I saw the Silesian system being demonstrated at the Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, UK this year and was tempted.

The 5" frame with the straight/curvy ruler and the meander insert came home with me, aswell as the low shank foot for my Janome 4800. So far, so good...... On the first attempt I pulled out an old orphan block and immediately stalled when I met the first seam (admittedly my seams may be better pressed these days) when the seam was 'encouraged' under the foot it jumped a little, making a couple of large stitches. As previously mentioned, most on line demos use a plain sandwich and don't tackle this issue.

Now I've read around this a little, I notice that an adjustable foot might be the way to go. Does anyone manage with a non adjustable foot or will I have to bite the bullet and invest? In the meantime I will keep practising.

I appreciate and help you can give.

Before I got my adjustable Janme foot I got so tired of moving the Westalee foot up and down on the shank that I began compensating by doing the following at thick intersections: 1. Take a stitch, manually raise needle (being careful to hold ruler and fabric in place. 2. Raise foot ny using either the knee lift or the hand lever, 3. Move fabric slightly (equivalent of 1stitch length), 4. Lower presser foot, 5. Take a stitch. 6. Repeat 1-6 until you are past the high spot. This was actually quicker than adjusting the Westalee foot each time I encountered a high spot. The Janome foot is much quicker since all you do is turn a thumb screw to raise or lower it.

I believe that both Juki and Bernina now make a ruler foot that has the thumb screw. Worth checking out.

Another option when dealing with a quilt with lots of bulky seams is to use a hopping ruler foot (that’s what is on my Sweet16), but I’m not sure anyone is making them for domestic machines.

Rob

Do you have a link as to where you bought the non hopping foot? I so want to do this - but, I'm a little afraid of it.

The versa tool would be a really good ruler to start with because you get a nice sized curve as well as a straight line with helpful ends and an angle. Like Angela's rulers it is a comfortable size to hold onto and keeps your fingers a decent distance from the needle, something I found helpful when I first started because there are so many things to pay attention to.

I started my foray into ruler quilting. I used the Versatool for straight lines on a table runner. I used the curved ruler that came with the Westalee foot for an orange peel design on a king size quilt. The ruler snuck under the foot a few times and the foot is set as low as it can get. I assume that is a 301 problem, not a ruler problem. For me the CG rulers will be better because they are thicker than the Westalee, but I can use the Westalee if I'm observant.

Thanks for the reply Rob, I'll give that a try when I next practise. I got sidetracked with sewing string blocks today, you can't stop at just one can you?

I bought it on amazon, not sure of the exact seller but it looks just like this and is the same price range. https://www.amazon.com/FQTANJU-Darni...oot+for+rulers

It can't be adjusted like Rob talks about, but my in expensive domestic machine didn't seem to mind it

I would definitely NOT start with a straight line ruler, unless you just want to practice, because straight lines are most easily doable with a walking foot as you already do. The straight line rulers were designed for longarm quilters that don't have a feed mechanism. They were downscaled to DSM's but I think they aren't needed there.

I would get something with a slight curve or clamshell. Or, get one of the spirograph type rulers if you can find a design you think you would use a bunch. Choosing a ruler is really more about how YOU would use a ruler than anything else. It depends on what you're trying to do.

Actually, using a straight ruler and your ruler foot is easier and faster than using a walking foot for straight line quilting since you don’t have to turn the quilt and you can use the marks on the ruler to keep your spacing accurate without having to do any marking once you’ve got the first line down. I use my straight line ruler more than any of the others for ruler work.

it’s also easier to learn to use your ruler foot if you start with a straight ruler since there is a little bit of a learning curve to ruler placement since your needle is 1/4” away from the edge of the ruler, and itks also easier to learn to keep the foot against the ruler if you start with one that has a straight edge.

Rob

I'm using my Westalee rulers and Westalee ruler foot on my Bernina, and haven't had the same problems that Rob has. I tighten the foot down to its lowest setting and just go. The feed system on a Bernina is different. The feed dogs come up and goes down perpendicular to the needle plate surface. Most other machine feed dogs come up and down at an angle. That might be the difference.

Can you buy any of the Sparrow Quilt Co ruler templates anywhere in the US. Shipping seems quite high from their site in Canada.

This has nothing to do with the feed system since the feed dogs are not used to move the quilt when doing ruler work. Lowering the foot as low as it can go would in fact cause exactly the problem I'm talking about if you have areas on your quilt where multiple seams come together because that area can be just enough thicker than the rest of your quilt to cause the foot to catch. That's the difficulty I was talking about.

Rob

Thank you for this subject! I am at the stage where I want to try ruler quilting. I have had the Janome FMQ foot for awhile & like it, on my 6600. I bought a ruler foot and am trying to determine which rulers I want.

I have several rulers from different companies each have their pros and cons. With that said for those of you wanting to learn how to do ruler work check out Patsy Thompson’s web site and go to her blog for January 2018. She posted a series of free lessons for that month that we’re great. Yes she has her own line of rulers but taught the basics of using straight and curved rulers. http://Www.patsythompsondesigns.com

I'm revisiting this thread, because I am now looking for a low shank ruler foot for my Eversewn, and I would like to hear your thoughts.

If you had it to do again Rob, would you buy a hopping ruler foot similar to this one?
https://www.sewvacdirect.com/search-...q=ruler%20foot

or this one:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...ing+ruler+foot

Or one with no spring, like this one?
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...rds=ruler+foot

I do a lot of free motion....both the whole cloth kind (thread painting for example) and on pieced quilts with lots of seams. Is it overkill to get one of each? I have lots of rulers and a ruler foot for my longarm, but no foot for the domestic...yet. I have learned that either of these low shank feet will fit the Eversewns.

Have any of you used a ruler foot on your Eversewn? What were your experiences?

I would really appreciate any and all input. :)

As did Rob, I purchased the Westalee ruler foot for my Janome more than a year ago along with a starter set of Westalee rulers. This will be a great thread to follow...it might motivate me to use them more.

I have a hopping ruler foot on my Sweet16 that I really like. For my Brother PQ1500s (highshank) I have found the Janome floating fmq with the ruler foot attachment works great and is easy to adjust without unscrewing the foot because it has the thumbscrew that can be used to raise and lower it. My low shank domestics can’t use the Janome foot so I generally use the westalee foot with them. I would definitley check into the hopping ruler feet that you’ve pointed out as an alternative to the westalee since the hopping feet will deal better with bulky seams than a floating foot.

Rob

Thanks, Rob.

Great info! I'm hoping to try out quilting with rulers but I do not have "newer" machines.

Does anyone have recomondations on which ruler foot will be the best for my older machines (LOL "vintage" machines). The machines that I have that can drop the feed dogs are a Bernina 1630 (my newest at 25 years old), a Singer 201, & 301 (slant needle).

I don't know anything about your Bernina, but isn't the 201 a standard short shank machine? Westalee has a ruler foot for the 301 now. I'm just getting acquainted with mine. Whoever you buy from will ask the make of your machine as part of the order.

I have just starting seeing the quilting rulers. Are they worth it? Is there a long learning curve? I am wanting to take my quilting to a new level, and wondering if this would be a good step.

using rulers is more like fmq than like regular sewing since you move the fabric rather than having the feed dogs do so. This means that unless you have a stitch regulated machine you are in charge of both the speed of the stitching and also the how fast you move the fabric.

if you already are comfortable with FMQ then there isn’t much of a learning curve for doing ruler work. The main thing is maintaining concentration so you don’t let the ruler drift away from the foot.

If you have not already learned to FMQ then you will have a bit of a learning curve, just like you would with learning FMQ without rulers.

Rob

I have been bitten by the ruler bug and after 2 years am still loving it. My LQS has several ruler classes for beginners and also a Ruler of the Month class. In the ruler of the month class we used the Westalee starter set (ruler foot and 12" arc ruler) and the 6 piece sampler set and Janet Collins Ruler Design Book to make a 60x40 whole cloth quilt. We ate now starting a QAYG by Angela Attwood using the same ruler sets and working on smaller blocks. I would suggest you watch videos on Youtube from Westalee Design and Sew Steady to see if it is something you think you might like. There are so many rulers and it does get expensive if you decide you like it. I am working on a quilt currently using the apple core template and I have another top that I want to do baptist fan with the circle template. As others have stated you will need to purchase a ruler foot for your machine and I would recommend you make sure it is specific for your machine; my Pfaff Select 3 uses a short shank foot but my Pfaff Performance 5 uses a medium shank foot and they are not interchangeable, they both use short shank rulers, thank goodness. The hardest part of using rulers is learning how coordinate movement of fabric and hands while holding ruler in place; practice, practice and more practice.

I am a newbie to both FMQ and ruler quilting. My machine is a Janome 8900QCP. I purchased a couple of the Angela Walters rulers, Slim and Taj. I can't imagine using anything longer than the Slim which is about eight inches long. You are trying to hold the ruler down on the quilt top whilst moving it under the foot. It does take a bit of getting used to. This might sound silly but it took a while for my brain to remember to hold the ruler down extra firmly as I start to stitch a line. When I don't do that the ruler foot 'pushes' the ruler out of the way even with the grip dots on the back of the ruler. Next I need to master placing the ruler in positions where I am moving the quilt side to side or towards me. It isn't always easy to see where I am going which means constantly spinning the sandwich on the machine resulting in way more wrestling than just doing regular FMQ. With the Taj ruler I found that my ruler foot tended to 'jump' off the tip of the ruler. Won't be using that until I get a lot more practice. As previous posters have stated that is what it is going to come down to.....patience and a lot of practice.

I have the Eversewn Sparrow 30, and got the Westalee ruler foot and what little I've used it, it works fine...well, the foot works...not so much the operator! Rumor has it a LQS will be offering classes soon and I'm looking forward to that.