Hey Everyone, welcome back to Technique Tuesday.
Pretty much all seams in quilting are a quarter inch unless you are working on a special project or technique like the 1 ½″ Ohio Star blocks I created last week.
All measurements are based on a quarter inch seam allowance. We have all discovered that if our cutting is out just an ⅛″ or our seams are out an ⅛″ then the quilt can be out by an inch or more by the time we get to the end. These little eighths of an inch can add up very quickly.
Having a quarter inch foot for the sewing machine is ideal but what if you don’t have a quarter inch foot for your sewing machine. The machine that I started out quilting on I couldn’t get a quarter inch foot and they didn’t make one for it.
If you do not have a ¼″ foot never fear there are ways around this to create perfect quarter inch seams.
Creating a Quarter Inch Foot
First of all pick the foot you want to work with – usually it is the standard foot that your machine comes with for sewing regular ⅝″ seams.
Sew a seam with the fabric at the edge of the foot. Take the piece off the machine and measure the distance from the edge of the fabric to the stitching line.
Measure seam. An accurate quarter inch is what we want.
If the distance is more than a ¼″ then the fabric needs to be moved under the foot more, closer to the needle. Sew another seam and measure again. Repeat this process until the seam is an accurate ¼″.
If the distance is less than a ¼″ then the fabric needs to be moved away from the needle. The fabric will now be sticking out beyond the edge of the foot. Sew another seam and measure again. Repeat this process until the seam is an accurate ¼″.
Once you have determined where the ¼″ is with the foot being used then place a piece of masking tape starting on the needle plate and running down the machine towards you. The left edge of the masking tape will be where the fabric lines up to create a ¼″ seam.
Place a piece of masking tape along the machine where there quarter inch mark is.
There are also self adhesive vinyl strips that can be used for this purpose and they are called Sewing Edge.
Self adhesive vinyl strips.
Vinyl strip in place – easy to see and has a slight edge to run fabric along.
As you can see from the steps above it is possible to sew an accurate ¼″ seam without a quarter inch foot.
Happy Quilting!
Even the new quarter inch feet with the guide have to be checked. Three of us with that foot were sewing on a raffle quilt and each foot was slightly different. The problem came when the one machine that could not move the needle on her machine and of course that was the one most out and slightly over the quarter inch!
Marilynne, I too have found that the guide can make a big difference and that the needle often needs to be moved a bit. I personally prefer the ¼ inch foot to have no guide but some machines no longer have the option.