is the term used for this technique. You are not keeping the side of the foot parallel to one line, but keeping the side parallel to the closest lines. Why? Because the fabric is moving in all directions. This will make more sense when you try it!

A couple more tips for Sideways Motion stitching: (1) Use stabilizer; (2) use the Start/Stop button; and (3) use Pattern End to check positioning. Here are some of my favorite Sideways Motion Stitches.

Large Monograms

 In the Alphabets Tab, there is a folder called Monogram.

The fonts in this folder can be stitched out in 3 different sizes – 15, 20 and 30 mm. Sideways Motion Foot #40C is needed since all three sizes are greater than 9 mm. Depending on your selected letter, the first and last stitch may be in different places. The first stitch is notated by the white dot and the last stitch by the red crosshair. Notice where the first and last needle points are in the letter B.

I use the letter B often because my last name starts with B. I have samples stitched out of this letter that I keep nearby. When I want to do a quick monogram, I can place the sample letter on my project and get an idea of where to begin.

Here is a tea towel with the monogram at 30 mm in a beautiful Mettler Poly Sheen gold thread.

Creating Sideways Motion Stitches in Stitch Designer

In Stitch Designer you can take any decorative stitch and make it your own. What about making a decorative stitch wider than 9 mm so it’s a Sideways Motion Stitch? Let’s try it with Stitch #101.

In Stitch Designer, deactivate the 9 mm stitch width lock. Here, I moved 2 needle points to change the straight line to a zig-zag, as shown in the Stitch Preview. This makes the stitch pattern greater than 9 mm turns it into a Sideways Motion Stitch.

You can also make the flower and petals bigger. You get the idea–more creative possibilities with Sideways Motion Foot #40C!. And you can always start from scratch making a stitch completely your own – any size!

Below are the decorative stitches starting with Stitch #101 at default settings. Look how different the middle and bottom row look with the minor changes we made to the stitch pattern. This is only possible with a stitch width greater than 9 mm.

Sideways Motion Stitches in Combi-mode

 Remember Combi-mode too! I like to combine decorative stitches that are 9 mm or less with Sideways Motion Stitches. Here I combined Stitch #102 and Stitch #246.

 Go into Overview Combi-mode to preview the stitch pattern.

Another fun way to use Sideways Motion Stitches in Combi-mode is to add two of the same stitch and edit the second one. Here I added Stitch #1221 twice. Then, I activated Mirror Image Left/Right on the second stitch pattern.

Here is Stitch #520 duplicated and reversed in the same way.

Go into Overview to look at the Stitch Preview. What do you think?

It looks cool but I’d like the second stitch pattern to align with the first. To make changes, I can use the Multi-function Knobs, drag and drop on screen or go into the Information Menu for more options. I love how I can edit any stitch to make it my own!

Here are the Sideways Motions Stitch variations. What a stunning way to embellish home dec items, bags and garments. I love to use these as borders along plain cloth napkins, tote bags for shopping and doll clothes.

Multi-directional Sewing Feature

 If those options aren’t enough for you, there’s one other feature called Multi-directional Sewing. The Multi-directional Sewing icon is located in the Information Menu. Here you can rotate stitches 360° in .05° or 1° increments using the Multi-function Knobs.

Or you can touch the bullet points to rotate a stitch in 45° increments.

One of my favorite ways to use Multi-directional Sewing is in Combi-mode. I duplicate one decorative stitch multiple times to create a wavy stitch pattern. Here is Stitch #102 – a simple flower stitch. I duplicated the flower 9x.

Next, I go into Mulit-directional Sewing and rotate flowers 1-4 at 135°.

Then, I leave flower 5 as is and rotate flowers 6-9 at 225°.

The Overview Menu give me a better view of the overall stitch pattern. We turned a simple 9 mm flower into a Sideways Motion Stitch with movement and style!

Your creative potential is amazing with BERNINA Sideways Motion Foot #40C and Sideways Motion Stitches. Have fun playing with decorative stitches in your machine! Discover your favorites and create some of your very own! You’ll be glad you did!