one way is to put your needle down, put a small ruler against the needle and find the 1/4" mark...put a little dot...mark a couple dots in line...just inside of the 1/4" mark so you have a scant 1/4"...then run a piece of masking tape along your dots...so you have a guide that is straight and a scant 1/4". sometimes when a pattern calls for scant seams people will cut larger...stitch then trim to size instead of having to deal with it...but i have found a guide on the machine works pretty good.