maggienoella Posted August 24, 2013 Report Share Posted August 24, 2013 Good morning, I would like to start stabilizing blocks with SID to practice some freehand things. Do I need a ruler base to do this? Thanks, Joan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted August 24, 2013 Report Share Posted August 24, 2013 If you can quilt straight lines, then you'd not use the base.. when using rulers, it's nearly imperitive,as you would have to hold the ruler in an awkward way and balance it to level, while you stitch next to it. Hard to do without a base. I'd highly recommend one. I leave my extended base on most of the time. Rita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted August 24, 2013 Report Share Posted August 24, 2013 You should not try stitching with rulers without a stabilizing base, it is way too easy for that ruler to jump under the hoping foot and throw your timing out, chip the ruler, and worse than that, injure your fingers...like Rita, I leave mine on most of the time and it would be a good investment if you plan to use rulers. If you have bliss I hear that you can control your machine so well that some say you may not need a ruler.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitepinesquilter Posted August 24, 2013 Report Share Posted August 24, 2013 Dangerous to you and your machine to attempt ruler work w/o a stabilizing base, as said above. You may get by with horizontal or vertical lines if you have channel locks (or use clamps in their place if you don't) but lines of diagonals by rulers need support or you risk some real problems . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumpkinpatchquilter Posted August 24, 2013 Report Share Posted August 24, 2013 I haven't had my long arm too long, since January, so I'm definitely not an expert...but I will say that I JUST got my ruler base literally a few days ago - it makes SUCH a huge difference! I just want to mention because it doesn't seem like anyone mentioned this when I was inquiring...even with a ruler base large and long rulers are difficult to use so you might want to keep that in mind when you go shopping. I bought a Handi Quilter Versitool for small straight SID lines, continuous curve lines, and triangles and it's just the right size for me. I also have a 12 SID ruler that I love...but I personally wouldn't get into anything much bigger than that (at least not at this point in my quilting) because it's just too akward to use. Also - I have a thread cutter so I DID use small rulers before getting my ruler base and I rested them to the left of the machine on the cutter. If you go slow you might be able to get away with free handing straight horizontal and vertical lines. As long as I went slow I was able to do them free hand and they looked pretty good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimerickson Posted August 24, 2013 Report Share Posted August 24, 2013 Joan: As you can see from the posts, if you intend on using rulers to SID, you need an extended base. If you intend to do SID free hand, then you don't. I do most of my SID free hand, but I made an extended base for Zelda, my Ult 2, and use it when I use rulers. I found the extended base gets in my way some, so I keep it off Zelda most of the time. With practice, you can get pretty good free hand. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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