I have finally achieved the ever elusive scant 1/4 seam and thought that I would share this information with other Bernina owners. I use the #57 1/4 foot. Move the needle to the right 2 positions to the #4 setting for the needle. I also put a piece Qtools sewing edge that I got at Alicia's Attic on the sewing table before the foot to keep the fabric lined up. You can also use a stack of post it notes. I then used a fine tipped permanent marker and made a line down both sides of this guide strip that way I will be able to see if it has shifted and can readjust it if needed. I hope everyone finds this helpful for them.

Happy Quilting,

Robyn

I have a Bernina 430 and I use the quarter inch foot #57 also with the needle one notch over to the right. I'm afraid if I went 2 notches over, I would run risk of breaking a needle. I don't push the edge of the fabric into the guard on that foot, just watch it skim the edge slightly. On my old Bernina 830, I have no quarter inch foot, but click the needle over one click to the right, and follow the edge of the fabric just to the edge of the regular foot, that has a quarter inch width on the right. I learned this on my fist pieced quilt, the tipped houses, where the chimneys did not line up, and moving the needle over one notch fixed that.

I have been using 2 over for a week now with no problems. I had to figure this out for the Eleanor Burns Day and Night quilt that I am making for my son. It's very important to use a scant 1/4 seam with this pattern.

When I need a scant ¼", which isn't often, I use a #37 foot and one click to the right. Two clicks makes the seam allowance too small and the blocks too big.

My Bernina #57 is fine w/o moving the needle. Just wondering how recent you got yours ???

Found this thread by accident and it sure was helpful.

For me, it's foot #37, one click to the right and guide the fabric just inside the feed dogs hole.

Some Bernina feet are on straighter than others. If your foot is on straight or slightly to the left, it doesn't always work -- the needle will hit the foot. So be careful.

I use the #37 foot as well.
I don't understand why you need a scant quarter inch. Can anyone clarify this? Maybe certain patterns? I've never encountered it. I do sew on one machine only per quilt as all quarter inch seams can be different on different machines.

I use the regular foot, #1, on my 440 QE and move the needle over 2 clicks right. The fabric then runs on the edge of the foot in a perfect scan 1/4” seam. I tried the patchwork foot, and the needle hole was too narrow for me.

If you are doing blocks or basically just squares (9 patch for example), use what you want. As long as all the sub blocks are exactly the same size it doesn’t matter. But if you have rectangles, triangles, and other elements in the blocks the sizes won’t be consistent. The turn of the fabric when pressed takes a thread or two in the width, and it adds up. It might be only 1/32 of an inch, but multiple it by 4 or 6 subelements and it becomes 1/8 or more.