The Kenmore Q-Foot and Q-Needle. Any Q-uestions?

 I couldn't resist the Q humor - but the Q-uestion is this - do the much ballyhooed Q-foot and/or Q-needle live up to the hype?

It seems that every vintage Kenmore owner covets a set of these.  They were intended to sew the super stretchy fabrics that were popular in the 1970s, including Qiana (which is supposedly what the "Q" refers to.)

The foot is hard to explain and I don't know for sure exactly how it works, but this is what it looks on the bottom.  There must be something in the design that reduces drag on the clingy stretch fabric - that is my guess. The needles, I suppose, are equivalent to today's ballpoint needles intended to sew stretch fabrics.  

Q-foot and Q-needle on low shank Kenmore machine

I tried stitching with the Q needle, a regular sewing needle, and a modern stretch needle on this 4-way stretch knit.

Red = standard all purpose needle

Green = modern ballpoint needle

Blue = vintage Q needle

          There is no difference between the various needles using this foot.  

             The stitch quality is identical. 

Even the bobbin sides all have the same good results.

Since I don't sew with this type of fabric very often, I haven't used the Q-foot enough to give it a thorough review.  But from these test samples, it seems to handle this fabric quite nicely.