So a scant is less than a quarter inch or more than a quarter inch? I have a FW or no needle moving for me!!

Scant is a tiny less than the 1/4". A Featherweight is what I've been sewing on as well the past 2 months. I use a small stack of post-it notes and tape them down so the edge is ON the 1/4 inch seam guide line that is on the throat plate. That makes my "scant" very nicely. I am now doing nine-patch blocks that finish at 6.5 inches (that is 36 little blocks in each 6.5" block) and they have come out great using my low-tech seam guide. I have also learned it makes a big difference whether I skim along the edge of the guide (that is the right way) or let my fabric almost push against the guide (which is what I used to do). Skimming the edge is the ideal. I guess I am sometimes a slow learner because it took me a lot of years to figure this out. As many have said Consistancy in our seam sizes is the most important.

A scant quarter isn't really a quarter at all, is it? Too funny but maddening.
Sandy

Two recent threads with explanations of 'scant', ways to test for accuracy of seams, ways to adjust for accuracy of seams, and general commiseration on the subject.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...o-t182586.html
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...m-t183464.html

I really like these two products - the seam measurement tool is just great and the purple edge stuff sticks a good long while. The only problem is that the back of the purple stuff loses its stickiness as it collects lint. If it gets sewing machine oil on it, the sticky part rubs off. You can only wash it in plain cold water.

I'd been using stacks of blue artists' masking tape - it doesn't stick as well as the purple strips do, but it works okay. I've heard moleskin works well, but I've never tried that.

That's when you adjust your needle over so that you can concentrate on sewing and not worry about the 1/4 seam

I'm glad you're having this conversation about the scant 1/4". I'm a newbie and self taught. This drove me crazy and still does. Some patterns in quilt magazines call for a 1/4" but they really mean a scant. I've found myself having to sew a 3/16" seam with some of the more complicated patterns in order for the blocks to turn out the size they're supposed to. What about when several seams cross each other? The room taken up by pressing is more than a scant. It's almost to the point that you have to guess at what the seam allowance should be depending on the pattern. I've asked myself why I have chosen a hobby that requires so much precision. Haven't answered that question yet. OK, I feel better now.

With many block patterns, keeping seams consistent is enough (Mary Ellen Hopkins made that point with her books) as long as you understand how to adjust your cutting. However, when you get into complex blocks and especially blocks with certain arrangements of triangles, mastery of the scant 1/4-inch becomes important.

You need to understand that the desired finished result is a "perfect" 1/4-inch seam. That is how all of the pieced block calculations are made. The problem is, if you sew a perfect 1/4-inch seam, the end result will be too small because your sewing thread requires a little bit of that 1/4-inch and turn-of-the-cloth when you press the seam requires a little of that 1/4-inch. People use different weights of thread in their machine, and there are even bigger differences in how people press their seams, so one person's "scant" 1/4-inch will be different from another's. I would say 2 threads less than a perfect 1/4-inch would be the absolute minimum; most people need to be a little more scant than that because of their pressing.

There may be a few people who can eyeball a scant 1/4-inch seam consistently, but I am not one of them. What I do is create a physical barrier made out of moleskin. Check other of my posts to find a detailled description of how I do this and test that it results in a "perfect" 1/4-inch seam.

Incidentally, I was just at JoAnn's yesterday and found a Dritz seam gauge on the notions wall in the quilting area. It is a little red ruler with indentations for your needle in order to set up a physical guide for different seam allowances. I measured their 1/4-inch indentation on the ruler, and it was an "exact" 1/4-inch. This means that this ruler gauge is useless for quilters, as all of your seams will end up too big (and your pieced block too small)! I did purchase their foam guides (you use the ruler to get an edge, then glue down the foam guide as your physical barrier), as they appear to be taller and harder than my moleskin. These adhesive guides should actually work better for me than moleskin, but I haven't tried them out yet.

If anyone wants to see my moleskin guide directions and can't find them, I will look later and post a link to the old post.

If I were sewing on a machine with a movable needle, I would definitely do this - it's easy and as long as you remember where to put the needle, it will get you consistent results. This is a super handy function on the machines that have it and I use it often on my modern ones.

But, I piece and quilt almost exclusively on a 1947 model 15 - a straight-stitch machine with no option to put the needle anywhere but where the factory put it. :D

This is where the physical barrier works so well - measure your scant 1/4" seam, set your tape/moleskin/guide and you're good to sew. :)

Prism99, you gave me a good idea - that craft foam is thicker than the plastic guides and sturdier than moleskin - if I coated the back with Aleene's Tack it Over and Over glue, it might well be the best option I've tried so far. I really love that glue for a lot of different craft applications - every time I turn around, I find a new use for it. Thanks! :)

I quilt so much and I am sewing along and all of a sudden my hand will jerk and I get a wobbly line. So, I have to rip it out and start all over. I try for a scant using a seam guide next to my needle, but sometimes my fabric is pressed tightly against the guide where other times I can see a small space between my fabric and the guide. And I'm trying to be as accurate as possible. I never do exchanges because I would be embarrassed by my seams (if anyone turned over my blocks). I really try to do scant, but my fingers get tensed up and so does my arms and back because I'm focusing so much on that scant. Sometimes I have to quit quilting for the day because of exhaustion. I like when I just use my seam guide and say "heck" if I wobble. Then I enjoy the process and can really get a lot done. My LQS owner says I'm an excellent quilter (which I don't believe for one minute) and I just give my quilts away to family, so I like when I don't worry about exact. Maybe 1 out of every 4 times I sew a piece, I get an exact. Otherwise, it's more than 2 or 3 threads different. One thread I can't even see with my cheaters on. Two threads are hard to see also. I move my needle over one and then my seams are way too small...more like 1/8". Then I'm way off. So, I am just going to use my seam gauge and make my quilts. I will never enter a contest or give my quilts to another quilter, so I'm fine with what I do.