Using Rulers on a Domestic Sewing Machine

So, you own a domestic sewing machine and you do a bit of free motion work and like many other quilter’s you would like to do more and you want results that look great but are easy to achieve.

You have seen what the long arm girls can do using rulers and have wanted to be able to use all those fantastic toys on your domestic machine but have not been able to, because the long arm  machines use a RULER FOOT.  A RULER FOOT is a foot designed to ride along the edge of a ruler and always stitch a 1/4” from the ruler edge.

Free motion feet for Domestic Machines

The free motion foot is great for free motion quilting, but is really is not suitable for using with rulers. Free motion feet are usually only about 1 to 1.5mm in height and this height can very easily go under the templates, not a good thing. If the ruler goes under the template and you strike the template with your needle apart for being frightening it can be costly.

Taking a step back in time, designing rulers and templates for quilting can be fun, is fun, but there is a lot of work that takes place before a tool is ready to be used. Testing is one of the most important steps, when I put a new tool out in the market place I need to know that it works. As many of you who know me know that I did not own Malcolm ( my Nolting Pro) until last year (2013). Before Malcolm came to live with us, I did however own a mid arm on a frame the problem was that this machine did not have a ruler foot and I could not buy a ruler for this machine. So in 2010 when I was working on the first of our Rotating Templates, Bill and Sam (friend) set about making a ruler foot for Dodgy (my mid arm) after a number of hopping feet were made we decided to take away the hopping mechanics and have a floating foot. This foot was much more user friendly and I could now do my own testing of new rulers.

Poor Bill has been asked so many times if our rulers can be used on domestic machine on a frame and the answer has always been "Do you have a ruler foot?".  He has disappointed many quilter's. Until now there have only been a few ruler feet available and for a very limited number of machines. We have been working on our New RULER FOOT for quite sometime and it is now only a few weeks away.

The foot we should be using when using templates

We need a foot that is 1/2" in diameter at least .2" (5 mm) in height, and the foot must be high enough at the rear so it does not come into contact with the template.

Coming Soon

Westalee Design Ruler Foot

We are really proud to let you know that the Westalee Design Ruler Foot will be available in early 2015.
The Westalee Ruler Foot is height adjustable and is made in 2 styles for High Shank and Low Shank machines.
We have tested the foot on Pfaff, Janome, Husqvarna, Brother and Bernina machines.

If you would like more information or to be added to our growing waiting list you can contact us by
emailing Bill at bwest@westalee.com.au