A quilting ruler is essential for achieving the best outcomes, regardless of your levels of quilting ability. These fast guides will teach you how to align your fabric along these lines to reach the required angle and halve cutting time by learning how to use quilting rulers properly.
Not only do rulers help you work more accurately, but they also come in a wide range of styles, making them much more beneficial for every quilting project.
Let’s come to this article through letters and words as I will show you how they’re going to help you improve your quilting skills.
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What Are Quilting Rulers?
Quilting rulers are indeed an essential tool for you when you are making quilts. It’s not that you could not work without it, but eyeballing and cutting fabric objects for quilt blocks with scissors can be arduous. Using a quilting ruler is quick and easy; and the benefits it brings are worth an 8-minute read of this article.
Anyone who has quilted for a while understands that there are several factors to consider to achieve the desired effects. When quilting with rulers, precision is one of the most important factors.
It’s crucial when piecing the top of your quilt – one of several examples to keep in mind. It just takes a few inches for the pieces to no longer fit, resulting in a cluttered quilt.
Fine changes and flawless matching will make your quilting better. It will take time to figure out which method is the most effective for you. There are no perfect techniques, and every quilter can require specialized skills over time for achieving the level of precision needed while carrying out their projects.
How to use quilting rulers properly? Quilting rulers help draw standard dimensions, typically resulting in a grid pattern that will assist you in cutting the fabric parts following your needs.
The hatch marks sometimes seem challenging at first, but once you’ve learned how to use a quilting ruler, you’ll be able to use any of it, regardless of the brand, form, or style. Since there are tons of different shapes, sizes, and price range quilting rulers on the market, which one is for you?
How Thick Are Quilting Rulers?
Unlike rotary cutting rulers, which are just 1/8” thick, longarm quilting rulers are 1/4” thick. Quilting rulers can be used with almost any mid-arm or longarm quilting machine to aid in needle guidance when quilting.
What Rulers Do I Need For Quilting?
I soon outgrew the quilting stage when I claimed: “I don’t need any special equipment!” and found that owning a set of quilting rulers is incredible. Here are some of the best quilting rulers to assist you in ruling the quilting world!
1. The Six Inch X Twelve Inch (6”x12”).
The 6” x 12” is the second favorite choice. It has a permanent spot in almost all quilter’s hearts and on the cutting table. This ruler is best for cutting paper patterns or working with smaller cloth pieces.
2. The Six Inch X Twenty-Four Inch (6”x 24”).
A regular 6” x 24” clear plastic ruler is foremost needed if you only want to possess one ruler. This selection is the first ruler of all quilters. To cut strips from yardage, trim a quilt, or slice big quilt squares, it’s everything you’ve been looking for. That’s why I highly recommend it.
3. The Eight And A Half Inch X Twenty-Four Inch (8 ”x24”).
The third and most basic you should purchase is an 8 ” x 24” ruler. I’m sure you are wondering, “Isn’t it just a 2″ difference from the previous ruler?”
Yes, but when it comes to quilting, two is better than one. It makes a significant difference. A big ruler gives you even more accuracy and lets you feel like a leader when working with a lot of yardage for your patterns. This ruler may also be used to square up your quilts.
4. The Square Ruler Set
The last item on my list of fundamentals usually comes in a pack of four square rulers to boast the utmost convenience for quilters.
So how to use a square ruler? Each ruler serves its unique purpose, making any task go so much smoother and quickly elevating your ranking from newbie to pro. They are perfect for patchwork and will help you get started with your ruler list.
5. What is the largest quilting ruler?
- Quilters have access to the biggest square-up ruler possible.
- This ruler is ideal for cutting 22″ medallions, quilt corner squaring and cutting and squaring big blocks in general.
- For full-width cuts, it eliminates the need to double fold the cloth.
- Longer cuts are more stable for this ruler than with a narrow ruler.
How To Use Quilting Rulers?
First and foremost, determine the width of your quilting ruler. The longest long rulers are usually six inches in length, but you may often get six and a half inches, which is useful because you may frequently cut half-inch strips or six-and-a-half-inch blocks, so getting an extra half-inch is convenient.
If you look closely at the ruler, you’ll find that there are a lot of hatch marks. You must be aware of how to make use of such marks. Assume you need a pattern that must be cut three and three-eighths of an inch.
The ruler quilting usually has four pieces of information between each inch marking. Half-inch lines are usually the longest, followed by quarter-inch lines that are slightly shorter, and then eight-inch lines that are the smallest.
So, if you like anything that is three and three-eighths, the first thing you can do is start working on the opposite side of the half-inch increment side, so you would not be working on the half-inch increment side.
Count over three inches and three-eighths to see where you’ll cut. You will cut such one-eighth, five-eighth, and seven-eighth intervals in this way. It’s not difficult, and soon, you will get used to it.
Different angles are drawn on the underside of most quilting rulers to assist quilters in cutting a range of shapes. To cut cloth at a 45-degree angle, draw a 45-degree line on the fabric and cut through it to achieve the desired angle.
You can draw a 60-degree angled line on the fabric and cut through it, or you can cut fabric with a 30-degree angled line. These are angle marks that you can use while cutting, particularly if you’re doing mitered corners for your quilt borders. As a result, it’s critical to have and understand these lines.
The diagonal line on all square rulers is useful not just for cutting but also for finding. If you’re trying to square or calculate something, it will come in handy. And because of that, how to use square rulers is as necessary as regular ones.
Using the middle diagonal line on a square ruler, you can rapidly and reliably cut several different sizes of squares with one larger ruler until you understand what the lines and hash markings are about.
Choosing the correct ruler will help you save time and money, but once you work out which sort of quilting ruler you like, you’ll find that you can complete most of your cuts solely with it.
How Do I Keep My Quilting Ruler From Slipping?
I like to use two different products. One is a whole sheet of clear plastic that goes on the back, and the other is the little round dots that go on the back. Peel off and stick onto the back of the rulers.
There’s a couple of reasons why I like to add the little dots or the big sheet of plastic over the back. The first thing is it makes it non-slipperier than it was. The second thing is that it raises that surface.
So the ruler is sort of in a beveled shape, and when you put it down, it creates a bit of suction. When you go to cut the edge, the fabric does not move underneath, and it gets a nice straight cut.
How Do You Preserve A Ruler?
Since rulers come in a variety of sizes and forms, finding a storage method can be difficult. I’ve seen them hanging on the walls with clips, in a crate, and sometimes in a plate hanger.
Consider putting things behind doors, on the sides of counters, or on pegboards if you have extra room. Perhaps hung on the wall under a rack. They don’t need to be piled up on the table, eating up valuable cutting space. I have a lovely little quilting ruler rack made of oak.
Conclusion
Quilting rulers are available in several different shapes and sizes; that is not to mention brand and price range. Most beginners and simple quilt patterns only need a rectangular quilting ruler, but square and triangular rulers are also available.
For rather small piecework, smaller quilting rulers are often used. As a result, it’s highly advisable to know how to use quilting rulers properly while quilting. Not only do you need rulers to draw exact, straight lines in your math or drawing book, but you also need quilting rulers to do the same on fabrics.
We hope this article has assisted you in obtaining specific guidelines for cutting exact fabric sizes, allowing you to make high-quality quilts using quilting rulers and thereby making your work easier.
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I’m Charlotte Jane, I love quilting. I provide my reviews of the best quilting tools. I hope to help beginners share their love of Quilting with the world.
