Wintersewer

Whatever you buy, be sure to rotate the handwheel through the whole stitch before you sew with it. A little forethought can save a lot of $$$ in repairs.

I usually use the foot for my machines (Janome, Pfaff, Bernina), BUT, I have sewn hundreds of blocks using a generic foot on my 100 year old Singer treadle with no problems. Of course I ran through the whole stitch to make sure it didn't hit anything above or below before I sewed with it.

margecam52

I have tried a lot of different feet, the plastic template for diagonals, etc. I'm back to my clear foot with red markings..I use that and have marked a scant 1/4" line & a center line with a sharpie from the very back of the machine bed, to the very front...these I covered with clear tape to keep it from rubbing off. Works for me. I can do the diagonal stitching to make half square triangles, etc. & have a constant seam allowance. I've marked this on all three of my domestic machines, using the same template for all of them...I took an index card, measured over the scant 1/4" and put the needle into the card to mark my spot. The lines on an index card are 1/4"...so my needle is just to the right of one of the lines in the card. I also marked the centers that way...putting the needle right in the line on the card...marked the front spot and a back spot...raised the needle and using the card...lined it up and used it as a "ruler" to mark the back to front (omitting the face plate). I also used the card with the needle in the scant 1/4" to mark the line for that back to front. No special tools needed.

captlynhall

On my little Brother machine, there is a 1/4" quilt setting. I just use my regular open end foot with that setting and get my 1/4" inch.

Anne P

I use the #57 foot on my Bernina. It has the flange for the 1/4" seam and I LOVE it. It has revolutionized my piecing and I am able to line up pieces so much more easily. I still use the #37 for diagonal seams, though, but I mark them first.

bhanes

This seems to work good for me too. Thanks for your reply.

ghostrider

All that works fine if what you want is a perfect seam allowance. What really matters is the measurement between the seams and that will change due to thread weight, fabric weight, and pressing changes even though your seam allowance remains rigidly at ¼".

I do a three 1½" strip test with every change of fabric/thread combo to make sure the middle strip comes out at a 1" finished width and adjust my seam allowance to get that result. I change fabric and thread combos way too often to ever put permanent lines on my machine beds and don't even want to think about what that would do to resale or trade values of the machines. I'm glad it works well for you though.

mckwilter

With my Berninas, I use the # 37 foot without the flange. I used to use the #57 with the flange, but I guess it's like riding a bike with training wheels. As some point, you just have to take off the training wheels and go for it. With my Singer FWs, I purchased a 1/4" foot (with the flange, unfortunately) and a walking foot at 221Parts.com.

The Bernina #37 foot is 1/4" on each side. One interesting thing I learned is that if you topstitch using the #37 foot, when you line up the outside edge of the fabric with the outside of the foot, you will get a 1/4" topstitch (of course); if you line up the outside edge of the fabric with the first indent on the needle side of the foot, you will get a 1/8" topstitch; and if you line up the outside edge of the fabric with the inside edge of the needle side of the foot, you will get a 1/16" topstitch. I used to hate topstitching (I do a lot of craft sewing, purses, totes, etc.), but now it's a breeze.

lakekids

I have 1/4" foot for all of my machines. However, I still had problems with getting a perfect/scant 1/4 seam. Now, I now use the Patchwork Seam Guide from Bonnie Hunter and a metal screw-on seam guide.

The Patchwork seam guide is a small acrylic like rule. You place it under your presser foot and drop our needle in the desired seam size (scant 1/4, 3/8", 1/2", 5/8" & 3/4). Then you attach the metal seam guide to the bed of your machine (if it has a screw hole) butting it up to the Patchwork Seam Guide . If you have a machine without a screw hole, then you could use a sticky back seam guide on the bed of the machine.

This gives me a more accurate seam.