Thursday, September 19, 2013

Product Reviews - Quilt Ruler Connector


A product I tested a few months ago is a tool to join two rulers. The Quilt Ruler Connector™ is a product made by Guidelines 4 Quilting™. The package says it is great for squaring up large quilts.
 
 
One of my recent patterns is for a quilt that is 'on point' and the setting triangles are cut slightly large to allow for squaring up before adding the outer border. My border is cut lengthwise from a border print fabric. This was a great opportunity to try the tool, both for squaring up and to cut long strips of the border fabric.
 
First I needed to square up the centre part of the quilt. I joined my 6" x 24" and 15" square rulers following the package instructions. There is a 'lip edge' and 'alignment tabs' on the underside of the tool. These both ensure a perfect 90-degree join. The tool is attached to the rulers using suction cups. The package suggested I moisten the suction cups and this ensured the rulers were securely joined. I tried the tool without doing this and found that the tool did not stay well attached to the rulers. I followed the package instructions to square up the corners and trim the edges of my quilt center. My corners were perfect 90-degree angles and it was easy to trim the side edges including the little tails from the setting triangles.
 
Two Rulers Joined Together
 
Squaring Up the Quilt Centre
 
Next I joined my 6" x 24" and 6" x 12" rulers to cut long border strips. I made sure to have the 'lip edge' on the left side since I am right-handed. If you cut with your left hand, you would put this lip on the right edge. The borders are cut from a single layer of fabric and each of the 4 border strips is cut from the same section of the border print. I aligned my joined rulers with a line in the border fabric and it was nice to make longer cuts. The process was fast and very exact.
 


To learn more about other uses for the tool (and see videos), see the company's website: www.guidelines4quilting.com
 
And here is my Mykonos Marble quilt where I used this tool. The pattern is available at Patchworks Studio.
 
 
 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous quilt, Daphne - I'll keep my eyes open for the ruler joining tool. It sounds very useful!