Some of my machines don't let me move the needle, so I have to use some kind of a guide. A quarter inch foot does a quarter inch, so have to squinch the fabric over. Not easy for me. I still struggle with the 1/4 inch.

try Moleskin..it is sticky on one side..removable..you will find it in the foot area of your drug store. just cut a strip of it.
the rest of the advise was great!

I have a Janome 6300 and I adjust the width to 4.5 and use the 1/4 inch foot and it gives me a scant 1/4 inch.
It's just where you can adjust the stitch length and width. I assume your machine has that feature.

I find it a lot easier to use moleskin than a special foot. As someone else mentioned, moleskin is available in the foot section of pharmacies. I use my rotary cutter to cut strips of it to have on hand.

To position the moleskin, I use my favorite ruler (you can also use 4-to-the-inch graph paper) and lower the needle so it touches a little to the right of the 1/4" mark. I make sure the ruler is positioned straight from front to back (I often place another ruler next to the one I am using and position the straight lines on the ruler in relation to the needle plate markings), then lower the presser foot to hold it in place. I remove the backing paper from a strip of moleskin and position it so it butts right up against the edge of my ruler. I like the moleskin to run as far as possible to both the front and back of the ruler; helps me keep the fabric feeding evenly.

I find with this physical barrier that I can sew long strips together much faster than by using my eyes alone, plus it is easier and more accurate.

Moleskin is one of my favorite notions.

one other thing to note is that when you are cutting, most ppl have the line on the rule off the fabric, the line on the rule should be part of the fabric.

Thanks for the suggestions of moleskin and even a smaller stack of post-its!!

Also, the comment about cutting with the ruler measurement marking a bit on the fabric instead of beyond the fabric. I learned that the hard way on my first big quilt that had numerous pieces per block--I ended up almost a 1/4 inch short on every single block so I had to cut them down and then the matching sub-seams were not even from block to block. When I thought about it, I realized that the way I placed the ruler on the fabric made the cut just a hair short; so that combined with the fabric "lost" in the seam I was bound to end up a bit short on the block size.

There are some on ebay that has a guide bar on there that keeps your fabric in liine and it gives a scant 1/4
I got mine off there after doing a search for sewing machines.
Tammy

You can also build up layers (5 or 6) of your blue tape so you can feel the ridge.

Great idea! :thumbup: :thumbup: Thanks