The following machine require a specially designed foot, to suit only these machines.
This foot should be available in March 2015.
Pfaff 1200 Grand Quilter
Husqvarna Mega Quilter
Brother PQ1300 PQ1300 PQ1500S
Janome 1600P 1600P-DB 1600-QC
Singer 2OU 31-15
Babylock BLQP BL500A
JUKI DDL-227 DDL-555 DDL-8700 TL-98E TL-98P
TL-98QE TL2000Qi TL2010Q
Westalee Design Patchwork and Quilting - Rulers and Templates
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Friday, January 2, 2015
Fitting the Ruler Foot
This is the Ruler Foot on my Husqvarna Designer 11
To see how easy it is to fit the Westalee Ruler Foot watch this video
How to fit and use the Westalee Ruler Foot on domestic sewing machines
Add a Handle
Do you need to use handles on your Rulers and Templates?
The answer is not necessarily, but you may find the a handle gives you more control and makes it easier to keep the template in position. You may like to use a handle on some templates and not on others.
Add a Handle is simply what the name says - a handle that you can add to any ruler or template for quilting or patchwork.
We make Add a Handle in 3 sizes (2 sizes shown above)
You might like to use the small handle
Or the large handle
When using templates for ruler work I like to hold my templates as shown, My pointer or index finger is placed on the dip in the ruler handle I usually have my thumb and ring finger on the edge of the template and my little finger on he fabric.
The Add a Handle is indentation is only 6mm high, when free motion quilting with rulers it is best to keep your hand relatively flat on the template and quilt, not high and arched.
A packet of 6 Handles 2 large, 2 medium and 2 small is $12.00
A Bulk packet of 12 Small Handles costs is $20.00
A Bulk pack of 12 Large Handles is $30.00
Simply remove the backing paper and place the handle on your template in the position that suits you.
The answer is not necessarily, but you may find the a handle gives you more control and makes it easier to keep the template in position. You may like to use a handle on some templates and not on others.
Add a Handle is simply what the name says - a handle that you can add to any ruler or template for quilting or patchwork.
We make Add a Handle in 3 sizes (2 sizes shown above)
You might like to use the small handle
When using templates for ruler work I like to hold my templates as shown, My pointer or index finger is placed on the dip in the ruler handle I usually have my thumb and ring finger on the edge of the template and my little finger on he fabric.
A packet of 6 Handles 2 large, 2 medium and 2 small is $12.00
A Bulk packet of 12 Small Handles costs is $20.00
A Bulk pack of 12 Large Handles is $30.00
Simply remove the backing paper and place the handle on your template in the position that suits you.
Stable Tape
When using Rulers and Templates it is nice to know that the Ruler will remain stable and not move about as you are stitching.
I do not use Stable Tape on all my tools, when we are filming a design, Bill will say "you haven't got Stable Tape on that".
Westalee Stable Tape
Our Westalee Stable Tape comes in a pack of 5 for $10.00
Westalee Stable Tape is only .6mm thick.
Simply cut to size and remove the backing paper - press in place on your template.
I find that a 1"- 1 1/2" piece of Stable Tape placed at each side of the template is all that I need. We don't need to cover the whole template.
When using a larger ruler or template, I will also place a piece of Stable Tape in the middle.
When using templates and rulers I want the template or ruler to be held steady, I also need to be able to move the template easily for re-positioning.
The adhesive we use on Westalee Stable Tape is archival.
Some of the methods that we tested that I didn't like are.
1. Using Basting Spray - the basting spray makes the ruler foggy and extremely difficult to see through. Basting spray will hold for a very, very short time and then any fluff on the fabric adheres to the spray making it useless. and most important I found when I tested this method that I could not remove the basting spray from my templates no matter what detergent or chemical I used.
2. Loop and Hook (self adhesive strip) using the hook section (Velcro) - standard Hook is about 1.6mm thick and industrial Hook is about 2.6mm thick. Because of this thickness the Hook made the templates rock and unstable.
We found that the Hook did add any stability - hook tape just slides.
3. Double sided tape - works for a very short time before the fluff and threads adhere to the glue.
4. Applying nail polish and adhesives with salt or sand. As a manufacturer of rulers and templates we DO NOT advise using this method as acrylic can easily be damaged by chemicals.
Never use window cleaner (this contains ammonia) can cause acrylic to go white and foggy
Never use acetone (nail polish - remover)it can cause acrylic to crack.
Superglue and salt or sand as I do not know the chemical compound of glues I do not recommend this method for the same reason as nail polish.
5. Silicon hush dots work well but are a bit too high and tend to rock.
There many different methods you can try, find the method that you like.
I do not use Stable Tape on all my tools, when we are filming a design, Bill will say "you haven't got Stable Tape on that".
Westalee Stable Tape
Our Westalee Stable Tape comes in a pack of 5 for $10.00
Westalee Stable Tape is only .6mm thick.
Simply cut to size and remove the backing paper - press in place on your template.
I find that a 1"- 1 1/2" piece of Stable Tape placed at each side of the template is all that I need. We don't need to cover the whole template.
When using a larger ruler or template, I will also place a piece of Stable Tape in the middle.
When using templates and rulers I want the template or ruler to be held steady, I also need to be able to move the template easily for re-positioning.
The adhesive we use on Westalee Stable Tape is archival.
Some of the methods that we tested that I didn't like are.
1. Using Basting Spray - the basting spray makes the ruler foggy and extremely difficult to see through. Basting spray will hold for a very, very short time and then any fluff on the fabric adheres to the spray making it useless. and most important I found when I tested this method that I could not remove the basting spray from my templates no matter what detergent or chemical I used.
2. Loop and Hook (self adhesive strip) using the hook section (Velcro) - standard Hook is about 1.6mm thick and industrial Hook is about 2.6mm thick. Because of this thickness the Hook made the templates rock and unstable.
We found that the Hook did add any stability - hook tape just slides.
3. Double sided tape - works for a very short time before the fluff and threads adhere to the glue.
4. Applying nail polish and adhesives with salt or sand. As a manufacturer of rulers and templates we DO NOT advise using this method as acrylic can easily be damaged by chemicals.
Never use window cleaner (this contains ammonia) can cause acrylic to go white and foggy
Never use acetone (nail polish - remover)it can cause acrylic to crack.
Superglue and salt or sand as I do not know the chemical compound of glues I do not recommend this method for the same reason as nail polish.
5. Silicon hush dots work well but are a bit too high and tend to rock.
There many different methods you can try, find the method that you like.
Ruler work
Ruler Work
Our final prototype arrived last week, the day before Christmas Day, and after all the months of work and the years of contemplating a ruler foot for domestic machines we can now see that it has all been worth while.
Most people think of ruler work as straight lines and maybe some curves, but it is so much more.
I am often asked by quilters why can't I use your quilting Rulers and templates on my sewing machine, I would love to be able to quilt those patterns without having to draw every line first.
If you can free motion quilt you can use rulers, if you haven't free motion quilted before rulers are an easy way for you to learn as the rulers give you a guide to rest the Ruler Foot against and follow. Just like drawing around a stencil with a pen - only we are using a Ruler Foot instead of a pen and we are moving the fabric and template around the Ruler Foot.
Wreaths are beautiful but they are extremely difficult to stitch freehand, many accomplished quilter's will tell you that it is very difficult to stitch the same shape 16 times around to form a wreath. But with a template it is easy.
I mark 4 cross hair reference lines to locate the centre of the block and to give me 4 points of reference to make certain that my wreath ends at the correct position.
Ruler work can be used to form a complete quilting design or can be used as the backbone of a design and ruler work can be used as fillers.
When I design a template I always put in reference lines for a number of reasons, the reference lines help keep you on track and some references lines make if easy to use the template to create border and sashing designs using the templates.
Our final prototype arrived last week, the day before Christmas Day, and after all the months of work and the years of contemplating a ruler foot for domestic machines we can now see that it has all been worth while.
Most people think of ruler work as straight lines and maybe some curves, but it is so much more.
I am often asked by quilters why can't I use your quilting Rulers and templates on my sewing machine, I would love to be able to quilt those patterns without having to draw every line first.
If you can free motion quilt you can use rulers, if you haven't free motion quilted before rulers are an easy way for you to learn as the rulers give you a guide to rest the Ruler Foot against and follow. Just like drawing around a stencil with a pen - only we are using a Ruler Foot instead of a pen and we are moving the fabric and template around the Ruler Foot.
Wreaths are beautiful but they are extremely difficult to stitch freehand, many accomplished quilter's will tell you that it is very difficult to stitch the same shape 16 times around to form a wreath. But with a template it is easy.
I mark 4 cross hair reference lines to locate the centre of the block and to give me 4 points of reference to make certain that my wreath ends at the correct position.
Ruler work can be used to form a complete quilting design or can be used as the backbone of a design and ruler work can be used as fillers.
When I design a template I always put in reference lines for a number of reasons, the reference lines help keep you on track and some references lines make if easy to use the template to create border and sashing designs using the templates.
Saturday, December 20, 2014
And now for the Rulers and Templates
I have spoken about the Westalee Ruler Foot, now the fun part the rulers and templates.
Using Circles on Quilts for Domestic Machines and a straight ruler.
Each corner of the 1/2" lines was sewn using the ruler in a different position
Circles on Quilts Template for domestic and sit-down machines stitch circles from 2" to 12"
(this is the only locating rotating circle template for stitching concentric circles on a domestic machine)
Most of our template designs are made in 3 mm for Low Shank domestic machines and 4,5 mm for High Shank domestic machines and of course in 6 mm for Long arm Machines.
Designing our Ruler Foot has been a long journey and one of the reasons for that was the necessity to make a ruler foot that worked on as many machines as possible as simply as possible. The testing has been extensive.
Our Ruler Foot does not have any mechanisms to interfere with the use of templates, you can work from all edges of the foot Left - Right - Back and Front this makes its so much more useful.
Long arm quilter's use 6mm rulers and templates, because of the hopping motion of the ruler foot, some machines hop higher that others and 6 mm works well for most long arm quilting machines.
6 mm or 1/4" 4.5 mm or 3/16" 3 mm or 1/8"
 |
6 mm is the thickness used for Long arm machines because of the height traveled by the hopping foot hopping
When using a Low Shank Machine, you will need to use 3 mm Acrylic Templates. Phaff machines with IDT are low Shank and will require 3 mm templates.
The picture show a Pfaff machine with a 6 mm template that is to close to the Shank and IDT mechanism.
We recommend when using the Westalee Ruler Foot:
4.5mm thick templates on High Shank Machines
3 mm on Low Shank Machines
Please note that the Ruler Foot shown is a prototype
Westalee Design copyright 2008-2014.
Friday, December 19, 2014
More on the Westalee Ruler Foot
More on the Westalee Ruler Foot?
Who can use a Westalee Ruler Foot?
Well, almost anyone, the Westalee Ruler foot has been designed to fit Low Shank and High Shank Domestic Sewing Machines like - Pfaff - Husqvarna - Janome - Bernina - Brother - Juki - Singer
Pfaff - most Pfaff machines are Low Shank
Husqvarna - most Husqvarna machines are Low Shank
Janome - have both Low Shank and High Shank machines
Bernina - have both Low Shank and High Shank machines (with Bernina machines you will need a shank adaptor)
Brother - have both Low Shank and High Shank machines
Juki machines - are Low Shank
If you do not know what shank your machine is, all you need to do is lower your foot and then measure the height of the centre of the hole for the screw from the needle plate.
The Westalee Ruler Foot is different from any other ruler foot on the market and has been designed to work with our Quilting Templates.
The Ruler foot is designed to float just above the quilt sandwich, there is no hopping mechanism to get in the way of your hands and impede your vision.
There is no need for a ruler foot to hop, you have more control and ease of movement with a foot that floats.
The Westalee Ruler Foot has a perfect 1/2" circle so that you can use your ruler from all sides and you can work inside and outside templates. with no flat spot in your quilting caused by the cut out at the front of the foot.
If you free motion you may have noticed that when using a free motion foot with a spring loaded hop or a free motion foot that hops on the needle bar screw, it can often cause problems and many people will modify the foot so that it no longer hops.
I have tried other feet and found that the hopping feet can often press to low on the quilt causing an uneven almost jerky motion.
Please note that the Ruler Foot shown is a prototype.
All Westalee Design Rulers, Templates and Tools are protected by copyright 2008-2014. Simple template. Powered by Blogger.
Who can use a Westalee Ruler Foot?
Well, almost anyone, the Westalee Ruler foot has been designed to fit Low Shank and High Shank Domestic Sewing Machines like - Pfaff - Husqvarna - Janome - Bernina - Brother - Juki - Singer
Pfaff - most Pfaff machines are Low Shank
Husqvarna - most Husqvarna machines are Low Shank
Janome - have both Low Shank and High Shank machines
Bernina - have both Low Shank and High Shank machines (with Bernina machines you will need a shank adaptor)
Brother - have both Low Shank and High Shank machines
Juki machines - are Low Shank
If you do not know what shank your machine is, all you need to do is lower your foot and then measure the height of the centre of the hole for the screw from the needle plate.
Low Shank High Shank
 |
| High Shank Low Shank Westalee Ruler foot |
The Ruler foot is designed to float just above the quilt sandwich, there is no hopping mechanism to get in the way of your hands and impede your vision.
There is no need for a ruler foot to hop, you have more control and ease of movement with a foot that floats.
The Westalee Ruler Foot has a perfect 1/2" circle so that you can use your ruler from all sides and you can work inside and outside templates. with no flat spot in your quilting caused by the cut out at the front of the foot.
If you free motion you may have noticed that when using a free motion foot with a spring loaded hop or a free motion foot that hops on the needle bar screw, it can often cause problems and many people will modify the foot so that it no longer hops.
I have tried other feet and found that the hopping feet can often press to low on the quilt causing an uneven almost jerky motion.
Please note that the Ruler Foot shown is a prototype.
All Westalee Design Rulers, Templates and Tools are protected by copyright 2008-2014. Simple template. Powered by Blogger.