I have a Janome Horizon and purchased the 1/4" quilting foot with the metal flange. I can make consistent 1/4" seams, but I measure before starting a new project. I have a little plastic guage with a hole in it. I put the needle through the hole and check it for accuracy. Better safe than sorry. Once you get it adjusted, you can't hardly drag it out of alignment. I had to get one to keep me accurate. $23.95 at Janeome, locally.

Scant is such an inaccurate term. Hand grenades and horse shoes. Somebody come up with the proper measurement please. We need a millwright's rule already, so why not name it.

Just as I got really comfortable with a 1/4 inch seam, some diabolical member of the quilt police came up with "scant 1/4 inch," and absolutely meaningless designation that has no reliable definition. Someone wrote to move the seam over "one thread." Here is a hot flash for all you flashers: All threads in fabric are not equal! Some are thick and some are thin and some are in between. Likewise the thread with which you are sewing.

How about giving yourself a break, along with the rest of us? Go back to the 1/4 inch seam, try to sew straight and leave the scant 1/4 inch to all the sadists out there who just can't leave well enough alone.

Keep that seam simple, sewists! froggyintexas

That makes too much sense! lol

There is an adjustable edge stitch foot. I have one for my Janome and my BabyLock. You can adjust the guide to the required distance from the needle. I have better luck with the scant 1/4" with that foot. If I am making a quilt for myself or for charity, I use the 1/4" foot. As long as all the seams are the same, it doesn't matter. If I am making blocks for a block exchange, I use the adjustable edge stitch foot so that I have a consistent scant 1/4". Life is too short to stress over seam allowances.

Norma

I was looking for help because everything was cut right and all sewn with a 1/4 " exactly and my blocks were not measuring up correctly. THAT'S WHY I brought the subject to the board. And you know what? Now I have several 8 1/2" perfect blocks! Believe me I'd love to sew the 1/4" and be done with it, but it wasn't working for me. I don't know about you but I'm not sewing just to listen to the machine, I want to make a quilt where all squares line up! Now you go back to your 1/4" seams and let us sadists who aren't doing so great using that method find a solution. How about THAT???????

Gale in Texas

Thanks Linda, Yes Pfaff has the dual feed, called IDT and I have it on both of my machines. In fact it comes on almost all of their machines, I believe, except the Hobby ones or less expensive ones.

What did you change doing to get your blocks to come out to the right size now?

(Whatever you did, glad you got the blocks to come out to the size you are hoping for)

When cutting your fabric, it helps to place the line for the measurement you want ontop of the fabric, not off the edge of the fabric. If you are placing that line off the edge of the fabric, you are cutting the piece a "scant" too small. There should not be extra fabric showing beyond the line, however. Just make sure the entire thickness of the line is ontop of the fabric, nothing more, nothing less. This "scant" stuff is something we all struggle with to get right. You have tons of company!

bear is gray, I did the 3 strip test that I believe you had suggested, tested and found my 'spot' at 3.8. It's perfect for 'this' quilt and I couldn't be happier. I'll continue to test every quilt with this method. Saved my sanity plus I'm going to get a beautiful quilt to boot. Can't beat that with a stick.

The three strip test really takes only a few minutes to do - glad it worked for you this time.

There are so many variables that can cause size differences in a block. After one finds 'the sweet spot' - it's important to try to continue/maintain what one did for that project. (If one has to put it away before it's done - it's helpful to put a note with the project - stating what ruler one used, where one places the ruler on the fabric like JustAbitCrazy suggested - which by the way, is where I place my ruler when cutting - which sewing machine with what presser foot and what settings, which kind of thread one was using, etc.)

I first learned about the 3-strip 'test' from Mary Ellen Hopkins in her "The It's Okay if You Sit on My Quilt Book"

It's a book I highly recommend.

I have the same machine...I use the 1/4" foot with the flange with the accufeed system and set my stitch width to 6.0 and my stitch length to 2.0. Make sure your needle clears the foot by turning the wheel by hand to test it. When I use these settings my blocks are spot on..

I will no longer use the scant seam. Both times I have used it has been on high quality cotton fabric and both times the seams have frayed so bad in places that it is in need of repair before it is even used. I am trying to figure out how to change things to use a one half inch seam in everything I make. I have decided that adding 1/4 in to each side of a piece will do that. So if I want a 5 inch block I think I would cut it 6 inches to accomplish this.
If someone can give me a better clue I would appreciate it.

Your post has me filled with questions -

* Did you wash/preshrink your fabrics before cutting them? SOME fabrics do shrink a lot and will pull out of a seam.
* How 'scant' are you making your seams?
* Most 'high quality cotton fabric' that I've used has held up very well with 1/4" seams. Even some 'less-expensive' fabrics have held up well.
* How and how much was the item quilted? Or was it tied?
* I do have an older book that uses 1/2 inch seams. It's called "Quilt Like a Pro" by Kaye Wood - original Copyright 1983 and Revised 1989. The illustrations look rather primitively drawn, but it seems to have good information in it.

With bearisgray's permission, I would add another question.

* Are you cutting your pieces on a straight fabric grain, either length or width? All but the very loosely woven fabrics will fray far less if their edges are as close to the grain line (i.e., a single thread running top to bottom) as you can make them. This is true for even the 'bargain brand' woven fabrics.

Fabrics want to look neat and tidy so they try to shed all their 'loose ends' to even up their edges. :) Once the edges are even, they're happy and they stop fraying.

Also, if the scant business is a problem for you, why not just use a regular quarter inch? Why go to the trouble of trying to increase everything to a half inch? That's too much math for me and I'm a math geek big time. It would also use a lot of fabric that will never be seen, put bulk in the seam joints, be difficult to keep accurate (no ½" foot that I know of), and throw off all the formulas for things like HSTs and setting triangles. Why not try a standard quarter inch seam for awhile and see how you feel? Just a suggestion.

I don't see the sense in scant 1/4" seam, as long as every seam is done the same size it doesn't really matter - just that the overall size of the quilt will be slightly smaller.

I also have a Janome , used the quarter inch foot and all my seams were were too big.Removed the little material guide that was on it and use the edge of the foot as my guide.Perfect 1/4 in seam.

I agree. Me and the "scant 1/4" seam" parted company a long time ago. Saves me a lot of grief and frustration and I don't think my quilts look that different.

I found this ruler( Perfect Piecing Seam Guide Perfect Scant 1/4" Seam) By Perkins Dry Goods
You use it to move your needle to get a perfect scant it work great!

I feel your pain!! I have a Janome Horizon, and bought the accufeed 1/4" foot. I sew about 10 feet for a 4 patch sashing only to realize that it sewed 3/8" seams. My fault. I should have tested it first. The needle needs to be moved over, way over to give 1/4" seams. Guess what I did for 5 hours yesterday. :-((

I have the 6600P and I can move my foot over to 4.7 or more (to the right) so I don't quite understand why you don't have much room to move your needle over? As I am quite a few days behind and have only a limited time on here right now I am not reading the full thread, so I hope someone was able to help you with this who has the same machine

I have a 1/4" foot but prefer to use reg foot & move needle over. Put a post-it on machine to remind me.....

I still like the saying "If you can't see it while riding a horse ten feet away, don't worry about it'. No one is perfect and no one's quilt should be either. But I do use the 1/4inch foot on my Janome 7700.