QUILTsocial Issue 4 | Page 45

foot as my guide. That means I can use this foot on ANY of my sewing machines and I will get the SAME quarter inch. What a huge time saver that is. I love it! Either way, you MUST figure out the setting that works for you. If you do not, you will find yourself ripping and since you have shortened your stitch length, it won’t be as easy! Keep the seam allowances consistent all the way through the seam. Sewers have a tendency to let go of the fabric as they near the end of the seam and the fabric shifts creating a too small or too large seam allowance at the end. Sew to the end of the seam, then stop. Think of driving a car – once you reach the end of your driveway, do you take your hands off the wheel to collect your things? I didn’t think so! Now it’s time for you to get to work. Get some scraps and experiment. This is not a hard exercise, yet the time and effort you will save will be huge. Seam allowance test sample is TOO BIG See how the fabric is positioned to the left of the edge of the Quilter’s 1⁄4" piecing foot P Seam allowance test sample is exactly 31⁄2" – PERFECT The fabric is right on the edge of the Quilter’s 1⁄4" piecing foot P Bobbins A quick word about bobbins. I was sewing the other day and the Ruby Royale was making a terrible noise. The bobbin sounded like it was jumping out of the bobbin case. I had visions of the tension going crazy. I checked the back – no – everything seemed to be OK. I checked the bobbin and didn’t “see” anything unusual. I finished the bobbin with it making a noise the entire time. I switched to a different bobbin. AH – I know what the problem was. The first bobbin I used was OLD and WORN OUT. Thus it was bouncing around in the bobbin case and making all that noise. Once I put a NEW bobbin in, the sewing machine made no noise. Top seam allowance is too big Middle seam allowance is too small Bottom seam allowance is perfect! Quilter’s 1⁄4" Piecing foot P Lesson learned – bobbins do wear out. If they make noises – ditch them. Ooops – not hard to tell which bobbin is the old one! OK – I will go through my bobbins and throw out the old ones. After all these years – I'm still learning. New bobbin on the left – old bobbin on the right QUILTsocial .com ● issue 4 45