I use the #10 foot for stitching in the ditch. I think it came with the machine. You might give that a try until you get the walking foot

Judy, thanks for the feedback. I am getting the impression that the walking foot is necessary to get nice looking stitch in the ditch and straight line quilting. I am coming to the conclusion that I need to invest the money. Thanks for your help.
Eileen

I have a Bernina with dual feed and the Bernina walking foot. My Bernina walking foot definately does a better job at keeping the layers of fabric and batting together and for quilting straight lines. I also like the fact that fact that the walking foot comes with interchangeable sole plates. The "stitch in the ditch" sole plate for the walking foot helps me a lot.
The walking foot can be a little tricky to put on the machine. Also, you have to use a little screw driver to change the sole plates. That might be a problem with arthritis. I recommend you go to your dealer and don't just have the dealer demo it. Get the dealer to let you try changing the sole plates yourself, and put the walking foot on the machine yourself.
Yes, it is an expensive foot.

Happy quilting!
Judy Austin

Some people like the walking foot; some people like the dual feed. I tend to like the walking foot better because it pulls the fabric from the front rather than from the back. But you can also get good results from the dual feed. If I were you, I would try it with the dual feed and see how you like it. If you're not comfortable with it, see if you can try the walking foot at your local dealer. If it feels better to you, then get it. I've been using the walking foot for many years and have only had the dual feed for a year, so I might feel better with the dual feed after using it for a while. One thing I think I need to play with (so might be useful to you) is reducing the pressure of the presser foot when using the dual feed for quilting. I've had a pooling of the fabric in front of the foot when using the dual feed that I don't get with the walking foot and I think playing with that will fix it.

Hope this helps!

I have been a hand quilter, but arthritis is weighing in and I want to get good at machine quilting on my new Bernina 750QE. It has the dual feed foot attached which I understood would make straight line quilting possible. Getting the presser foot 50 ...walking foot ... has just been suggested to me. Does it really make the quilting that much (nearly $200) better?