Quilting must have: 1/4 inch seam foot

As a relative new comer to quilting I have definitely struggled with the 1/4 inch seam. It's so tiny and unforgiving and my erratic skills at sewing in a straight line are not suited to it. But I appreciate how much fabric you can save, how the seams are less bulky and there must be something to it as everyone is doing it.

So, on my latest quilt (more on that to follow) which was positively swimming with seams, I finally bought myself a 1/4 inch seam foot. Heading over to the Janome site I was confronted with a lot of different feet which were rather enticing, think of all the clever things I could do with them? 

Firstly I was stumped by the category of my machine, as there were different feet for different categories. A quick call to Janome and the lady on the phone informed me of the correct one for my machine (a Janome  TXL 607). And the next day the foot arrived.

See how at home it looks. I am a total convert, it has transformed my sewing of those tricky little seams, no more fruitlessly trying to match up my fabric to the guidelines on the machine. The black guard lines up the seam perfectly and I can now zip through without really having to engage my brain. Which is probably my favourite way to approach most things in life.

My only regret is that I didn't buy this little beauty earlier. What's your sewing much have? A close second for me is a quilters ruler which was a horribly expensive piece of plastic but again quite in-disposable now I have it.