Quilt Wizard – Special Attachments For Easy, Accurate Piecing

Wizard Attachments makes a set of sewing machine attachments for quilters called Quilt Wizard. Like its other products for ribbons and elastic, these attachments are designed to make your sewing easier.

The Quilt Wizard comes with a snap-on metal foot and two plastic sewing guides that slip onto the toe of the foot like a shoe. One guide, called a Quarter-Inch Extended guide, is for sewing accurate quarter-inch seam allowances. The other guide, called Stitch-In-The-Ditch & Sewing-On-The-Line guide (what a mouthful!) is used as its name explains.

I started off on the wrong “foot” by ordering the wrong Quilt Wizard and had to get it replaced before I could use it. I made the mistake of starting at the top of the chart and reading the table until I found the brand of my machine. Then I ordered that set.

Later I read the entire chart and found that the particular model of my machine was in a different grouping and therefore required a different Wizard. Be sure to read the entire chart to see which Wizard fits your particular sewing machine before ordering.

Testing The Quilt Wizard

First I installed the foot. It snapped on just as easily as all my other feet. This foot has a little more side to side rocking movement than the other feet that come with my Singer One Plus (reviewed here).

At first I thought it might be a problem getting an accurate quarter-inch seam, depending how the foot was angled when I dropped the presser foot. So I spent a couple of minutes raising the foot, changing the angle, and measuring where the guide fell. It always went to the same place, so I quit worrying about that.

I started my testing with the Quarter-Inch Extended Guide to see if I got a true quarter inch. I cut two three-inch pieces of fabric and sewed them together. The resulting block was exactly 5-1/2 inches after sewing. Perfect! Then I made a couple of blocks and measured the ending product. Perfect again!

Beside getting the really accurate quarter-inch seam allowance, I really like using this guide. It sticks out in front of the needle about an inch and a half, making it easy to line up the edge of the fabric with the guide. And with the long approach to the needle, the blocks I made were always the right size.

Next I tried the Stitch-In-The-Ditch & Sewing-On-The-Line Guide. I sandwiched a block and began sewing in the ditch, using the two prongs as a guide on each side of my seam lines. My first few seams were perfect.

I was quilting a brown and beige block with beige thread. I decided to experiment a little by letting the guide move along the seam slightly more on the beige side. I found with just a few minutes of getting used to the guide, I could put my stitching anywhere I wanted it.

Follow The Line

Next I decided to sew on a straight line. This worked really well. It was easy to follow straight lines drawn on fabric.

Then I used the guide for paper-piecing. There is a half-oval opening in the foot for the needle. This is pretty easy to see through for starting your piece.

With my starting point lined up, I changed my focus to the front of the guide. I could watch my line go through the toes and then between the prongs. When I got to the end of my seam, I looked through the oval until I hit the exact spot I needed to start. I had no trouble following the lines using this guide.

Finally, I decided I could use this foot as a guide when doing machine applique. I don’t know what I was thinking! No way did this work, because the pieces I used were small and the prongs of the guide are an inch and a quarter in front of the needle. That is probably why the company doesn’t list this application.

Changing Behaviors

I encountered two issues when using these feet. I found that I can’t sew as quickly using the Wizard quarter-inch foot. I had trouble starting the seam, going over thick areas where multiple seams met, and at the end of the seam keeping the fabric riding smoothly for the last few stitches.

I’m an extremely fast sewer. I put the pedal to the floor almost all the time when I piece. I got this bad habit from using an upholstery sewing machine.

It turns out my need for speed was causing all my problems with the Wizard attachment. When I slowed down a little bit, the problems went away.

I also found that the Quilt Wizard wasn’t real happy about sewing over pins. Sometimes it worked fine, but occasionally not. Once I started removing the pins before they went under the foot, I had no more problems.

Best Quarter-Inch Foot

I will definitely be using the Stitch-In-The-Ditch & Sewing-On-The-Line Guide for following long straight lines drawn on fabric. It is easy to keep focused on the line, and the narrow toes and prongs guide me to the exact place to sew.

I might use it for paper-piecing, too, but the benefit isn’t as great because the lines are pretty short most of the time.

However, I think the really great part about Quilt Wizard is that it is the best quarter-inch foot I’ve used. And I have used many, since I always test the quarter-inch foot in my sewing machine tests.

With the Quilt Wizard Quarter-Inch Extended Guide, I got accurate seam allowances every time. And it is very easy to keep the fabric running along the guide.

Prices

The Quilt Wizard set, including the foot, two guides, instructions, and a storage box retails for $30. All the guides use the same foot. If you want to get the Wizard ribbon guides or the elastic guides, you can buy those separately for $15 each set.

These guides are available for most machines. If your machine doesn’t have snap-on feet, there are snap-on adapters available in low, high, and slant shank for $3. And for Bernina owners there is a snap-on foot adapter available from your Bernina dealer that works with this foot.

=> Click here for more information about the Quilt Wizard