Free Motion Quilting Adventure: Using Rulers Week 2

It's past time for my Free Motion Monday Quilting Adventures post and while I'm posting it before it's officially Tuesday, it's not the post I had planned. This weekend and Monday has been a doozy.

Feet for Free Motion Ruler Work

I talked a lot about the foot options for ruler work last week, so please read there if this is your first introduction to this technique. But Carol Olson and I had emailed a bit this past week (She's the owner of Accents in Design, maker of the Fine Line Rulers and Templates that I love so much) and she had some information that I thought I'd pass along for those who aren't Janome users.

" I did find a 1/4" ruler foot on ebay listed by  NgoSew Sewing Parts Co. .  This foot is made for Juki TL98, TL98E, TL98Q, TL98QE, TL2000Qi and TL2010Q.  The price on their ebay store is $75.00.

 I looked at Viking/Husqvarna, I had a Husqvarna prior to my Janome and used it during many classes and show demonstrations using the rulers and templates.  They have two Open Toe FMQ feet, one is "Floating" or stationary and the other one is hopping.  The foot is not as high as the Janome or Juki, however, it is thicker than most.  I used the stationary one and it worked well.  The stationary one is part # 412801045, the hopping one is #412531045. 

Elna is exactly the same as Janome, so they would be able to use the conversion set as well.

Bernina, since the newer machines (not 35 years+ like my old one) seem not able to use the conversion set with the adapters, I did look at three of their Embroidery FM feet.  Foot #26 is a closed toe round foot and looks like a shallow bowl which would work with the rulers.  Foot #24 is open toe for FM Embroidery or quilting.  Foot #92 is a FM Embroidery foot, looks like a thick hook style, curved from left to right with the opening on the far right side.  Using the rulers and templates on the left side, it should enable a clean swipe along the ruler edge."

I shared with her my thoughts on one of the Bernina feet she had mentioned, the #26 foot does look like it would work except that it has a small teardrop shaped opening for the needle and I am concerned that with the sideways pressure of the ruler, the foot could shift and allow the needle to hit the foot. We are both married to handy fellas and were of similar thoughts that the foot could possibly be drilled out and carefully sanded to work well for ruler work on a Bernina.

She also reiterated that ruler work can be done with regular free motion feet if done with care and usually with less speed. We also think that it's just a matter of time before some ruler toe type feet or even adapters hit the market for these other machines.

I also tracked down Patsy Thompson's post on her improvised ruler work foot using the Babylock/ Brother Free Motion Foot C. She super glued a small 1/4 inch cylinder to the foot.

So there are some options for those who have other brand machines.

Designs

So now it's time for some designs. I did all of these on paper this time as I just didn't have enough time to stitch some up. Getting these weekly series posts done on time is a challenge for sure, but I am hoping to start getting a few posts ahead so I can get them done better.

First a note about planning ruler designs: When you choose a design for your project, you've got to consider the size of template or ruler you have and how it will fit in the desired space. Remember that the stitched line will not be right along the edge of the ruler, but a quarter of an inch away if using the Janome foot, or some other distance using another foot. So the design needs to be spaced according to the stitched spacing, not the ruler spacing. If you draw it out (and I strongly suggest you do), make sure to rig up a spacer for your pencil so the spacing is accounted for. I have a small acrylic washer from Quilter's Rule that is the same diameter as my foot.

Also, it is wise to add a few reference lines even if you think you can use the lines on the ruler to space your design. Some designs need additional markings to get the placement just right too. Don't skimp on the needed markings! You'd hate to complete a run of a design and find out that you're not perpendicular or parallel to your piecing lines when needed!

I really hate marking, but it's not too bad to set a few markings to keep me straight.

Today I am focusing for the most part on designs for borders and sashing. Borders are a great place to put ruler work.

These border designs can also be used as background designs around applique and such, just like the following crosshatching and curved crosshatching:

Borders can be dressed up with scallops or swags.

Scallops and swags can have piano keys or bead board with them.

Above, you can see my drawing spacer/washer with some sparkly paint to help me find the tiny thing.

Below are a couple of straight line designs for borders using diagonal lines and the straight ruler.

Below are two designs using the Fine Line half-ellipse template. I really like these, however I have doubts as to whether I could actually stitch these out on a stationary machine. It would require working on opposite sides of the foot with the ruler for each shape. I'm certain that with my Janome 6600 Accufeed system behind my foot, that I couldn't work the ruler around behind the foot. (One reason why I would recommend the 6300 or 6500 on the lower priced side of the 6600, or moving up to the 8200 if you're in the market for a Janome for free motion quilting.)

 Before I forget, here's two pictures of how I place my fingers on these rulers as I work:

Sashing designs are fun with rulers too!

  Below are a traditional egg and dart pattern and a variation I have seen lately. The diamond looks really neat when at the corner of sashing. It works into a 4 point star-ish shape or a bigger diamond.

And then of course you can fill in some of your ruler work with other designs. Feathers....

And below is a tiny stipple and a e.l.e. loop (a bad one too! Eek!) in the diamonds. I've got to say I like that stipple! Though the better place to fill the design below would be the half diamonds along the side, leaving the whole diamond to 'pop'.

Next week I'll show some designs for ruler work on piecing and filling in setting triangles and such. Hopefully there will be actual stitched samples and maybe a video or two.

All of these designs above were done with Fine Line Rulers from www.accentsindesign.com  They are the rulers with pegs for extra secure hand positioning and a great velcro hook tape on the underside to prevent the ruler from slipping. They also have good markings on the rulers, more on that in another week's post.

Accents in Design has graciously provided me with several more of of their rulers to supplement the rulers I had previously bought and I can't wait to use them to show more ruler work designs next week.

In addition, they are providing a set of the continuous curves rulers to one lucky participant of this month's series. So make sure to comment and/or link up to be entered in the giveaway! Make sure to leave an email addy if you are a no-reply blogger.

Whew! That's a lot of material to cover in one post!I am sure there are questions, so ask them in the comments.

Now, a word or two about this linky. In addition to my usual guidelines, I've got to mention that I want this linky to benefit all the bloggers and wonderful readers involved. So firstly, since my link series is about the series of designs I'm showcasing on my blog, let's make sure that's whats being discussed in your linked post. It can even be a previous month's design. There are other linkys out there that may welcome your link about some great product you are hawking (yep, had a few spammers to delete). There are also general quilting linky's out there to join. If your post is relevant, link it up here.

Secondly, please be courteous enough to post a link back to me or I will remove you from my party (ie: delete the link from me to you). (I hate that this sounds so mean, I really hate confrontation.) It's my party and I'll cry delete if I want to need to if the blog that is using the link opportunity isn't respecting the guidelines of this linky. If you are just linking up to as many link parties as possible to promote your blog and to earn points with Google for having others link to your site, kudos to you, but keep it relevant and reciprocal.

I feel strongly about this. In fact I stopped linking up to a pretty popular blog link party when the blog owner's guidelines changed to specify she wanted the linked posts to be about something learned from her site. Since my posts usually were more about free motion quilting in general, I stopped linking to that specific linky. It would have benefited me to keep linking my posts and hope she didn't get offended, but I didn't meet her criteria, so I stopped until I have a relevant post.

Now, if I've gone and made you mad, I'm sorry, but the guidelines for this linky are pretty clear. If I've made you worry that you've accidentally erred, email me at sonshinecottage[at]comcast[dot]net  Let's keep it fun, civil, educational, and helpful for us all.

Here's those guidelines:

For the linky this week, link up a post of  ruler work you've done, if any. If you haven't done any, feel free to use a ruler to draw out any line based designs that you'd like to explore. You can use rotary cutting rulers for drawing. If you've written a post about wanting to do these types of designs, you can post that too!

If you've missed any of the Free Motion Monday posts, you can find them on the Free Motion Mondays page.

Some quick rules:

• Keep your post relevant to this quilt along please. Spammy posts will be deleted.
• Make sure you link up to the individual post, not your home page as nobody wants to have to search around for the post if they're a little late to the party.
• Link back to this post somewhere in your post. You've got to dance with the one who took you to the party, so make sure you link back.
• Don't be a wall-flower. (Talking to myself here too. In person I am so stinking shy!) Visit the other links, be sociable, and leave comments.
• Please make sure you leave me a way to contact you if you are a no-reply commenter, especially if you ask a question.

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