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Free Motion Ruler Work for Domestic Machines

Quilting with Rulers on a Domestic Machine with a Ruler Foot designed to work on most makes, that comes in a High and Low Shank and is adjustable. The Westalee Ruler Foot, a true 1/2" round Foot, opens up your creative side by enabling you to stitch with the guidance of a Template, a wide variety of designs normally reserved for the Longarm Machine Quilters.


The Rulers / Templates shown below have been designed to suit your Domestic Machine.
The Low Shank group of machines only has a small clearance between the needle plate and the bottom of the presser foot rod, we have compensated for this and produced an extensive range of designs in 3mm clear cast acrylic.
The High Shank machines do have a little more clearance and this can vary from machine to machine, we recommend using a 4.5mm thick Ruler for all High Shank Domestic Sewing Machines.
If you already have a selection of 6mm or 1/4" templates, they will work from the front and to the sides only, do not attempt to use them from behind, you could damage your machine.


Template thickness, an explanation.

There have been some posts suggesting that there is no reason why you can not use 6mm or 1/4" longarm templates and rulers on your domestic sewing machines when using a ruler foot. Unfortunately this is not allways the case.

When we designed our Ruler foot for domestic sewing machines we spent over a year investigating the vast number of sewing machines available, as it was our intention to make our Ruler Foot fit as many machines as possible giving the ability to use rulers and templates to as many quilters we could.

We studied the height of the shanks, not only for identification of the foot required, High Shank, Low Shank, Medium Shank or High Shank Special. We also looked at the height of the shank from the needle plate, not all shanks are the same height from the needle plate some are much lower than others.

As the vast majority of DOMs are Low Shank and on most of these machines the lowest point of the shank, in the down position is below a 6mm template on a quilt sandwich. This will cause a 6mm template to collide with the shank.

The top photo shows a 3mm template as you can see there is space between the shank and the template, making it possible to move a Template around a Ruler Foot in any direction.

The bottom photo shows a 6mm template and it is obvious that the template is higher than the lowest point of the shank. This would make it extremely difficult to use most of the templates original designed for Longarm Quilting Machines.

The photos are showing a Husqvarna Designer, many Domestic Machines have shanks that will collide with 6mm templates.

We have been manufacturing 6 mm (1/4") Longarm templates for over 7 years, it would so easy just to supply the same template, however your Domestic Machine is not a Long Arm Machine. We wanted everyone to be able to use any of our templates, either inside or outside without any interference caused by the height of the shank.



Fitting the Ruler Foot and what rulers should you use ? Click here to see the video

Want to see the Ruler Foot in action ? Click here to see our video

The Development story is on our Blog Click here to read it.

If you do not know what shank your machine is, all you need to do is lower your foot and then measure the height of the centre of the hole for the screw from the needle plate.


To help you get started we will include a curved and straight sided template with the each Ruler Foot purchased. Ruler for Straignt and curved crosshatching



Important advice

Our Ruler Feet are not suitable for any Slant Shank Machines. like the Husqvarna Orchidea and Prisma and some early Singer Slant Shank Machines, we can not supply to these models.


We have been busy sending out Ruler Feet and at the same time reviewing and evaulating our product. We are so enjoying this venture, its like being pioneers, we hope you feel the same.
It is important that you let us know the make and model of your machine when purchasing, that way we can pass on any important upgrades or information to do with free motion quilting with your new Ruler Foot.
If you are unsure about which Ruler Foot is right for you, send us an email. Email - Click Here

Contact Us:

Phone: 434-645-7780
Address: 125 W. Carolina Ave
                Crewe, Virginia 23930
Hours: Tues & Thurs  Noon-5, Fri 11-4, Sat 9-1
            Closed Sunday, By Appt. Mon 
Weds 10am to 2pm(new hours)



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