Free Motion Quilting with Rulers- an Update

I've had two emails recently that made me decide to do a little update on using the Janome "ruler toe" for free motion quilting in conjunction with long arm rulers on my sewing machine.

free motion quilting foot set



This is one half of the Janome Frame Quilting Feet Set part #767-434-005. Yes, it's labeled as for the 1600P, and the open toe foot in the package is useless for my purposes (though great if you are using it on  frame, its intended purpose).


I put an email in to Janome a while back, and I heard back from Alison Newman, Janome Educator at Janome-America and she has checked with their service people and given a big thumbs up to the use of this toe with the convertible free motion feet sets, whether the low (202002004), high (202001003), or 1600 version (767433004).


This was great to hear as a few readers had said their dealers told them they couldn't use it with their machines, only the 1600.


I've been playing around with some new rulers from Top Anchor Quilting Tools, as you can see in the above pictures. Making stars without marking is perfect right before Independence Day! These look like they'd be cool for long arm quilting on a frame and I'm seeing if they'd be good for those of us who move our quilts instead of our machines. More on them in a future post.

17 comments:

  1. Those rulers look really interesting! I'm curious to try out the hexagon tool on their website, but might wait for your review as they are kinda pricey. But the idea seems fantastic. Can't wait to hear more from you :-)

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    1. All the templates from TopAnchorQuilting.com can be returned within 30 days for full refund of purchase price if they don't work out for you.

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  2. I'll be interested to see what you think of the rulers.

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  3. I've been using the Janome convertible shank and ruler foot on my Husqvarna Viking Mega Quilter without issue for some time now and love it! hmmm - more rulers to try - curious to hear what you think about them!

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  4. Very interesting. I wonder what has taken the DSM makers so long to make a ruler foot for their machines!!!!

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  5. Very interesting concept. thanks for sharing!

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  6. When I viewed the post, the last two pictures didn't display so I couldn't see which rulers you were trying out besides the 6" 5-pointed star. I look forward to seeing your future reviews of the Top Anchor Rulers since your reviews are always so informative!

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  7. I also purchased this foot with a few simpler rulers and have been playing with it on my 8900. .. my dealer also wasn't so sure about the idea!

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  8. Took a leap of faith and bought the Janome convertible foot and ruler toe. They fit my Viking Sapphire 870. Unfortunately life is in my way for playing more with rulers.
    I am interested in the Baptist Fan ruler. Have you tried it?
    Your blog is very enlightening and encouraging. Keep up the inspiration

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  9. I sure wish Bernina would come to the party!

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    1. I emailed Bernina through their customer service and they responded very promptly, “This type of foot has been requested in the past, and the request was passed on to Bernina International where the product development decisions are made.”

      A reader, while at a quilt show in Australia, reported that she heard the rumor was that at least one ruler foot was in the works for Bernina. This was quite some time ago. I sure hope you Bernina girls get such a foot!

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  10. I wonder if the ruler toe would fit on my Juki TL2010? It's a low shank quilter.

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    1. Juki has at least one ruler toe that I know of, so check with your dealer. The Juki 2010 is very similar to the Janome 1600, so it might be compatible with the convertible free motion foot set for that machine, then get the frame quilting foot set for it----though I thought the juki (as well as the 1600) was a high shank machine. There is a low shank version of the convertible free motion foot set from Janome, but I haven't had a Juki to try it on.

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  11. Is there a Baptist Fan Ruler.
    Or would the curved fine line ruler work?

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    1. TopAnchorQuilting.com has a Baptist Fan template that is only recommended for use with a longarm quilting machine. The template and the machine move together across the quilt and it would be difficult to use for free motion quilting.

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  12. I found one called half circle that I saw video on how to use for Baptist Fan. Ordered it and versa ruler, now just hope I can master using them. ☺

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