We are excited to announce that Sew Steady has officially launched their Sew Steady University with over 65 ruler work online courses!
When I mastered ruler work, a new style of free motion quilting with the assistance of rulers, it was using Sew Steady’s Westalee Design – Quilt As You Go class taught by Leone West.
This sampler quilt of ruler work designs was created using the six original ruler work rulers from the Sampler Set. Only six rulers, plus a straight ruler, created all 25 of these blocks patterns.
What is Sew Steady University?
The Sew Steady University is a collection of over 65 online free-motion ruler work courses taught by expert instructors from around the world. There are courses for beginners to advanced users. Never tried free motion ruler work? Try out one of their FREE mini-courses! The beauty of these online courses is the ability to go back and rewatch the videos over and over again.
Do You HATE Free Motion Quilting?
Don’t give up just yet! Many of our ruler work advocate students failed miserably at free motion quilting. They thought they were doomed to using a walking foot for life. With some simple guidance and a practice arena, many of them found ruler work was their answer for beautifully machine quilted quilts without paying custom prices from a long arm quilter.
How Many Times Did I Watch These Videos?
Since I was preparing to not only master ruler work for myself, but create a class that I would be teaching, I watched each of these videos a minimum of FIVE TIMES each! Each video has so much information, every time I watched a lesson, I learned something new.
How I Mastered Ruler Work?
Mastering free motion ruler work is a journey. Just like learning free motion quilting it takes time. Here are the baby steps to mastering ruler work free motion quilting.
Beginning Steps to Mastering Ruler Work
- Sewing machine set up – threads, needles, adjustment of the ruler work foot
- Guiding the rulers – learning the “feel” of moving the fabric and the ruler next to the ruler’s foot
- Straight Lines – work to master sewing straight lines with a straight ruler in all directions without turning the fabric
- Ruler Shapes – practice with a shaped ruler. First, watch someone else use the ruler before trying it yourself
- Apply ruler work to an actual quilt – stop practicing and just do it! Even if it is adding ruler work quilting to something that is already quilted, when your heart is in your quilting you will do your best work.
My Favorite Block
There are many blocks that I enjoyed, but if you know me, I LOVE circles! This block was my favorite! I love the non-symmetrical flow that the circles create.
I translated this look into the quilting of my very first Stitching Cosmos quilt. I wanted to prove to myself and my students that ruler work is a thing and it can add an amazing element to a quilt’s look without owning a long arm quilting machine.
Sara’s BONUS Tip:
I am a fan of drawing out new ruler work patterns on paper BEFORE trying them on the sewing machine. Use the Westalee Design Stitching Line Disks to simulate the use of the ruler while practicing on paper.
Their online classroom launched with over 65 classes from many different instructors from around the world.
This ruler work class helped me master the six basic ruler work rulers from the Sew Steady Sampler set!
