I have been sitting on this post for a while, waiting to try the new ruler foot from Westalee Design. It finally arrived this past weekend and I'm trying it out. While I play, you can read this Q & A session I did with Leonie West from
Westalee Design. I'll post a proper review of the foot in a few days, but I will say that I'm liking it!
Please tell us about your
company and how long you have been in business?
In
2008 we formed Westalee Design, a family owned business, located in Victoria
Australia following my invention of the Adjustable Ruler and templates. I won
the New Inventors Grand Final Viewers Choice award in 2008
I
have been quilting for over 37 years and had one of my Quilts, “Every Quilter
Dreams” at the Houston Quilt Festival in 2006, judged as finalist. That was so
memorable.
We
design and manufacture over 300 innovative rulers and templates for patchwork
and quilting, including an extensive range of Long Arm Templates
We
made the first incrementally adjustable rulers with locking fabric guide in 2007,
the first Crosshatch Guide for Long-arm machines in 2008 and the first pin located
rotating templates in 2010 and many other tools for patchwork and quilting..
Our Company
mission is to Innovate - Create -Design - Educate – Inspire - to make it easier
for quilter’s of all levels to achieve beautifully pieced and Quilted quilts.
What made you decide to
make a ruler foot for domestic sewing machines?
I
can’t really say that it was a necessity, as I am a long-arm quilter, designing
and using rulers all the time.
The
real reason was the looks of disappointment we have seen for the last 6 years,
when we tell quilters with domestic machines, “Sorry, no you can’t use these rulers
and templates”. Bill and I decided to do something about it. We tried a number
of the feet available for domestic machines for using rulers and were never
happy with how they functioned.
About
18 months ago we decide to get serious about making a ruler foot for most
machines, a foot that was ½” round. My preference is to float the Foot rather
than hop, as it is unnecessary and all the mechanisms to make a foot hop just
get in the way of your templates and your hands and your vision. With prototypes and testing done we are now
happy that we can say, “Yes, go for it, you can use our rulers and templates on
your domestic machine.
The important
difference between our Ruler Foot and others is that it was designed by a
quilter who uses both domestic and long-arm machines. The long-arm machine work
told me how I would want a ruler foot to work on a domestic machine. As a
template designer I learned a long time ago that it is often easier to work on
the inside of an arc than the outside, but mechanisms impede vision and
movement. I wanted our Ruler Foot to be as useful as possible.
All you need to know to
properly fit a machine with the ruler foot is high shank, low shank or Bernina?
We designed our
Ruler Foot to fit most makes and models both High Shank and Low Shank also for
the special quilting machines on frames.
With introduction of the Westalee Ruler Foot for both High and Low Shank Machines we put
some important information on our web site on how to identify the shank size of
your machine.
(They now have a third version of the foot available for the following machines: Pfaff 1200 Grand Quilter, Husqvarna Mega Quilter,Brother PQ1300 PQ1300 PQ1500S, Janome 1600P 1600P-DB 1600-QC, Singer 2OU 31-15, Babylock BLQP BL500A and JUKI DDL-227 DDL-555 DDL-8700 TL-98E TL-98P
TL-98QE TL2000Qi TL2010Q)
Which Bernina shank
adapter does the Ruler Foot need and must that be purchased separately?
The Bernina
Shank Adapter is a Bernina accessory which enables Bernina machines to use feet
other than Bernina. The adapter replaces the standard Bernina foot making the
machine low shank, so you would use our Low Shank Ruler Foot.
You can
purchase a shank adapter from your local Bernina dealer all you need to know is
the model of your machine. The most
common being the #77 and #75.
Will your foot work on
Babylock machines?
We have
arranged for some testing on Babylock in the USA and will notify you
immediately. We do not have Babylock sewing machines in Australia. All indications are that the majority are Low Shank machines and
would take our Low Shank ruler Foot
I love the simplicity of
the foot. How does the adjustment for the foot height work?
To fit the
Ruler Foot, lower the presser foot, then remove the screw that holds the shank
and replace with the Westalee Ruler Foot.
To adjust the Ruler Foot height, place the quilt sandwich underfoot, simply
lower the presser bar (shank), loosen the shank screw and raise or lower the
foot, independent of the shank, depending on the quilt thickness, tighten the
screw. The required height of our foot
can only be determined by stitching a sample; I always have a test sandwich at
hand. Every machine is different as is every quilter. I prefer to free motion
with my feed dogs up and my stitch length set at 0 – this is personal
preference.
You are selling thinner
rulers for use with domestic sewing machines. First can you explain why long
arm users need such a thick ruler with their machines and why a thinner ruler
can be used with your foot?
Long-arm
quilter’s use a 6mm (1/4”) thick ruler with their machines to ensure the
hopping foot does not step over or under the template during operation. This height
enables the machine to sew across a variable surface that may include appliqué’
features.
As we began to design the Ruler Foot it quickly became obvious that lowest
point of the presser foot bar (Shank) was too low for 6mm templates and on
machines with duel feed (Pfaff, Janome) the duel feed behind the foot was too
low for 6mm templates.
Our intention designing the Ruler Foot was that it would be available to as
many quilters as possible regardless of the machine that they were using. We
wanted anyone wanting to do ruler work to be able to do so. Our Ruler Foot clearance is high enough to clear the template, it is the Machines shank the dictates the
thickness of the template. We have tested extensively with thinner
templates without any issues. There are several videos showing the Ruler Foot
in action.
Can 6mm rulers still be
used with your foot?
You could of
course use the thicker template, but not from all directions and I strongly
suggest that if are tempted to try, you do not to allow 6mm templates to go
under the presser foot bar. You cannot stitch around the inside of an enclosed
6mm template.
It is not worth risking damage by experimenting with template thickness.
Can you please share with
my readers why you love using rulers for your own work?
I have been
called a precision piecer, because I like accuracy in my piecing and quilting I also like my quilting to
reflect the same level of accuracy. I
can easily achieve the results I want with rulers.
One of the
things that quilting teachers tell their students is to relax and take the
tension out of your shoulders to get nice free motion quilting, I have had
arthritis in my right shoulder since I was 16 years of age and that shoulder is
very tight, so free motion can be a bit harder for me, but with rulers I find
that I can achieve beautiful quilting.
My feather
wreath template enables me to stitch a perfect feathered wreath, this is
something that only the most experienced long arm quilter can achieve. I know
that without our template I could not stitch out this wreath.
When I design a
template I want the template to give me more than just one design if possible.
For too long,
rulers and templates have been the domain of long-arm quilters and the quilts
that they produce can be exquisite. Much of the ruler work that they do is
either for the backbone of a design or for filling in space with lines and
crosshatching straight or curved. We
make one of the largest selections of rulers and templates available, we hope
that with the Ruler Foot and the templates quilters of all levels using
domestic machines will now be able to achieve results that only the truly
experienced domestic machine quilter and long arm quilters could.
I am sure
some readers will notice the angle of your sewing machine in your videos. I had
initially assumed it was for visibility when filming, but you had another
reason. Can you please explain it to my readers?
I have been
quilting since 1972 and in Australia at that time there were no patchwork shops
and no teachers, so I am primarily self taught.
Sometimes being self taught is a bonus because no one has told you that
you can’t.
The first quilt I made was king size and
I quilted it on a domestic machine. Big
quilt-small throat space - no where to move. In the 80’s I read about rolling the quilt and
tried that, I did not like that. I had been using what is now known as the fluff
and stuff method and still use that method today. With a big quilt the body of
the machine was in the way of my right hand so I simply pushed the right side
of my machine back putting the machine on an angle and instantly had more
freedom of movement to quilt. The extension table set at this angle is my
design.
When talking
with beginners at free motion quilting many of them have difficulty in
stitching curves, one of the reasons for this is that when we sit at a machine
that we face straight on, our brain wants to sew straight lines. Hands on each
side of the needle moving straight forward. When you push the machine back at
an angle not only do you have more space, you also stop you brain from thinking
of moving straight in a forward direction.
You are an Australian
based business, what does that mean for customers in the US and other countries
as far as shipping and prices?
We have been
supplying US quilters for over 6 years now and right now your dollar is worth more than ours. [ Edited to add: Westalee does now have a distributer in the US and I am happy to report that I am now a retailer for the Westalee products! You can purchase their products as well as others from my online store at Amy's Quilting Adventures. ]We will have a supplier in the United States very soon, but right now, the exchange rate is in the US's favor and all feet and templates can be ordered from our site with reasonable shipping.
Thank You
Leonie West
Westalee Design
Australia
Many thanks to Leonie and her husband Bill for answering my questions. Please address any questions regarding the fit of these feet to your specific machine to them. I'll give you a good look at the feet and my work I've done with them Wednesday.
