Blog Update

I've been mucking about with my blog and its settings. I really have no idea what I am doing so please let me know if something is giving you trouble and I will blindly start hitting buttons in an attempt to fix it.

Quilting Tools Part 4

So you don't have the Janome convertible foot set? You can still use a darning foot. You can even make it better! Leah Day has another great post on how to break your foot. Your standard darning foot that is! Actually, it's how to fix the foot to make it work better.

I need to figure out if I should break a foot for the ladies at my quilting group. I'm teaching them how to free motion quilt. Thursday we are all bringing our machines and we're going to see what I can do to help them and their machines do FMQ. I am having so much fun with this group!

Another tool I love is the June Tailor Shape Cut Ruler . I am not a huge piecing fan, possibly because my skills need work and because a more wholecloth type quilt lets me have more free motion quilting fun. But this ruler of sorts helps me get accurate strips cut. Since you can cut multiple strips without moving the ruler, it can go pretty fast. You run your rotary cutter through the slots on the ruler to cut.

It made short work of cutting the pieces for my new quilt. I thought I'd do a rather simple pieced quilt on which I could showcase some quilting that is typical on a pieced quilt instead of my usual over the top quilting. It will end up being a large throw size to put on my couch. I wanted it to be bigger, but I just didn't have enough of this Rainy Days and Mondays fabric. Bigger because I want to have more bigger quilts under my belt for when I am asked how big a quilt can I comfortably quilt under my Janome.

Now I need to get breakfast on the table. I have a sitter coming and I am getting away for a little "Me" time.

Quilting with Rulers on a Domestic Sewing Machine

August 1, 2016 Edited to add: In the years following this post which started it all, I have created two classes with Craftsy on this technique. This special instructor's affiliate link will take you to them and allow you to purchase them at a 50% discount all the time. No need to wait for a Craftsy sale! There are multiple sources for ruler feet and ruler for use with this technique as well,and I now have an online shop where I sell a well-tested selection of rulers and supplies I use.

In my post on my butterfly wall hanging, I mentioned that I had done free motion curved cross-hatching using a long arm ruler. I had heard that some folks were trying this on the bigger sit down machines like APQS George (Love!) or the HQ Sweet 16. But I had not actually found anyone who was doing it. After purchasing Karen McTavish's book, Custom Curves and the accompanying DVD, I was disappointed to see that the demonstration of  crosshatching on a domestic machine was done with a walking foot. (Love this woman's work and her books!) I thought at least it could be done by following the marked lines free motion.

Then I came across the Janome Free Motion Frame Quilting Feet Set, made for use with the Convertible Free Motion Quilting Feet Set. It has a foot/toe made to do ruler work! I picked this up at the Janome booth at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival this year. I had no idea they made such a foot. It is for use on the larger Janomes that one can use with a frame and table system. (To be clear, I do not have a frame system.) Since the Quilter's Rule was at the show too, I picked up a double S curve ruler by Rhonda Beyer, Karen's partner in the Custom Curves book.

The two essential things for ruler work on your sewing machine after the ruler toe is to have a good smooth surface to glide your quilt over as you stitch and to have a "grippy" ruler. I used my cheap ruler grip method-- clear nail polish and a sprinkle of salt. It worked like a charm!

Since the ruler foot is a 1/4" foot; meaning the distance from the needle to the outside edge of the foot, place the ruler 1/4" away from where you want the line to be stitched. Then I rested my left hand on the ruler with my pinky and ring fingers off the far side of the ruler (onto the quilt) and slide the quilt and ruler along the side of the foot as a single unit. At first I tended to press too hard down on the ruler and quilt, making it difficult to move, but I soon got the hang of it.

This method can be done with a regular darning or free motion quilting foot and/or rotary cutting rulers, but you run the risk of sliding the ruler up under the needle. This would break your needle and possibly mess up the timing of your machine.

I found the method to be easier than I thought it would be, and since I did this ruler work in the corners of my quilt, I found that the ruler helped control the edges as I stitched, keeping them from bunching up as I stitched back in toward the quilt. I found it to give much better results than following a marked line.

Give it a try and let me know how it turns out for you!

Quilting Tools Part 3

 One thing I love about my Janome machines is the wonderful free motion quilting foot set that is made for these machines. Above, from left, the standard darning foot that comes with the machine (altered to open toe by my husband), the convertible free motion quilting set with it's 3 toes, and on the far right, the ruler work toe I bought separately (along with a open toe with the opening oriented to the end of the machine for use with a frame system).

In the above picture, the ruler work toe is attached to the convertible FMQ foot. You can also see that the big plastic bull's eye toe looks different than what you may have. That's because I altered it for some experimenting with free motion couching of yarn. You can read about the how and why I altered this foot here.

This convertible foot is so fabulous for free motion quilting! No annoying clackity clack as it goes up and down. There's an adjustment screw too that raises or lowers the height of the foot for the thickness of your quilt sandwich or to help ease in fullness. I have also noticed that the rounded shape of the ruler work toe doesn't 'push' the fullness as much as the open toe and though I don't use it much I think it does better than the regular closed toe. Though of course, it is harder to see your work with the ruler toe.

Janome makes the convertible FMQ foot set in both high and low shank versions, so you should be able to use it on some non-Janome machines.

Look for my post on using the ruler work toe soon. Also a post on working with a commonly available darning foot and how to make it better.

If you have found these posts useful or if you have a question on how I use these tools, leave me a comment please.