Strange Quilting Tools

Just a few strange quilting tools to share while I'm thinking of them:


June Tailor Shape Cut- Great for cutting strips of fabric, this 12x12 ruler has slots 1/2 inch apart for cutting straight lines without having to keep shifting the ruler. It is also great for when you want to cut a certain measurement away from a cut edge, like along a selvedge. This wide ruler allows you to measure from the edge with the majority of the ruler on the fabric, as opposed to placing a regular rotary cutting ruler off the edge of the fabric, making it a bit unstable as you cut.


Related to my post about being a bit obsessive with straight grain, is my laser level. It helps me get a good straight line for long cuts, for blocking a quilt, and to make sure a design on my design wall is straight and square. My old house is very cozy and unique, but level and square it is not in places, so I've learned not to eye-ball anything in relation to the floor or ceiling! I really want to get a pair of tile laying laser squares for better squaring up of quilts; they project 90 degree angles!


Finally, everyone should be so blessed as to have a great helper and cheering section for their quilting! This is my daughter watching as I put some decorative stitches onto on of her projects we made together. Beautiful, isn't she?

7 comments:

  1. How special is she... and how lucky are you. Interesting tools too. Thank you for sharing.

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  2. Amy, thank you for these ideas. I just ordered the cutting ruler, actually, Walmart had it, so I ordered it and it's coming to my home, free delivery. By the way, I'm one of those who has a Bernina and tried to get the Janome toe to fit my machine (I gave up). Anyhow, I just purchased a Juki TL2010Q. I worked in the garment industry years ago and loved the industrial machines. I thought I could get an industrial machine for quilting, 14" arm, servo motor (means a quiet, efficient motor, adjustable speed), also comes with a large heavy table for much less money than a domestic machine. Being that I live too far from a competitive, reliable dealer I decided the next best thing would be the Juki. This Juki sews 1500 spm compared to industrial's 5500 spm. I am very pleased with Juki's performance, steel body, and speed is okay. Now, I need to find out if the ruler toe (Janome's) will work on Juki. Do you think it will work?

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    1. I have no personal experience with the Juki machines, but I have eyeballed them a bunch online. The machine you got sounds like a great machine for free motion quilting and was one I had considered (or a similar one) before I bought my 6600. It is similar to the Janome 1600, but in my opinion is better than the 1600, since you can’t drop the feed dogs on the 1600 so you have to cover them with a plate. However I have a great Janome dealer nearby so I went with Janome and got the 6600. (Since then I have begun working with the Janome dealer)

      As far as the Janome convertible foot set and the ruler toe, I think it should work on the Juki, but I couldn’t tell from pics if you need the high or low shank version. Give it a try! I do know that the lack of a free arm can be a drawback for this machine, as it is with the 6600, but the upside is that it is easy to fit it to a custom sewing cabinet or table! As a plus, I recently saw one of these Jukis in a extension table from Sew Steady, nice, enormous table! (A bit spendy….) To double check the model, I looked at this review, which had links to more independent reviews: http://www.makingrebeccalynne.com/2013/05/sewing-machine-adultery-juki-tl-2010q.html

      Enjoy your new machine and let me know how it goes!

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  3. Thank you for sharing the idea laser level! It's so great! And your daughter is very very beautiful!

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