Sewing gives me a lot of pleasure, but actually sometimes also quite a bit of pain. I get a pain in my back when I sew for a while, and when I took a good hard look at that recently, I realised that a lot of it may be due to the fact that my foot-pedal leg often starts off in a comfortable position, but the more I sew, the more it extends outwards as I chase my foot-pedal across the floor.
I have a tiled floor and the foot pedal seems to slip further and further away throughout my sewing session, until I have to fish it back again. It's this sitting with one leg extended, sitting at an angle that I'm convinced in a back-breaker for me. So I set out to solve this dilemma and sew a non-slip sewing machine foot pedal pad.
It's not pretty, but it works, and that's what matters. My foot pedal stays put now a lot more than it did before. I think this would work if you had a wooden floor or carpets too, not just for tile. Here's how you can make one – it's pretty cheap!
Materials to make a non-slip sewing machine foot pedal pad
- Roll of non-slip spongy material, often sold as drawer or shelf liners (alternative UK Link)
- Some fleece, batting, felt or similar
- Quilting cotton, or other fabric, less than a Fat Quarter
- Straight cut or bias strips, 2.5 inches wide
Start out by measuring your foot pedal and decide on how big you want your mat to be. I'm guessing the bigger you make it, the more grip it will have. But bear in mind, this stuff is non-slip so it will also grip onto all your little pieces of thread too and could end up a big thread nest, so don't make it huge.
I drew a rough ‘pattern' from a sheet of paper and used it to cut 2 pieces of the non-slip liner. Make it round, oval, square – whatever you like. I made mine rectangular so that I had some padding under my heel too.
Now make or unwrap some binding tape. If your mat is square, you can use a straight cut binding. A jelly roll strip would be ideal for that. If you've made it round or oval, you'll want to use a bias binding tape. Check out these tutorials on how to estimate and make continuous bias binding, and how to get neat corners.
Apply the binding all around the outside of the two layers of non-slip grippy stuff. You might find because it's grippy, that it's going to grip the plastic of your sewing machine. If that's the case, slip some tissue or even some regular paper underneath to help it feed through. Here's mine sewn to the paper. It perforates as it sews so it just pulls off afterward.
I folded my 2.5 inch binding in half and sewed it to the top, then folded it over to the back and stitched again. It's not the greatest of neat jobs, but hey, who's looking under my sewing table! Get out of there…
Because we are constantly applying pressure to the back of the pedal, it can still slip forward so I thought having something to prevent it slipping off the front of our mat would be a good idea. I created a roll of some scraps of felt that I had layered with some fabric.
Cut a rectangle of fabric a couple of inches wider than the mat. Cut your inner padding piece an inch narrower than your mat.
On the wrong side of your fabric, place your piece or pieces of felt, fleece, or batting and start to roll it up. When you get it as thick as you want it, snip off any remaining filling. Leave your fabric an inch longer.
Turn under the raw edge on your fabric, roll it up and then hand stitch it down to complete your ‘sausage' to go at the front of the mat. The ends should be thin, without the filling so these will be easier to sew. You can even get your scissors in there and snip any fabric from the center of the roll that you don't need.
Now tuck in under the ends on your stopper roll, and tuck those ends underneath to the backside and stitch them in place.
It's done. Place your foot pedal where you want it to go, more confident now that it's going to stay in place better than it did before. Your back will thank you.
The day after reading this post, I made one and it fantastic. I put a rubber stopper all around it and it keeps the pedal from moving in any direction without interfering with the pedal function. I’m going to make another for my other machine. I also made a foot rest for the left foot and put photos of both on my blog. Thank you so much for the inspiration!
Hi Mayra.
I ended up cutting the ‘sausage’ too short so I sewed it into the pad instead of around the back side. I am still learning to sew and have a really horrible machine (I broke a needle on this ?) but it was fun and I have something to view as an accomplishment PLUS it is functional. Thank you for the idea!
Hi Shannon, love your attitude because you learn where you went wrong, make sure your needle is sharp before you start sewing and do not pull the work, let your machine work at the speed it is design. The machine will go slow when you are sewing many layers. To improve your sewing skills, I recommend you pair of pijamas try this article, it has video so it is easy to make and you can learn to place pockets and an elastic. http://wp.me/p2WfGc-6Sx
Continue sewing it is a great and rewarding skill.
Kind Regards,
Mayra
Thank you for the tips! I will definitely take a look at the article ?
I am making one today. I have been wrapping rubber bands around my machine pedals for 40 years. Awesome idea.
I’ve been using a piece of shelf liner for a while now, but after seeing this I feel an upgrade is due.
Hoping this works on my laminate floors because I need one for serger and one for sewing machine. I’ve used just the spongy stuff but alone that doesn’t do it. Thanks for a great tutorial!
How clever. I was just thinking this morning that I needed something to keep my petal for sliding under my sewing desk. Thank you, I can’t wait to make mine.
Please let me know how to print the patterns, thanks.
Hi Sue, there isn’t really a pattern for this particular project. You can make the pad any size you want and follow the instructions on how to apply the binding around the edges. Hope that helps and please enjoy.
I have used a piece of shelf liner for years-works great, but I feel like a piker now
just using a bare piece of shelf liner. Guess I’ll have to make it a little fancier now.
An inspired creation! Works perfectly on our carpeted floors. Thank you very much. Best wishes
Marion, UK
Hi Marion, thanks for your kind words.
Great idea and much much cheaper than the ones advertised!
I have a laminate floor in my sewing room so I’ll see how it works on that floor. Let you know if I can figure out how to get back here.
Its so good, I’ve made a couple for the girls at my sewing group. My original one went with my machine, because my new Janome has a monster-wide pedal. Making a new one this weekend, just hope it works. May have to stitch it down along the top so the pedal doesnt go through, being so wide. Thought about a ‘thong’, but this may interfere with the pedal.
love this idea,,,easy and effective, I keep a small item pickup magnet with telescopic length to pick up bobbins etc from the floor. This is a favorite of mine.
Great idea I had problem the foot disappearing under the table I will make one too thank you clever idea.anna
I made one in 15 minutest. … next step world domination!
Making one for every machine today! Thank you for sharing a great idea!
Finely the most effective tool,thanks,love it.
Love the tutorial. I found it very clear and easy to follow. Since I have it, I don’t slip under my table anymore, and it saves me from a lot of back-ache.
Thank you so much,
Ingrid.
Im so glad I decided to ask this question. I didnt really expect to find a solution. Great idea. Im buying some of that non skid stuff today. What a relief!!!
I think this is a neat idea just wish I could print instructions
Melvina Montalvo, If you go to Pinterest and type in So Sew Easy non-slip foot pedal pad, it will come up and you can print it. You might want to choose which pages to print or you will get all the comments and ads at the end……unless you want those.
What a life saver! Now I can unwrap the pedal cord from the table leg! Thank you thank you thank you!
Brilliant why did I not think of that in 30+ years of sewing 🙂 THANK YOU!
Fantastic idea. I am making one today!
When sewing the foam fabric, slip a piece of waxed paper under it. Slides slick as can be!
Thanks for the tip, hope other can appreciate it!
Great idea. I have been using just the nonslip material. This is much nicer.
Wonderful idea thanks so very much from Canada
fantastic!!!!! I needed one and could not afford a store bought one. Thanks many times over for this great tut on non slip foot pad
Had this pinned, finally couldn’t take my foot running away one more second! Making one now! Thanks for the great idea!!! ??????
I love this but… I dont think I understand the under part. Is there material there or the skid material.
Sounds dumb but …confused.
Hi Laura, the non skid material is doubled, top and bottom is the same. Hope it helps!
Fantastic made 2 works so well any more ideas would love to see them. Christine UK.
Brilliant!
fantastic!! I can’t believe i never thought of this. Thank you so much.
You are welcome Nora!
What’s great idea. Just what I need not to loose my machine foot under my sewing machine. Will save me trying to find it with my foot. I’ll certainly be running one of these up.
What a wonderful idea, my foot pedal keeps disappearing under my sewing desk on the polished floor boards, I’m off to make mine now, thanks for sharing.
Brilliant idea after years of doing the splits when sewing. Sorting all bits to make one today. Thanks for the idea.
Since I’ve got carpet on my floors, I imagined that the pressure of pressing down onto the pedal would make the pad curl up around the pedal and not be as non slip as possible. So I inserted a piece of thin, sturdy cardboard between the two layers of grip and after some rigorous testing, it did the trick. Enjoyed the post; thanks for sharing!
Like your idea of the cardboard between the two layers of grip. I’ll probably include that when I make my non-slip sewing machine foot pedal pad. Thanks for the suggestion.
I just made one today. It’svwonderful! Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful idea! I will sew one for me and one for my best friend! Best wishes from Germany!
What a terrific and creative idea!! Thanks for the inspiration…now it’s down to my sewing room to make one for each of my machines. Thank You!!!
I’m going to use this idea for the piano keyboard pedal at the farm! It always gets away from me when I play! So excited!
What a wonderful idea for a keyboard! Those little devils get away from you!
Just made one yesterday, and it’s fantastic! I’d been using a mouse pad which helped a little, but still tended to slip a bit. This one doesn’t move at all on my wood floor. No more banging my head on the sewing table to move the foot pedal back in place. This was very quick and easy to make. Thanks so much!!!