If you are a newer quilter, do you know which rulers you should be investing in? When I started quilting 22 years ago I started out with one ruler and built my collection over time. Let’s look at quilting rulers.
Stop Quilt Ruler Regret Before It Starts
Cutting Rulers
Before we get started I wanted to make a clarification. The rulers I am talking about in this article are used with a rotary cutter to cut fabric.
Quilting Rulers
On the other hand, quilting rulers are used with a ruler foot on your sewing machine or long arm machine to quilt patterns into your quilt tops.
Beginner Quilters
For those of you just starting out in quilting I recommend two rulers to get you started. In order to cut fabric that has been cut off of the bolt (yardage), a 6” x 24” ruler works best.
If you have some extra budget room, a 6” square works well in conjunction with the long ruler. You will use the 6” square to cut the strips that you cut with your long ruler down into smaller shapes like squares or rectangles.
Ruler Manufacturers
My best piece of advice is to purchase Creative Grids rulers. Their rulers come with a non-slip surface on the back which makes them far less likely to slip. Do not get me wrong, if you are not leaning on the ruler with some pressure, the ruler can still slip on you.
If you would like to consider other ruler options, there are Omnigrid, Omnigrip, Fiskar’s and Quilter’s Select. These rulers come at different price points and sizes. I started with Omnigrid rulers, but gave them to my husband when I started building my Creative Grids collection.
Building a Collection
Once you move past these two rulers, it is much better to build a collection of different size strip rulers and square rulers, than to purchase odd shapes that you may never use. For example, my square ruler collection consists of the following sizes:
- 2 ½”
- 3 ½”
- 4 ½”
- 6 ½”
- 8 ½”
Out of these, the only ruler I do not use on a regular basis is the 8 ½” square because I don’t make a lot of blocks that size.
Something else to think about are rulers manufactured for specific quilt pattern lines such as the Jaybird Quilts rulers and the Studio 180 rulers. I have made a few Jaybird Quilts patterns and will likely make more in the future, therefore investing in the rulers was a smart purchase.
Studio 180 rulers are another thing entirely. The majority of their patterns that I have either bought or considered, require at least 3 rulers to make the quilt. In my opinion, this is just too much of an investment to pay for the rulers and the pattern. I mean, unless you really love a pattern and know you will make it a few times to pay for the pattern and rulers, then go ahead. Otherwise, stay away.
Before buying any rulers, think first and decide to purchase based on your honest assessment of if you will use it more than once. It is very easy to end up with tons of rulers you will use once or even never, and I’m speaking from experience here.
My Final Thoughts
I hope you found value in Stop Quilt Ruler Regret Before It Starts. Start with the long ruler and the square and move forward from there. Try not to get FOMO for the next fun ruler that comes on the market.
I’m So Excited!
I have been sharing my quilting knowledge for over a year and a half now through this blog and other channels. I’m very excited to announce that I am launching my first quilting course next month called The Quilting Quickstart! This course is for my beginner quilters as well as anybody that needs a refresher.
But here’s the really exciting part, I am giving it away to one lucky winner! All you need to do is sign up here. Good luck!
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