Originally Posted by bearisgray
Originally Posted by Marcy J.
I am a firm believer in a scant 1/4" s.a. for accuracy in the size of finished blocks. However, this brings up another delima. I have Harriet Hargrave's first "Quilter's Academy" where she advises to avoid moving the needle position. I have also heard this from a teacher on You Tube.
Whether moving the needle position or not, how do I heed the advise on one of these posts that we should not watch the needle or the pressure foot when sewing a straight seam. This seems to require a quide of some kind to follow. I do use an adhesive quide, but it needs to be moved for diagonal seams or where you might have to use pins. Hope I am making myself clear. I am sure someone here has some thoughts on this.
I also move the needle to make a "scanter" seam when sewing diagonal seams to end up with what I'm hoping for. I have not figured out "why" I seem to need to do this.
Once I learned about using a 50/3 thread, a thinner, yet strong thread like Aurifil for example, that virtually eliminated my need for using a scant 1/4". This thinner thread takes up less room in the seam, so I'm not needing to move my needle over. This is a real boon for me as some of my older machines do not have any additional or many needle positions to use.
The only time I ever seem to need to use a scant 1/4 anymore is if I'm working with a real thick fabric.
Hope this helps,