orangeroom

In a nut shell, tell the person who is selling you the presser foot that you are a quilter and you need the appropriate presser foot for 1/4" for piecing/quilting purposes.

When I originally purchased my Emerald, the woman selling was not the Viking saleswoman and had no clue. I got home and made a few 'house' blocks and for some bizarre reason all the new ones I made with my (not cheap) new machine were all wonky. I got very frustrated, and was ready to return my machine, but called the store instead. I was directed to call another store as there I could speak to a Viking saleswoman and not someone who was just filling in and had no knowledge. Amazing what a difference it was speaking to a true quilter and saleswoman of the product. She also convinced me to buy the walking foot. At $30 I was hesitant, but am so glad I did and knowing now how easy it is to sew on 1/2 my binding with it, would spend a lot more for it! Good luck!

Oh, I'd also go with the presser foot that has the little silver guide to the right of it. Granted I lived, pieced and sewed without it for ~20 years, but LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it now! If you have any other questions, you can always pm me!!!

maviskw

I find it easy to do the scant 1/4 inch seam. I just make sure I can't see the fabric peeking out from under the 1/4 inch presser foot. I taught my granddaughter to do the same, as we make quilts together, and I found she was making the seams quite a bit wider than mine. Now we both do it the same way, and our pieces fit together.

katesnanna

What I learned was 2 threads widths less than 1/4". At the time I was doing Lights in the Window and I did find that it made all the difference. I'd been having trouble getting everything to line up but once I tried the scant 1/4" it all just fell into place. I use it all the time. Teacher at the time said it allowed for turnings.

KnitnutBZ

I agree. Unless you have points to worry about and or a particular finished size, I feel as long as you keep all your seams the same size who cares.

charhend

To my knowledge a scant 1/4" is one thread less than a full 1/4". Years ago when I took quilting classess thats how the teacher explained it to us.

psumom

I do exactly the same!! And, I love prewound bobbins.....polyester....they last forever!

Dodie

I do not understand why someone grabbed this scant quarter inch and ran with it for years I have been using quarter
inch and never had a problem the quarter inch is very narrow and I do not want my quilts pulling apart by trying to go to narrow besides I learned to quilt the Mary Ellen Hopkins way which was ppm measurement ppm being personal private measurement and it is accuracy and consistancy that works I still use the quarter inch and have no trouble

lfletcher

Scant 1/4" seams drive me crazy. I sew everything with my 1/4" foot. The only exception is if I'm involved in a block exchange and they have asked me to use a scant 1/4", then I try my best. I just don't get the reasoning. As far as I know, there is no such thing as a scant 1/4" foot for any machine.

Caswews

You are so right SewMary... something NOT to stress over and enjoy what we are making..

Neesie

This routine scant 1/4" just seem ridiculous, to me. For years and years, quilters used 1/4" seams and as long as they made the seam properly, things turned out fine. Points were right where they should be, etc. Fact is, it doesn't really matter what size seam you use, as long as you cut your pieces exactly and sew your seams consistently. I can understand using it with HSTs, as it's easier to reduced the seam allowance, than to cut the block that fraction of a millimeter larger.

Perhaps, with the increased popularity of rotary cutters, some people have lost the skill to cut accurately.