Fun with Templates & Rulers--on a DSM!
 

Hello All! I've been MIA from this board for quite awhile, but just had to come back and share this with you.

Last spring I bought a starter set of Sew Steady Westalee templates and rulers along with a ruler foot to fit my domestic machine from my LQS. The guys there are so funny; whenever they get something new in, they tell me "We got something you need..." I had never seen these, but the clamshell template really caught my interest. I've been trying to do consistent clamshells for a long time and have never been really satisfied with them.

These are some of the sample pieces I did to try them out, and I'm having so much fun playing with them!

Here's the first one; it's just a little larger than placemat size. This is actually the 2nd piece I did with these rulers. The first one had more free motion elements in it. This does have some echoing and some small fill between the parallel lines that is free motion, but for the most part it is done using the rulers from the sampler set.
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Here are a few smaller sample pieces using some of the templates; the large rotating arc, a 2" clamshell, circles and the straight ruler.
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These next two are placemats.
On the orange one, I use the little straight ruler, the small arc, and one of the "Spin E Fex" rotating templates.
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The purple one is done with the feather template and the straight/arc ruler.
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These templates & rulers are a little pricey, but they sure are fun and it doesn't take very long to learn to use them if you have a little free motion quilting skill. The ruler foot comes in a few different versions so you can get one to fit most any brand domestic machine, so if you decide to try these, be sure to get the one that's right for yours.

*No, I am not in any way affiliated with the company that makes these, just having a ton of fun with them. I started learning to FMQ about 6 years ago, and you can find my earlier posts on this board, as this is really where I came for a lot of advice and encouragement when I started out. I have become a passionate (read "obsessed") hobby quilter, in part because of all the help from members of this board!

Wendy G

beautiful work, Wendy. I amazed and delighted every time you share.

You have done some beautiful work with these rulers. Thanks for sharing. Are you going to try a larger quilt to see if you can keep it balanced? It is so hard to keep a large quilt in place. Are there tutorials that help you learn how to use them?

Thanks again for showing so your fabulous work.
peace

I found a few videos on youtube by doing a search on "Westalee" rulers & templates. They were enough to get me started, but I had to experiment a bit to get things just the way I wanted them. The feather template was the most difficult to learn to use; placement is everything with that one!

I have used some of these rules on larger pieces. Having a large, flat surface to support the rest of the quilt is a must. You need to be able to "pool" the part you are working on and not have the rest of the quilt create any drag.

You quilting is exceptionally great. Guess the rulers work for you.

Positively droolworthy! I am always in awe of your mastery of FMQ on a domestic.

Thanks for the inspiring pictures of your really great ruler work. I have wondered about these for some time and debated with self, if I should go for it. You have egged me on some.

Just beautiful. Good purchase, I would say.

I have a longarm so I really don't need these rulers, but I am amazed at how well you have done with them on a domestic machine. I really don't understand how they work, but might check them out because sometimes I like to quilt some small projects on my domestic.