quilt templates for regular machine quilting
 

Has anyone used the templates as sold in the Nancy's Notions catalog and many other places. The hardest part of the quilt for me is the quilting. I don't meander well even and can't make a design free hand. In art I could not even draw a stick person. I have wanted to buy these for 2 years now but don't know anybody that has used them and the reviews could be biased.
Thank you
Evelyn

Are you referring to the ruler foot & template combos? I just got mine and have been playing around on my 15-88 treadle machine. These rulers and templates are a blast! It is so fun seeing the designs being formed. I have never done any FMQ up to this point, so learning how to move the quilt, hang on to the rulers, and keep treadling steady is interesting and challenging. I have the kit from Westalee and do not regret the purchase.

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Looks good to me. Are these templates for any machine and can you tell me how much they cost? Thank you.

I bought the starter set from Amy's Quilting Adventures but haven't practiced with it yet. It came with the ruler foot, an adjustment guide, 'stable tape' and a great template with a curve on one side and a straight side. That starter set costs $55.00 If you go to the Westalee site, they have many, many rulers.

I am looking at the starter set on Nancy's Notions and they are $119 and quite an assortment. I sure do want them. I am going to look at Amy's Quilting Adventures.
Thank you
Evelyn

I have the larger set from Nancy's Notions. Right now they have it for $119., and I thought that was fair. Everywhere else they have the ruler foot kit for $55. and then the additional templates, ruler, and design book for another $75.

eta: The foot and rulers are available for high & low shank machines. I believe that the Berina needs an adapter. I have the low shank for my 1932 Singer 15-88 and it is working sweet. The foot floats over the fabric, to pivot you just need your needle down. I am really having fun:-)

Here's my question: I have both high and low shank machines. Am I going to have to buy 2 ruler foot, or can I use the shank adapter to turn the low into a high?

I'm not aware of any adapter that turns low shank into high shank. There are adapters(or used to be)that are for using low shank feet on a high shank machine. The Bernina adapter is only for use on Berninas.

Cari

Most Bernina's take a short shank ruler foot with a #77 adapter. The 7 and 8 series Bernina's take a mid-shank ruler foot plus the #77 adapter. Or, you can get the Bernina ruler foot #72, which is really awesome! Just snap it on, and it has a built-in height adjuster.

I've had a lot of fun with my Westalee rulers and foot, on my Bernina. I like them so much, I got a set for my longarm. Here's a picture of the sampler I made for the class I teach.

I quilt on a long arm , but just wanted to say that most LA rulers run about $20-25 each (or a small set) so these prices sound pretty darn good!

They are fun to play with I haven't used on real quilt yet but have the foot for my DSM and just got a longarm so I have 2 ways of playing but I highly recommend them

I have a set of these and am just starting to play with them. Bought at my LQS and they gave a beginners class on how to use them, now they are offering a monthly class using the starter set and then we will start on a sample quilt along the lines of what quiltedsunshine posted above.

I have wondered how these would work trying to negotiate a big quilt and hold them down at the same time. I saw them demonstrated but it was only on a small sample, not a large piece.

Thank you for your question about ruler work. It gave me the desire to look in to the possibilities ruler work offers.

A part of me would love to learn how to do ruler work but the other part of me is scared to try. I love what I see others do though!

Can't comment unless know which product you refer. But just a comment. Machine quilting is not only straight lines and meandering free motion. Free motion is not just " winging it". Machine quilting gained popularity when continuous line stencils were created. They eliminated the many starts and stops in usual quilting designs. All over background designs were not done. That was only when long arm machines became available. Machine quilting tried to duplicate hand quilting. So, look beyond meandering and rulers when thinking of machine quilting. Companies have continuous line stencils especially created for machine quilting.

I'm doing a class right now on rulers and the end result will be a Quilt as you go quilt. It is really fun.
It is very exacting though, so if you aren't a real detail person it may not be for you.

Watson

I've done a lot of ruler work on larger sized quilts--over sized Double bed quilts and also 1 Queen. I have a Brother PQ1500s, (9" to right of the needle) that I'm now using for most of my quilting but before that I did ruler work using my vintage Brother VX560 (6-7 inch to right of needle) and also on my Brother PC420prw (7 inches to right of needle). I've used both the Westalee foot (on the smaller Brothers) and the Janome convertible free motion foot with the ruler foot attachment on my PQ1500s. As long as you have good support on all sides of your quilt and are comfortable managing the bulk of the quilt (I like to just squish or "puddle" it around the machine) it's no harder to do ruler work on the large quilts than it is to do regular free motion quilting on larger quilts. There is a learning curve since you need to remember to keep the ruler against the foot and you have to estimate a quarter inch space away from your intended end point, but really, if you can already FMQ, then you can do ruler work on your domestic machine.

I use the rulers as a way to avoid having to spend much time marking, and also I have a couple of the neat specialty ones that make snowflake patterns and curlycue patterns--those are fun to just plop down on the quilt. There are also some marking tools that allow you to quickly mark out parallel lines, or radiating lines and you can use those marks in conjunction with the marks on your rulers to do lots of cool things.

I like to use a combination of ruler work and FMQ, so for example, I might use rulers to make a nice straight line grid that I then fmq some fillers for texture. Or I might use a ruler to make a nice curve to be the spine of a feather, and then freehand the feathers. I've also gotten to where I prefer to just leave my ruler foot on all the time--I find that for me the visibility is every bit as good as with even an open toe quilting foot because I know exactly where in the foot the needle is going to land and I know that the edges of the foot are exactly 1/4" from the needle all the way around--this is great for echoing (which is a good way to keep your quilting continuous line while moving around the quilt).

You can do designs that require lots of stops and starts, or you can move straight from a ruler design into a freehand design without breaking thread once you learn and get comfortable with some freehand filler and background patterns. The main thing is lots of practice with quilt sandwiche and practice doodling with pen and paper. Even though you are moving the quilt, not the machine, doodling designs with pen and paper helps your brain figure out how to move from one area to another without breaking thread (continuous line doodles) and that is a skill that will enable you to move all around your quilt without breaking thread too often.

Rob

thank you Rob. I recently got the Westalee foot for my PQ1500 and one starter template/ruler. It works fine when I do everything you say, which is not always!! I have to remember to hold the ruler to the foot and also am still learning about the 1/4 distance. Some of my work is acceptable and some isn't so great, and I find on a practice piece it is easier than a real quilt. I made a big sampler quilt and am practicing with the template/ruler, doing some actual marking of stencils, ditch stitching (which even with the walking foot or with the ditch foot is very hard for me. I don't enjoy it. I might try it with the FMQ foot which I think for me is easier). But I am going to keep at it with the ruler and hope that it improves enough to satisfy me.

I did buy the Nancy's Notions set and I have been having fun with it. No ready to do it on a quilt yet. Want to be able to do the entire quilt moving along and not stopping and restarting after the design. That is what I am working on.