cathyre

I have the circle attachment for my Bernina machine and I love it , I have done lots of circle and used the "fancy" stitches on my machine , they look wonderful . I have been collecting fabric's with spots on for a quilt to hang in my son showroom , I will do it with lots of circles on it .

redstilettos

Watching this thread, as I want to do circles some time soon, too.....

Watson

Circular attachment? Who knew?
I will have to look into that.
See, this is why I ask here, everyone has so much knowledge to share!

Watson

So how come at one sewing store they are $39.99 and at another well known place they are $99.00 and it looks like exactly the same thing?

Becky's Crafts

If your plates, saucers and mugs have the right sizes, I would do what feels more comfortable. Either trace around the proper sizes directly on the quilt and then have to wash it (which you'll probably do anyway), or use your ruler foot and try to get some more practice in. I do a lot with templates when I'm not sure of myself, but there are lots of circle rulers out there! I like one from Nancy's Notions where I got my ruler foot. She's got lots of new ruler sets out there.

rryder

Hey Watson,
There are a couple of circle templates you can use with your ruler foot.

Westalee makes one that has 4 different sizes of half circles cut around the perimeter of a square. I use that one to make concentric circles on some of my quilts and have been pretty successful with it but it can be tricky to keep everything lined up.

There are also some Westalee and other ruler templates out there that are full circles. Some are ring shaped and they have a little keyhole to slip your ruler foot inside. Some are solid circles that you run your ruler foot around the outside of. I don't know if any of these come in sets with different sizes, or if you would have to buy a number of different sizes individually.

Also, TopAnchor makes a Baptist fan template for long arms that you could probably use to make full circles with, I'm not positive about that and it would only work for you if you have a machine with a high shank since the template is 1/4" thick. Amy Johnson has used that one for Baptist fan patterns. You might want to contact her and ask her what she would recommend. She has a shop that is connected to her blog: Amy's quilting adventures and she has been very quick to answer when I've emailed her with questions.

Check the Westalee website to see what they have on offer and I think Allbrands.com sometimes has pretty good prices on templates for ruler work.

Rob

<object type="cosymantecnisbfw" cotype="cs" id="SILOBFWOBJECTID" style="width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block;"></object>

rryder

I also have the generic circular attachment that Nancy's notions sells and have used it on my machine when doing decorative stitches. The one I have sticks down to the machine table and has a plastic arm that you slide a pin through to get the size circle you want. The pin holds the fabric to the arm at the center of where you want your circle and you rotate your fabric around the pin using a regular foot or a walking foot with the feed dogs up--does a great job at sewing circles on one or two thicknesses of fabric. I haven't tried using mine for quilting, but I don't think it would work for quilting as it's not made to handle the thickness of the quilt sandwich and you'd have to shove the entire bulk of the quilt around the pin (therefore through the throat of your machine) for every circle. I don't think it would work very well with the feed dogs down for FMQ, but I haven't tried doing that with it.

I don't know if the ones made for specific machines like the one that Bernina makes would handle the bulk involved with quilting. Even if they do, I think you would still have to rotate the entire quilt around the attachment since you would probably get a better result using it with a walking foot rather than trying to FMQ with it.

Rob<object type="cosymantecnisbfw" cotype="cs" id="SILOBFWOBJECTID" style="width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block;"></object>

PaperPrincess

Do you have an extension table on your machine? If so, just get a sturdy thumb tack (not a push pin)and some duct tape. First you need to draw a reference line from your needle to the left. Use a piece of stiff paper to establish an exact straight sewing line. Then Put a piece of scotch tape from the needle out to the left on your extension table. This will make the next step reverseable. Use a fine sharpie to draw a line on the cello tape from the needle exactly perpendicular to the sewing line, using a square up ruler and the reference paper on the sewing line. Now you can remove the paper. Take the thumb tack and push it thru the sticky side of the duct tape. Decide what size circle you want and measure half that distance on the line you drew, starting at the needle position. Tape the thumb tack pointy side up on this measurement. Try to get the point to be exactly over the line. Now take your sandwich and push the tack thru the center of where you want your circle. You can secure with a gum eraser. Sew slowly, rotating the sandwich around the tack. To make concentric circles, just move the tack along the reference line, keeping the tack in the same hole as the first circle. You can make really large circles this way. Most of the attachments will only do smaller sizes. My extension table is really old and it came with holes already drilled to the left of the needle so I can stick a long tack in from the bottom and tape it in place. This is the same method used by woodworkers. Look on you tube for videos on band saw circle cutting jigs, which should five you a better idea.

quiltedsunshine

I like to make my shapes on my Microsoft Publisher program then print them on cardstock. Cut out the shape and put double-stick tape on the back. I usually use my walking foot. Come to think of it, if you drew the circles on and used your walking foot, it would be a smoother circle. I'm always surprised at how easily my walking foot turns.

Those circle attachments would work on a smaller quilt, but it would be difficult to feed a big quilt all the way around that circle.

Bree123

I just love all the advice on this thread! I've been thinking about asking Santa for one of those Westalee FMQ circle rulers, "Circles on Quilts". They have 2 different sets -- one that does 2-12" circles (x.0") and the other does 2.5-12.5" circles (x.5"). You turn the ruler on its axis rather than turning the quilt. The video looks really nice -- but of course, who knows how many hours the lady practiced before shooting the video. I'm definitely going to keep following this thread. Thanks so much for posting this question, Watson!

Texas_Sue

Bree, your quilting is really great. I love the entire effect your circle makes around the old fashioned sun bonnet Sue. Thanks for sharing.