No I got it all wrong in my head. Shame really that would have worked

Is that right? If you move the needle position on a Bernina the foot moves with it?

Yes but if you move the needle over the foot goes with it and the seam guide away from the feed dogs.....guess you're going to say the seam guide is not attached to the foot

No I'm talking rubbish of course the foot doesn't move over with the needle. Sorry back to the drawing board.

Wendy, I'm not worried about the needle breaking, but I am concerned about the feed dogs rubbing on the seam guide and possible wearing away on them or even getting them out of line.

Debbie why don't you move the needle position to the right a bit when using the foot then it will move away from the feeddogs and not be affected by them.

Judith, it's a button that tells the machine you only want to stitch straight stitch and not to engage zig-zag or move to the right or left until you change the throat plate, and/or the foot and punch the button to let it know you are done.

Geneva,
I feel like a dummy asking this but I am going to anyhow. What is the red stitch button?

Judith

Geneva, I wonder if having the feed dogs rubbing on the guide won't eventually wear them down?

LOL, I always thought my machine was the issue and never the operator! I'm not familiar with the red stitch width button. My machine must be too old to have one of those.

I have no problem using the 97 with the wide dogs. I didn't notice that the right feed dog was partially covered by the 97 attachment until it was mentioned here. If I'm sewing a 1/4" seam, the right feed dog doesn't really engage all the fabric anyway. And I did start using Sally Collins' tip about ending one piece before putting another piece up to the needle to sew. This has helped with having the ending and starting pieces not wig outward. Which is exactly what Sally said!

I always use the red stitch width button to make sure I don't try to use something other than a straight stitch with my single hole plate. I've said some mean things to Sybil when she wouldn't make the zig zag stitch, but I always apologize once I realize it was my (operator) trouble!

Geneva

Although my (ahem) modern Janome has a 9mm slot throat plate with the wider teeth setting that this entails, I don't have too much trouble using the 1/4" foot. However when doing my first miniature quilt last month, I ended up using my old treadle which is a straight stitch only and I found it much better for feeding the fabric (starting & stopping was interesting - it probably needs a good oiling, and a lot more practice but it did feel good to work on)

Sorry really don't know about Berninia's and I have rather lost track of all your different feet and do-dads - Lois I guess you had better carry on with looking for a treadle....

I don't have a Bernina but I do have a machine with a 7mm needle opening and I struggle with getting a straight 1/4" seam. If you look in the Bernina video for the #97 foot you can see that the feed dogs never get to help pull the fabric through until the fabric is beyond the needle and some of the feed dogs are completely to the right of the pressor foot where they cannot possibly engage the fabric. My Janome is the same way. No wonder we have wonky seams. Using Sally Collins suggestion of putting the fabric all the way up to the needle helps sometimes. I need to do more checking on single needle machines where the feed dogs are closer to the needle even in front of the needle hole. I think that allows the feed dogs to help out start to finish. No wonder Bonnie Hunter is in love with her vintage machines.

Even though I can't use the guide with the 97, I do find that the foot sturdier than the original 1/4" foot. It seems to feed the fabric better. I don't know if that's mind over matter and I'm trying to justify spending the $60+ on something that is doing only a portion of what I bought it for. I do prefer if using the straight stitch plate, too, but I'm bad about forgetting to change it when I need to applique. Many needles have gone to their final resting place that way!!! This has nothing to do with the foot, but I have also found that leaving the needle down and butting your fabric up to it really keeps the fabric from being chewed up. I haven't needed to use a leader scrap when I do that. I saw that suggestion recently, but I can't remember if it was on TQS or not.

In the youtube Bernina video for the 97/97D foot they recommend a straight stitch plate and to engage the Dual Feed if you have the machine with the 9mm wide stitch capacity. So it looks like it is not as straight forward as just getting the 97 foot.

Oh how odd, Debbie. I thought the whole point of the 97 was to deal with the 9 mm wide machines. I'll go have to go back and read more about it.