QUILTsocial | Issue 08

Brilliantly designed screwdriver
The best screwdriver – EVER!
Speaking of thoughtful designs, this next
tool is fabulous and again, extremely
well thought out. We’ve all been in
this position – you need to change
the needle or you need to remove the
presser foot ankle and those little screws
are so small and so far under the head
of the sewing machine that you just
can’t get a good grasp on them. Right?
Easy to get to the screw to change the needle
Easy to get to the screw to remove the presser
foot ankle
Well problem solved. Have a look at this
screwdriver – it’s just the best and I need
about three of them!
What happens with a normal screwdriver
is that it’s hard to keep the tip in the
slot of the screw and it slides all over
the place. Not so with this brilliantly
designed screwdriver. There’s a opening
that fits over the head of the screw so
that it won’t slip. And it’s stubby so you
can get a good grasp on it. It doesn’t get
any better than this.
Perfecting those scant ¼” seams
Let’s face it – it would be nice to sit
down at the sewing machine and get
that perfect SCANT ¼” seam allowance
every time. It just doesn’t happen, no
matter how good you are! But I’ve got
some tips on how you can improve
your chances of getting that perfect
scant ¼” seam allowance.
I’ve said this many times before, and I’ll
say it again, the Quilter’s 1⁄4” Piecing Foot
P is just fabulous. I use it all the time, on
all my sewing machines and I get the
same seam allowance no matter what
I’m sewing or which machine I’m sewing
on. It’s a fabulous time saver, takes the
thought process out of getting started
and well worth buying one for each of
my sewing machines.
Let’s get started with some advice. Below
it looks like I’m just going to be seaming
two regular pieces of fabric together.
When I flip over the two pieces, you can
see there’s a half square triangle on the
reverse side of that seam and that extra
thickness at the beginning of the seam
can cause some issues.
A half square triangle on the reverse side of that
seam and that extra thickness at the beginning
of the seam can cause some issues
The Designer EPIC does have several
options including the Needle Up/
Down feature which helps to solve
the problems when you’re sewing
something like this. Two things can
happen – if you don’t have the Needle
Up/Down feature, then you’ll have to lift
the presser foot up manually to allow
space for that extra thickness to fit under
the presser foot. If you don’t, the pieces
are going to be pushed and shoved
and you won’t have a nice match at the
beginning of the seam. Other times,
there’s a lot of bunching at the top and
the piece won’t press flat.
The Needle Up/Down feature raises the
presser foot ever so slightly when I stop. I
can then put this thicker seam (or any seam)
right up to the needle. The presser foot
doesn’t have a chance to push the fabric.
Getting ready to sew what looks like a straight
forward seam
Q
.com
UILTsocial
| issue 8 51