A consistant seam is more important to me that worrying about scant measurements. Find what works best with your project and then just relax and enjoy the experience. Too many up-tight people in this world to worry about things like that. I have Janome machines and any of the 1/4 in feet I have work with whatever project I'm doing. My grandkids and friends are not going to measure the seams, just love them. Sometimes to rags and that is much more important to me. Relax. Enjoy.

I took this as a given, (that everyone knew) when i first started, because i took a beginners class.(lucky me!) then at quilt group, i was watching a girl sew, and she was complaining about the finished block size not being the right size ..it finally dawned on me, that she didn't know about moving the needle! she just thought if she had a 1/4" foot on, it would come out 1/4"!
i never take things for granted in quilting anymore..especially for beginners! tell them even the simple things, for they may not know!

On both my kenmore's I always get the 1/4" exact, until the operator(me) gets off and not paying attention.

That's Riiiiiiigggghhhhtt!!!

I know I can't believe what we have to do to get the l/4"
Even on the quilting machines. I don't get it.
I have a Bernina, and I can move the needle to make the
1/4". Or pay $30. for the 1/4" foot. But if you have the
walking foot on, you can't move the needle.

This is true, but the finished block size will be different and could cause major problems later on.

Because, like I said, it's not the machine or the foot. It's the combination of the different weight threads and fabric on the market. That's why being able to manually move the needle is important. I can have a perfect , scant, 1/4" using 50wt. Aurifil thread on LQS cotton. If I change to Gutterman and flannel I will have to change needle position. Or if the quality of fabric is different with the Gutterman or other variety thread, I'll re-check the scant by a small test and move the needle if need be. This way I get perfect points and block sizes.

[What's The Little Foot?[/quote]

the little foot is clear with red measure lines on it..no guide bar.
the lines on the end of the foot, help with stopping 1/4" from the end of the quilt binding corner..did that make sense? lol

i use it alot..the bar on my regular foot got bent, and i ended up taking it off..

http://www.createforless.com/Little+...utm_medium=cse[/quote]

I lucked out one of my friends purchased the "Little foot" for her machine and it didn't fit, so she gave it to me and it works perfectly on my Brother! I really like it and have had excellent results in my piecing! I had purchased a foot from the sewing machine shop with the guide on it and I didn't have any luck with it at all....it just seemed to push the fabric every which way!

I have a pretty new Janome 6600. I had the same problem with the Regular 1/4" foot not being accurate. The gals on the Janome Blog helped me with that...Move the needle and even gave me the proper adjustment. The manual has some information but I had not read it carefully enough. The accufeed (built in walking foot) has a 1/4" foot too but I don't have that yet. It is ordered and I look forward to trying that out.
Judi

I love my 1/4 inch foot but it seems like lately every pattern is calling for a Scant 1/4 ... and my 1/4 foot is a single hole so no room to move the needle.