Thread Talk from my Sewing Machine #17

Love Grows in FABRIC TRENDS (Spring 2011, Issue 29) »

Thread Talk from my Sewing Machine #17

April 5, 2011 by ivoryspring

Thanks so much for your kind words on my quilting in yesterday’s post. I look forward to when I can actually show you the quilt in its entirety! But for now, what I can share is how I did the curve cross-hatching on the quilt.

I got in touch with Carol Olson of Accents in Design, the creator of the rulers I used to do the curve cross-hatching (Thanks, Joan). Carol graciously sent me the rulers for me to use. And voila, you see the results of using the rulers here!

I love love love the concept of being able to use rulers for domestic machine quilting. I love the concept because I can skip marking all the lines on my quilt and jump right into quilting. Manipulating the ruler and moving the quilt at the same time using my left hand wasn’t as hard as I had thought. Once I got used to it, it worked pretty well.

I found that the ruler didn’t work as well when I have my BSR (Bernina Stitch Regular) foot on because of the bulk in the back of the foot.

I switched to my regular open toe quilting foot, and found that it worked better. Stitching it this way meant my stitch length was not regulated by the machine.

But what worked best for me was the closed toe foot.

The distance between each curve is 1/2″. When I do serious quilting, I normally do 1/4″ apart for lines or cross-hatching. I am supposed to be able to do that with the rulers. So, I look forward to my next opportunity to use these rulers again.

You can access the entire line of rulers Carol has here. By the way, Carol is the sweetest lady! I enjoyed talking to her on the phone both times I had called her. You may contact Carol at accentsindesign@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Verdict: I like the rulers, I like the effect… now, my only dilemma is whether I can tolerate the slight decrease in my stitch quality because I can’t really use my BSR foot with the ruler. I am still thinking…

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Posted in Quilting, Thread Talk | Tagged Accents in Design, Carol Olson, Curved Cross-Hatching, Fine Line Quilter's Rulers, Quilting Rulers | 24 Comments

24 Responses

on April 5, 2011 at 12:31 am | Reply Sandra Pritchard

Wendy, it is beautiful as always. Love the ruler. sandra
on April 5, 2011 at 12:37 am | Reply Debbie

Wendy, your work is always so beautiful. I’ve been an infrequent blogger of late, so I’m going to have to go back through your posts to see what I’ve been missing. I’m thinking a lot!!
on April 5, 2011 at 12:44 am | Reply margaret gunn

you could still mark the lines and then use a walking foot.
on April 5, 2011 at 2:29 am | Reply Bunny

Looks great and it is always fun to have new toys to play with. Thanks for the link, when I ever get good at free motion maybe I will get some rulers LOL.
on April 5, 2011 at 3:15 am | Reply Linda

I’ve seen longarm quilters use rulers during quilting, but I had no idea you could use one for domestic machine quilting! How surprising! Thank you for showing pictures and explaining how you made it work. If you can do this, you can surely quilt without a BSR. I’ve never used a stitch regulator for FMQing, so I am certain YOU can do it!
on April 5, 2011 at 3:50 am | Reply Leeanne

I love the look of that ruler…I’m off to see them….oh yumo quilting!
on April 5, 2011 at 4:01 am | Reply Pokey

I only saw quilting with a ruler today on a blog Debi made it look easy, hmm. I did think I would try, though. Your photos make it look do-able. As always, BeAuTiFuL!!
:-}pokey
on April 5, 2011 at 4:57 am | Reply Leeanne

Love the effect.I watch the video’s and wondered how hard it would be to maneuver a queen or king size quilt while using these rulers?
on April 5, 2011 at 9:40 am | Reply Györgyi Varga

I never know how I can use rulers in my quilting process. So this post is very interesting and useful for me! Thanks for sharing!
on April 5, 2011 at 10:36 am | Reply letrecivette

I never know and see the rulers thanks for sharing Wendy!
hugs Monica
on April 5, 2011 at 2:27 pm | Reply Carrie P.

Pretty cool. I still can’t believe you can do all that on your regular sewing machine. Awesome!
on April 5, 2011 at 4:31 pm | Reply CathyC in Alberta

Thanks for sharing Wendy. Can’t wait to see the entire quilt which looks gorgeous…as usual. The ruler looks like it might find it’s way into my Quilting Tools drawer soon. I am trying to learn and perfect my machine quilting but it is a slow process.
Yours in quiltin, Cathy
on April 5, 2011 at 5:09 pm | Reply Barbara H.

Wow, what neat tools.
on April 5, 2011 at 5:54 pm | Reply Mary

Hi Wendy, what do you mean your stitch quality went down? I don’t see it. Looks great and thanks for the tip. I may be purchasing rulers in the near future, because I too, do not like to wait to start quilting! Mary:)
on April 5, 2011 at 7:21 pm | Reply Eileen Keane

Wendy,
The curved crosshatch is awesome! Don’t make yourself crazy over your stitch lengths. Nobody is going to be looking at each stitch as closely as you. Trust me.

I got my May/June Fons&Porter Love of Quilting magazine yesterday-saw Joseph’s Pinwheels in it. It’s an adorable quilt.
on April 5, 2011 at 10:30 pm | Reply Sheila

Wendy, this is just gorgeous. When I looked at the quilt I had on the table the other day, I thought of you and smiled. I adore quilts, and I can’t look at them without thinking of all the sewing that goes into one. You do such lovely, lovely work.

I am still up to my eyeballs in workmen with the trees, but I am coming up for air to blog. I’m tired but hanging in there and praising the Lord the trees didn’t fall on the house.

Did you get my repy regarding sizes? I hope so.

XO,

Sheila
on April 6, 2011 at 3:07 pm | Reply Jackie

I had no idea we could use these machines with our domestic machine, I have Carol’s straight ruler for my quilting frame and Mega quilter but had to purchase another foot as I was under the impression the foot had to be thicker. Thank you for sharing your findings. I’m still trying to get my head around the fact that all your quilts are done on a domestic machine. Once again I am amazed as to your expertise.
on April 7, 2011 at 1:46 am | Reply Carol Hendrick

Wendy! Love your work and these rulers look like what we all need. Can’t wait to read about these in the Fabric Trend.
on September 23, 2011 at 2:41 pm | Reply FREE Feature Pattern: Thanksgiving Topper in QUILTER’S WORLD (October 2011) « Ivory Spring

[...] Here are a few photos showing the quilting. If you are wondering about the curve cross-hatching, I have written about it here. [...]
on September 26, 2011 at 6:46 pm | Reply Mary

I have to try these rulers out! I loved the curved cross hatch. Beautiful work, Wendy. thanks for sharing!
on November 9, 2011 at 12:01 am | Reply Thread Talk from my Sewing Machine #26 « Ivory Spring

[...] I have also quilted curved cross-hatching using ruler. Click here to read about it. GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); [...]
on November 9, 2011 at 12:53 am | Reply Joan

Great to check this post out again Wendy – I do love those rulers…
on January 9, 2012 at 1:07 am | Reply Leeanne

Just reading this post again, I would love to see this in action, but on video.
on June 10, 2012 at 11:41 am | Reply Amy Johnson

Looks like I should be checking in here more often, I just blogged about my use of a ruler to do curved cross hatching on one of my quilts. It’s a great technique! I used my Janome and it has a fabulous FMQ foot, one accessory for it is a ruler foot; it’s for if you use the machine on a frame system, but I don’t have a frame. http://freemotionquiltingadventures.blogspot.com/2012/06/quilting-with-rulers-on-domestic-sewing.html