My New Favorite Tool!

I know I may sound like a commercial, but I'm so in love with this product!! Lemme tell ya', I've been struggling with my crap machine for a really long time. My piecing just never seems to be as good as it should be. Points not matching up, rows totally crooked, blocks not turning out the right size, bla, bla, bla. For someone who's been quilting as long as I have, it's SO FRUSTRATING for the finished product to look like a total n00b put it together! I can't tell you how many times I've had to give a quilt with an apology! lol!! I tried presser foot after presser foot. I bought several guides. I even bought those magnetic doohickeys. I spent far too much money on far too many tools, all in an attempt to achieve that perfect scant 1/4" & ruler-straight line. Eventually, I came to the conclusion, that either I was the world's worst quilter or there was something wrong with my machine. After putting the machine away in frustration, and walking away from all of my projects for a year, I was determined to find out the answer. Well, after trying all of my tools again, and getting the same results, I'm convinced it's the machine. I think (even tho' I can't prove it) that my needle is set ever-so-slightly to the L of where it should be AND I know my feed dogs aren't working properly. We'll talk about the feed dog thing in another post, but no wonder none of those tricks worked for my seams!! The distance from the actual needle, to the edge of the presser foot, was off! Now, I was at a loss. If the machine itself was the problem, how was I to fix it?!

Enter, Pinterest. Yes! Really, again! lol! I happen to follow several quilters & one of them pinned this tool. I read the post & decided it was worth investigating. So, I googled it, and found a couple videos on how to use it. After watching the videos, and finding them for sale on Amazon for a decent price, I decided to give it a shot. I'm so glad I did! It is the best quilting tool I've ever purchased!!!

<--- Well, here it is! It's sorta hard to see how it works from just this photo, so I totally recommend going to the video link above.

How this differs from any of my other tools, is that it attaches, more specifically, it sticks to the bottom of the actual presser foot!! Why I think this worked for me, is because you have the scant 1/4" measured from the actual needle to the outside line - not from the edge of a tool to the needle. Do you see the small hole? Well, that's where the needle goes. Just make sure the solid line down the middle lines up, and Bam! Perfect seams!

 I'm tellin' ya, I think my needle is off-center! Once I put this on my presser foot & started sewing my half-square triangles, I could not believe the accuracy!! I actually had to square down the blocks for the first time ever! All of my points were perfect. All of them! I was so happy!! After years of struggling, I had finally found something to help me achieve that perfect seam! YAY!

If you read all the info about the Sew Easy Guide, you'll see that it's original purpose was for sewing half & quarter square triangles without marking. I do have to mention, that my half square triangles were far too big (10") for the tool. I still had to draw the diagonal line down the block. But! That was the only marking I had to do! I just lined up the solid line from the tool, with the solid line on my block & the tool helped me keep it all straight! It's so simple, it's genius.

If you're havin' issues with your seams, or just hate drawing all those ridiculous lines for your half & quarter square triangles, I highly recommend purchasing this. It comes in 2 sizes. I got both! Thanks, again, Pinterest!