quiltingshorttimer

I quilt on a long arm , but just wanted to say that most LA rulers run about $20-25 each (or a small set) so these prices sound pretty darn good!

Dolphyngyrl

They are fun to play with I haven't used on real quilt yet but have the foot for my DSM and just got a longarm so I have 2 ways of playing but I highly recommend them

Three Dog Night

I have a set of these and am just starting to play with them. Bought at my LQS and they gave a beginners class on how to use them, now they are offering a monthly class using the starter set and then we will start on a sample quilt along the lines of what quiltedsunshine posted above.

IowaStitcher

I have wondered how these would work trying to negotiate a big quilt and hold them down at the same time. I saw them demonstrated but it was only on a small sample, not a large piece.

copycat

Thank you for your question about ruler work. It gave me the desire to look in to the possibilities ruler work offers.

Ariannaquilts

A part of me would love to learn how to do ruler work but the other part of me is scared to try. I love what I see others do though!

Quilt30

Can't comment unless know which product you refer. But just a comment. Machine quilting is not only straight lines and meandering free motion. Free motion is not just " winging it". Machine quilting gained popularity when continuous line stencils were created. They eliminated the many starts and stops in usual quilting designs. All over background designs were not done. That was only when long arm machines became available. Machine quilting tried to duplicate hand quilting. So, look beyond meandering and rulers when thinking of machine quilting. Companies have continuous line stencils especially created for machine quilting.

Watson

I'm doing a class right now on rulers and the end result will be a Quilt as you go quilt. It is really fun.
It is very exacting though, so if you aren't a real detail person it may not be for you.

Watson

rryder

I've done a lot of ruler work on larger sized quilts--over sized Double bed quilts and also 1 Queen. I have a Brother PQ1500s, (9" to right of the needle) that I'm now using for most of my quilting but before that I did ruler work using my vintage Brother VX560 (6-7 inch to right of needle) and also on my Brother PC420prw (7 inches to right of needle). I've used both the Westalee foot (on the smaller Brothers) and the Janome convertible free motion foot with the ruler foot attachment on my PQ1500s. As long as you have good support on all sides of your quilt and are comfortable managing the bulk of the quilt (I like to just squish or "puddle" it around the machine) it's no harder to do ruler work on the large quilts than it is to do regular free motion quilting on larger quilts. There is a learning curve since you need to remember to keep the ruler against the foot and you have to estimate a quarter inch space away from your intended end point, but really, if you can already FMQ, then you can do ruler work on your domestic machine.

I use the rulers as a way to avoid having to spend much time marking, and also I have a couple of the neat specialty ones that make snowflake patterns and curlycue patterns--those are fun to just plop down on the quilt. There are also some marking tools that allow you to quickly mark out parallel lines, or radiating lines and you can use those marks in conjunction with the marks on your rulers to do lots of cool things.

I like to use a combination of ruler work and FMQ, so for example, I might use rulers to make a nice straight line grid that I then fmq some fillers for texture. Or I might use a ruler to make a nice curve to be the spine of a feather, and then freehand the feathers. I've also gotten to where I prefer to just leave my ruler foot on all the time--I find that for me the visibility is every bit as good as with even an open toe quilting foot because I know exactly where in the foot the needle is going to land and I know that the edges of the foot are exactly 1/4" from the needle all the way around--this is great for echoing (which is a good way to keep your quilting continuous line while moving around the quilt).

You can do designs that require lots of stops and starts, or you can move straight from a ruler design into a freehand design without breaking thread once you learn and get comfortable with some freehand filler and background patterns. The main thing is lots of practice with quilt sandwiche and practice doodling with pen and paper. Even though you are moving the quilt, not the machine, doodling designs with pen and paper helps your brain figure out how to move from one area to another without breaking thread (continuous line doodles) and that is a skill that will enable you to move all around your quilt without breaking thread too often.

Rob

Stitchnripper

thank you Rob. I recently got the Westalee foot for my PQ1500 and one starter template/ruler. It works fine when I do everything you say, which is not always!! I have to remember to hold the ruler to the foot and also am still learning about the 1/4 distance. Some of my work is acceptable and some isn't so great, and I find on a practice piece it is easier than a real quilt. I made a big sampler quilt and am practicing with the template/ruler, doing some actual marking of stencils, ditch stitching (which even with the walking foot or with the ditch foot is very hard for me. I don't enjoy it. I might try it with the FMQ foot which I think for me is easier). But I am going to keep at it with the ruler and hope that it improves enough to satisfy me.