How to sew an accurate 1/4 inch seam
Test your seam with three strips, then adjust.
Step by step
- Use a 1/4 inch foot, move your needle position, or stick layers of masking tape on the machine bed as a guide.
- Cut three strips 1.5 inches wide.
- Sew them together side by side with your 1/4 inch seam.
- Press the seams.
- Measure the middle strip: it should be exactly 1 inch.
- Less than 1 inch: your seam is too wide. More than 1 inch: too narrow. Adjust and test again.
Bobbin's tip
Pressing uses up a tiny bit of fabric at every fold, so many quilters sew a 'scant' 1/4 inch, a thread or two narrower.
Pressing uses up a tiny bit of fabric at every fold, so many quilters sew a 'scant' 1/4 inch, a thread or two narrower.
Watch
🧵👻 Achieve The Perfect Quarter Inch Seam With This Tutorial! (12:49)
By Just Get it Done Quilts · Open on YouTube
Chosen from its title and channel: a 12-minute video from Just Get it Done Quilts on the same topic as this guide. Embedded from YouTube with credit; we don't host it. It only loads when you press play.
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Sources
All checked 1 November 2026. We read these; we did not test the products ourselves.