Jannie

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.

rryder

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

Three Dog Night

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.

Cattitude

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.

SuziSew

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.