What I have to remind myself all the time is to just slow down. I find it's easier to be accurate that way.

I think its like riding a bike, if you go to slow then you cant go in a straight line. the 1/4 inch foot helps you get the right seam allowance and the edge is supposed to help make it consistent, but a little practice first will go a long way toward building your confidence and gaining speed! You can do it!

This is the best piece of advice you will ever get - "WATCH THAT FABRIC". If you are feeding the fabric in correctly, the needle will stitch it correctly.

Ditto!

I can't sew accurately with a 1/4 foot. It requires constant detailled attention to the foot's edge. What I do instead is cut strips of the thickest moleskin I can find (sold in foot section of pharmacy), cut it into strips, and place it on the bed of my machine to create a physical barrier for the fabric to butt up against.

Here's how I position the moleskin accurately. I get out my favorite ruler and lower the needle so it is just to the right of the 1/4" line on my ruler. Lower the presser foot to keep the ruler in place, then check to make sure ruler is straight from front to back. Unpeel the adhesive from the back of the moleskin and adhere the moleskin to the bed of the machine, using the ruler edge to keep it straight.

It's a good idea to sew some test strips to make sure the seam is accurate. (I sew three 2.5" strips together, press, and then measure to make sure I am getting an exact 6.5" of width.)

With this physical barrier, I am able to sew strips together very fast with excellent accuracy. There's no way I could get the same results by using a 1/4" foot!

I agree!

Thanks for the tips about moleskin I will be trying that soon!
:D

I have problems with my hands. So, to make my sewing easier I bought a 1/4" foot with a flange guide. All I have to do is butt the fabric against the guide and sew. No real hand-eye coordination mishaps for me now.

ali

I will add that there is an additional advantage to using a physical barrier such as the moleskin. If you are really careless or suffer an extreme lapse of attention, chances are the seam will simply be too small and all you have to do is re-sew that area (assuming you are pressing seams to the side, which is what I am mostly doing). If the seam is too big, you have to rip the previous stitching out; however, it's hard to make the seam too big when the moleskin is there as a stop.

I teach my beginners this...unthread your machine..
now draw lines on a piece of paper..sometimes notebook paper lines are a 1/4" apart, and then butt your paper against that foot and sew....just sew on the paper with NO thread so you can see the holes and see what you are doing...