How to Buy a Quilting Ruler

Using a good quality ruler designed for quilting and sewing can simplify the process of designing and cutting a quilt. While you could simply use a yardstick or regular ruler, a quilting ruler helps you cut straight lines on fabric, square corners and determine good angles.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Visit a quilting store, fabric store or search online for quilting rulers. Quilting rulers are available in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors.

2. Consider the scale you would prefer to use for quilting block size. If your project requires metric measurements, buy a ruler online. If you use inches, make sure your ruler also has measurements for the half and quarter inches.

3. Review the features of the ruler. Look for rulers with non-slip backing, that prevent the ruler from sliding as use a rotary cutter or draw a line. Look for rulers that provide a variety of angle lines, especially standard angles like 30, 45 and 60 degrees.

4. Pay attention to the color of a plastic ruler. Some are clear, but some have a slight tint. If you're shopping in a store, walk around the store and hold the ruler against several colors of fabric to make sure that the measure markings are clearly visible.

5. Compare the sizes and shapes of quilting rulers. A long ruler is great for cutting long lengths of fabric, a triangular ruler is ideal for cutting triangle pieces and a square ruler helps square off the edges of quilt blocks.