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Color Play and Ruler Rant

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

7 Responses

  1. LaRue Cook says:

    When I first started buying stuff as a new quilter I was lucky the first book I picked up stressed the importance of using one brand. It was a tiny bit too late because I had already purchased an inexpensive three pack from Wal-Mart. Oh well.. I got caught before I started purchasing a ton of different kinds only to find I couldn't use them. After that first purchase I decided on Creative Grids and I've been really happy with them. I have a 6.5", 12.5" and 18.5" square, and a 2.5" x 18", a 6.5" x 12.5" and a 6.5" x 24". I feel I'm pretty much set for any project with those.

  2. Using the same ruler per quilt you make is important just like using the same sewing machine. A 1/4 of an inch is not always equal. If you take a school ruler and a quilters ruler they can be different. Like wise the needle position and a 1/4inch seam allowance from each machine can vary. Chris

  3. Amy says:

    I'm a ruler fanatic and believe that they can seriously improve your quilting accuracy. I totally believe in buying every ruler that a certain company makes. I have them all! (and use them quite frequently)

  4. Jessim says:

    I cut 4 off center snowflakes in my Winter Wonderland before I realized how my 12.5" ruler was marked. I hate that stupid ruler.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Something I often wonder about rulers: does anyone else seem to wind up with a bow in the centre of your longer rulers? I use my 6×24 ruler A LOT and I've gone through a couple over the last 8ish years because eventually I wind up losing a few millimetres of the acrylic, usually towards the middle of the ruler, and I can't get properly straight cuts any more. (The most recent one, if I stand it on its side on something flat, I can pass pins under the middle.)

    I feel like I must be cutting wrong because I've never heard anyone else complain about the middle of their rulers being shaved away! (But for all the million times I've seen people cutting on videos or in person, I've never noticed anything different from what I do when I cut.)

  6. Liz I. says:

    I started with Omnigrid because that was what was on sale locally, and that's what I've stayed with. I have the 6 x 24 workhorse, a smaller version (I think its 3.5 x 18) which I also use a lot, and a 12.5 and 6.5 square. I also have a tiny 1 x 6 which I love for measuring small distances as it's so easy to read.

    I use two tools to make my rulers easier to use: the Invisigrip nonslip backing and the suction cup knobs (I have two knobs).

    I also use two drafting triangles I've had for decades–for squaring or setting an angle, not for cutting.

    Having done woodworking, I can underscore the importance of knowing how you're going to index (begin your measurement from a fixed point) and always indexing the same way. And if you're marking, keep your marks as small as possible.

    Because I'm working on a free motion project in non standard dimensions, I also have 24" and 28" plexiglas templates which I had cut by an online plexiglas dealer.

  7. To wipgirl, I bought a new ruler after I was having trouble with my cuts not being straight with my old 24 inch ruler. The old one had seen a lot of use. I still use it for measuring but not cutting. The corners got rounded off too from cutting and being dropped on the floor. I have a square ruler that I have to be careful with as it isn't quite square on one corner (bad purchase).

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