Same here! What my Viking foot with guide got me was a consistently smaller block due to a larger than 1/4" seam. No longer use it, just the edge of my regular foot and sometimes a purple strip or tape to help mark the seam.

The only time I use my foot with the guide is when I'm sewing on the binding. Everything butts nicely.
MaryKatherine

It doesn't matter what 1/4 inch foot I use, I always adjust the needle to make a scant 1/4 inch placement. My machine has 18 needle positions....that is where I find my accuracy, as well as watching where my hands are as the pieces are being fed. I learned in a serger class that left hand placement and motion was causing my fabric to be pulled to the left as I was serging. Then I noticed I was trying to help my fabric along the same way on my sewing machine.

Having the guide has helped me be more accurate, but it is still possible to wander off at the end of a seam. Quit worrying about "scant." Nobody really knows what it means and if, as some people say, it involves one or two threads, that is too ridiculous to consider. froggyintexas

The 1/4 inch foot with the guide is intended for sewing long strips, not for piecing individual blocks where you have to go over intersecting seams. Some don't have issues with that process but it can mess up the blade on the foot when you go over the bulk.

I have a piece of blue (painter's tape) for visual, and I use the edge of the foot and move my needle (Pfaff). If I am doing fairly large or long straight edge pieces, I clip a small plastic ruler to the plastic Sew Mate bed with a metal office clip, lined up with the edge of the foot and that gives me a good solid source to butt the fabric edge up to so I don't "sway" but it is also quickly removed when I don't need it any more. I make dolls and stuff too so I don't want something that is going to be cumbersome to switch back and forth. :-)

Marysewfun

Hi Annie Pearl. I once saw a great hint for achieving the scant 1/4" seam. I don't recall where but it works so well and can easily be checked for accuracy at any time: You need a standard index card. The lines on those cards are exactly 1/4" apart. Just sew a few stitches along one line then, using your needle placement feature (I'm assuming you have one) to move the needle one "click" to the right or left and you should have a very nice scant 1/4" seam.

I have a couple of Viking machines and I do not like the foot with the guide--I prefer without. I pin various pieces and if I didn't get the pin out soon enough it hit the guide and made the seam off

I love my 1/4" foot with guide. I always pin from the left so I don't have to remove pins until I've completely sewn the seam.

I love, love, love my 1/4" foot with the guide! I used the one that came with my Bernina for years, then bought the one with the guide and now it's is soooo much easier to sew that small seam accurately. As was mentioned earlier, I don't have to hunch over to watch the edge of the foot because the guide gives me more visual area on which to focus. Of course, there are times when I need to use the regular foot, as when sewing the seam on each side of the center diagonal line for HSTs.

Anne P in Seattle