Getting a precise 1/4 inch seam is especially important in quilting, but what happens if your seam goes wonky when your sewing a fitted bodice or a toy? Nobody wants bumpy boobs or a slanted face! The quarter inch quilting foot aims to make it easier. It is a very simple but effective foot that allows you to keep a uniform distance by keeping the edge of the fabric against a guide bar as you sew. You can buy your own HERE.
How To Attach It
As with any snap on foot, most sewing machines will have a lever or button to press to release the current foot. As you can see with this machine, the lever is at the back of the foot. To swap feet out, simply release, place the new foot underneath and lower the presser foot to clip in position. If you aren’t familiar with using snap on feet or not sure if this would work with your machine, check out our guide to sewing machine feet HERE
How To Use The Guide Bar
It really doesn’t get more simple. Position the needle centrally, and place the fabric up against the bar. As you sew, keep a gentle pressure on the fabric towards the bar (too much pressure and it will fold over, or not enough pressure and the fabric will drift away).
What Are All The Markings?
The markings on the foot are all measurements to help keep your sewing position as accurate as possible. Obviously the distance between the needle to guide bar is 1/4 inch, but what about the others. Needle to the edge of the right side of the foot is 3/16 inch Needle to the edge of the left side of the foot is 1/8 inch
Needle to first side notch (NB this is offset and on the smaller part of the foot away from the others) 1/4 inch Needle to second notch 1/8 inch Needle to third notch – level Needle to fourth notch is 1/8 inch Needle to fifth notch 1/4 inch So in total, front notch to back notch is half an inch
What Are The Pros?
This really is the quickest, easiest and most fool proof way I’ve found for getting a good accurate quarter inch seam on a couple of layers of easy to work with fabrics like cotton. The first quarter inch side marking on the narrow part of the sewing machine foot is fantastic for knowing when to start turning the fabric when you get near a corner. Simply stop stitching when you are level with that mark, leave the needle down and pivot the fabric before you start sewing again.
The 3/16th Inch width is quite a nice width for top stitching most items (but in some cases 1/8th inch will be more appropriate for more intricate or pieces where you want the stitching to be less visible), so it is simple to switch from sewing your seam to turning right side out and lining the fabric up with the outer side of the foot instead of the bar. However, there is no 3/16th marking on the side for turning so you have to stop just before your first side marking (or use a permanent marker or dab of coloured glue or sticker to add your own mark!)
What Do You Need To Consider Before Sewing With It?
Your accuracy will only ever be as good as your cutting and measuring of your fabric before your sewing. If it was eyeballed and estimated, then don’t be surprised if it doesn’t line up perfectly! You may find that using something like a magic seamer helps you to add 1/4 inch to your patterns to help your accuracy. Keep in mind also that people tend to cut differently with scissors than they do with rotary cutters. It’s easier to keep a rotary cutter flush to a template, whereas a lot of people will cut outside a pencil marking. If you are combining methods it may have an affect on your accuracy too. If your pattern tells you to sew a scant quarter inch seam, then this means to sew just short of quarter inch. Generally this is considered to be about a pencil’s line width difference. It is to allow for the small amount of fabric that is always lost when pressing a seam open.
This means you would have to keep your fabric just short of the guide. You cannot change the needle position out of a central. This is great in that it make sure you can’t accidentally leave it in a left side sewing position and not actually stitch the 1/4 inch seam you thought you had, however if for example you wanted to quickly zigzag over an area to reinforce it before continuing your running stich, you would have to change feet.
Any Other Tips For Getting Accurate Quarter Inch Seams?
Some machines struggle more than others at the start and end of a line of sewing, especially on small pieces of fabric. This can be because the feed dogs are pulling at the fabric unevenly, where the whole area of the feed dogs aren’t covered. You can reduce this by starting on a piece of scrap fabric and running straight onto your real piece (remembering a couple of backstitches or stitches on the spot or it will unravel a little after you snip the thread to separate the fabrics). Once you get to the end, simply do the same – a few back stitches then stitch over the edge of your fabric and finish on the scrap.
We hope you enjoy our tutorials. Happy Sewing!
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