Difficulty achieving a consistent 1/4 inch seam allowance

If your machine is considered a "quilting" machine, it may have a 1/4" foot included. However, most machines do not include the 1/4" foot. A quarter inch foot looks a lot like a basic presser foot except the edge should be 1/4" away from the needle.

FWIW, you can achieve a 1/4" seam by placing a ruler under the presser foot and gently manually lowering the needle point until it rests on the ruler's 1/4" mark. The ruler's edge would then be exactly 1/4" away from the needle. You can place a piece of painter's tape (on the sewing surface) adjacent to the ruler edge and this would serve as your quarter inch guide.

Even if you decide to purchase a quarter inch foot, in my experience, none of them provide the "scant quarter inch" seam for piecing. Other than marking a scant quarter inch measurement on your sewing machine, achieving it will usually take some testing to determine what constitutes a scant quarter inch on your machine.

3 Ways to Master the Perfect Quarter Inch Seam

http://quiltville.com/quarterinch.shtml

Scant 1 4 seam allowance

Accurate Piecing Basics Quarter inch Seams WeAllSew

Probably the 1/4" quilting foot. It is designed so it's easier to sew a scant 1/4" seam by aligning the fabric edge to the foot's edge, which is what you need for piecing. Of course, to get it perfectly accurate, you may need to move the needle slightly or figure out where exactly 1/4" from the needle falls on your machine (important if you will be matching points in your piecing). Measuring 1/4" from the needle and then marking with a strip of painter's tape works for some.

https://www.connectingthreads.com/tutorials/How_to_Sew_an_Accurate_Quarter_Inch_Seam_Allowance__D95.html

3 Ways to Master the Perfect Quarter Inch Seam

Accurate Piecing Basics Quarter inch Seams WeAllSew

Edge Stitching Foot? Or 1/4" guide foot? Piecing foot?

1 4 Edge Stitch Foot
or
http://www.husqvarnaviking.com/accessories#1814

In actuality, almost any flat presser foot will work that is wide without any ability to roll edges, pintuck, etc. You can attain the 1/4" seam by measuring exactly 1/4" from the needle and mark with a strip of painter's tape, or some other movable material. Then just use that painter's tape as your 1/4" guide. Somewhere I saw someone recommended using 1/4" inch graph paper as a guide--set the needle on a line and use the 1/4" line for the fabric guide.

Generally, it is assumed that you set the needle at the center position and align the fabric edge with the edge of the 1/4" foot. However, there is a degree of variance from one machine to another, so it is a matter of testing your machine. For quilt piecing, most often the sewist will have to adjust the fabric position to stitch a "teensy" bit less than the edge of the 1/4" foot. Again, it is a matter of testing your machine and adjusting your fabric. For those with computerized machines with many needle position settings, some sewists are able to adjust the needle one needle position to the right to attain the "perfect" quarter inch.

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HI,
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Your best option will be a "walking" or "even feed" foot. Your Brother dealer should have them in stock.

Unfortunately, in reality, most 1/4" presser feet do not guarantee a perfect scant 1/4". There are multiple ideas for achieving a more accurate scant 1/4" seam.

This is the method I use. Use a quilting ruler and place it under the presser foot and then gently rotate the handwheel until the needle point rests exactly a scant 1/4" from the ruler edge. Then place a strip of painter's tape on the sewing surface adjacent to the edge of the ruler. Then use the painter's tape as your fabric guide.

Scant 1 4 seam allowance

How to sew scant 1 4 inch seam Kreations by Julz

What Is Scant

Ideally you want a foot that looks like this with a very small hole where the needle goes down, to maximise the pressure onto the fabric. Just don't move the stitch setting to anything that swings the needle or you'll smash the needle onto the foot and risk damaging the machine.

But unless you are having issues with the fabric being pulled down into the feed dogs, the regular clear sewing foot should be fine for most work and is certainly easier to see what you are sewing.

A lot of quilters go for a 1/4" foot too which gives you consistent 1/4" seam widths when piecing quilts. There is a excellent website on sewing machine feet and their different purposes, link is
http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2009/06/feet-feet-feet/ and she has great images of 1/4" foot in use along with others such as Open Toed or Roller foot.

If you are shopping for different machine feet, you may like to look at www.sewingpartsonline.com, great website with lots of different brands. Your machine would be classified as a "low Shank" machine I think; often you can buy a generic brand foot which will work on different brand machines once you are sure of the shank type.

Most sewers find that there will be one foot they prefer to use for much of their work depending on their projects. My all time fav is the Elna Teflon foot, a black teflon coated foot which works great on many different fabrics; I've worn the black off the bottom of two of them!!

Drop the feed dogs and use the freemotion or darning foot...you have complete control of the feeding....entirely ....so you will need to practice to achieve consistent results.

1. Step 1 To prepare the fabric for a centered zipper application, use the standard presser foot to baste the opening of the fabric shut using 5/8 inch seam allowance. Press the seam allowance open. Place the zipper teeth side down on the seam allowance and pin the zipper to the seam allowance only.
   
2. Step 2 Release the standard presser foot from your machine. There may be a button or lever behind the foot that you need to press. Put the standard foot in its holder or someplace where it won’t get lost.
   
3. Step 3 Decide which side of the machine you want to attach the zipper foot to. Zipper feet are asymmetrical, with one side that’s wider than the other. You’ll want to put the narrow side toward the zipper teeth, and the wider side away from the zipper teeth.
   
4. Step 4 Attach the zipper foot to the sewing machine. You may need to line up the bar on the zipper foot with the presser foot holder, then lower the presser foot by lowering the lever. Raise the presser foot and make sure the zipper foot is securely attached.
   
5. Step 5 Place the prepared fabric with the pinned zipper in the sewing machine. Lower the needle into the zipper tape and the seam allowance only, then lower the zipper foot. Stitch the zipper tape to the seam allowance. To sew the other side of the zipper to the seam allowance, remove the zipper foot from the sewing machine and install it on the other side of the presser foot holder.
   
6. Step 6 Topstitch the outside of the fabric to each side of the zipper tape, making sure that the zipper foot is on the appropriate side of the machine for each side. Remove the basting with a seam ripper.