One important thing is you should be using a ruler foot on your machine, not the regular darning foot that you use for fmq. A ruler foot is higher than a regular foot. You need this so the foot won't slide under the ruler and damage your machine. Some sewing machine brands sell a ruler foot. If your brand doesn't you can get both a low shank and a high shank ruler foot thru Westalee. I got mine and a bunch of Westalee rulers for a low shank machine from AllBrands.com.