I thought I'd try my hand at making my own templates out of some plastic I had lying around and an exacto knife. To quote the immortal words of another quilter here in another context: "I'd rather rope goats." And the result is awful.
It looks to me like the easiest way to mark fabric is to mark it before I quilt it, using a light box (or, in my case, a glass table-top) to trace the design on the fabric. (Unless, of course, I'm using store-bought templates, which seem to work pretty well.)
What say you? (I apologize for re-covering ground that has doubtless been covered a zillion times before, here.)
I like tracing with a light box, but I don't have the patience to mark an entire quilt before I baste it. That, and I'm so bad at removing marks that would last long enough for the entire quilt.
I tend to mark things little by little free hand. Chalk for machine quilting, sometimes those red pencils or silver pencils you can buy for quilts.
I have made some templates; just a few. They work okay, but I use scissors to cut them; not a knife. I don't make a "stencil"; it's a more solid shape.
if we knew what designs you were aiming for might help with useful replys.
there is press and seal with a chalk pouncer. cardboard, cut edges to the shape you want, then mark along that edge with something that will wash out. do double check how to wash it out before you use one whatever. there are various coloured pencils for that job....blue, silver, white...from various makers/designers, some must be cold water rinsed out before any soap or heat is used...hot water, iron, dryer.
just using paper with design cut out like you did for snowflakes as a kid will work too. it all depends on what design you fancy. could be all ya need do is spend some time doodling the design to imprint it on your brain, then start freemotion quilting it.
so what designs did ya have in mind?
"Edna Pearl" wrote ... I thought I'd try my hand at making my own templates out of some plastic I had lying around and an exacto knife. To quote the immortal words of another quilter here in another context: "I'd rather rope goats." And the result is awful.
It looks to me like the easiest way to mark fabric is to mark it before I quilt it, using a light box (or, in my case, a glass table-top) to trace the design on the fabric. (Unless, of course, I'm using store-bought templates, which seem to work pretty well.)
What say you? (I apologize for re-covering ground that has doubtless been covered a zillion times before, here.)
I'm not sure I know enough about quilting patterns and which ones I will want to use to give you a meaningful answer, J*. Today, I was working on two Amish motifs, a circular, feathered flower and a double figure eight. I also have in mind to do some cables and, um, swirly circles for borders. :-) And some block centers that I simply can't describe, other than to say they are line drawings. Some of these I propose to do by hand, some with SM.
I'm glad to hear two of you have already recommended a bit of freehand -- I was thinking "why not?" but I have never read anyone who recommended it until now.
I often cut my templates out of cereal or cookie boxes and trace around them with a pencil on the back side of the fabric. The templates last a long time, and I make 3 or 4 or 6, and maybe some extras. Barbara in SC
The more patterns you look at, EP, the more you become familiar with, the better off you will be. Follow up sites given here; get books from the library - you can't buy all you think you might need at first! look at the quilting on all quilts you see - whether you like the quilt or not. This will all help to get designs in your mind. Find which few you like best and practice them It is fairly useless trying to practice everything you see. Practice a few you like, get them perfected (well, as near as!); then move on to learn a few more, and so on. It is also a great help to make up a little library of your own Free motion quilting designs, so that you can refer to them - for when you have practised so many you can't easily remember them all. That *will happen. Six inch squares even, loosely sewn together with make a little book - or even do a few on an A4 sized piece of fabric.
I never thought I would find quilting fun (I love designing and piecing), but now I can honestly say that I do; both FM and with the walking foot. . In message , Edna Pearl writes
This suggestion of a simple technique, like most simple techniques, really opened my eyes. I see now how I could cut a template of just the *outline* of the pattern, and freehand at least some of the interior embellishments. Like this double figure eight I'm looking at, I could do two outlines, one of the inner 8 and one of the outer, and simply draw the inch long lines in the middle of the design freehand on the fabric (if that makes sense -- it does to me anyway).
And cereal box cardboard is just the right weight -- stiff enough to trace around and thin enough to cut without too much effort. I can actually imagine *enjoying* making such simple templates. (And multiple copies of each, like you do.)
Thanks a million, Bobbie. This will get me a long way toward getting started on converting patterns in books to my own use.
empty cereal boxes are the only thing i use for my applique patterns. if a shape is generic all the better cuz it means i can mix and match them into other designs. i make 3, sometimes four of the same shape in different sizes. flowers blook at different times so their petals are going to be different sizes. that applys in quilting too when doing free motion. they dont have to be exactly the same size, close can be close enough. i keep all my templates cuz ya never know what will work with a new idea. heck, i use cereal boxes cut to size to wrap all my embroidery floss around. it was free and recycled, always a plus in my mind.
i sometimes walking foot around big blocks to stabalize, then fill in with handquilting tho could also be filled in with free motion quilting. so much to know, always something new to learn. a never-ending supply of quilting designs, patterns, methods etc to fill the old brain matter.
any design you practice lots on paper will imprint the design into your brain so when you come to sew it, it becomes more automatic...less actual thinking about it to do. j.
"Edna Pearl" wrote ... This suggestion of a simple technique, like most simple techniques, really opened my eyes. I see now how I could cut a template of just the *outline* of the pattern, and freehand at least some of the interior embellishments. Like this double figure eight I'm looking at, I could do two outlines, one of the inner 8 and one of the outer, and simply draw the inch long lines in the middle of the design freehand on the fabric (if that makes sense -- it does to me anyway).
And cereal box cardboard is just the right weight -- stiff enough to trace around and thin enough to cut without too much effort. I can actually imagine *enjoying* making such simple templates. (And multiple copies of each, like you do.)
Thanks a million, Bobbie. This will get me a long way toward getting started on converting patterns in books to my own use.
Edna, most all the bed quilts I've made have been the very simple checkerboard blocks, or rectangles surrounded by a plain color. My cereal box template squares start at 4" and go up to 12". I also have 1/2 squares in some sizes and also rectangles. I haven't gotten bold enough to make the other type quilts. The bed quilts you might see on "Little House on the Parrie" look "fancy" compared to mine. But my quilts are loved and used---even the scrap quilts. I also have made the panel quilts for cribs and simply birthed them, or just sew the edges with the serger. HTH Barbara in SC
The small project I'm doing right now is based on a Welsh pattern. The Welsh historically "butted" their edges instead of binding them, which looks really pretty. The Welsh also preferred longer stitches than the tight quilting we prize now. It just goes to show you, there's more than one way to make a beautiful, beloved quilt. "More than one way to skin a cat," as my mom would say.
I've read a lot of stuff about some quilters load their needle with several stitches and others use a "show stitch" where the needle just punches up and down. I'm learning that I might as well use the stitching style I've used for for decades for my other needlework. Despite the fact that I'm right handed, I am used to having my right hand under the canvas (now, the quilt) and my left hand on top. I wear my thimble on my right ring finger, and I punch up and down. I'm quick this way -- as quick as I think I could ever get with loading my needle or changing my hands. I'm used to making even, neat stitches a lot more complicated than a running stitch this way. And I've been making my end knots the same way I do for embroidery and mending, but with a longer tail to crawl up into the batting after I drag the knot in. Whatever works, I figure. And I'm set in my ways. I propose to follow your example and do whatever I'm comfortable with and like the looks of.
EP, I'm a thumb quilter- or I was back when I could still do hand quilting. (Severe arthritis) Many shudder at that.. you are *supposed* to use your middle finger for The Push. But the point is- nobody knows how you made your stitches. As long as they go thru all layers, are the same size on front and back and are all approx. the same length that's what's important. Do it the way that works for you.
Didn't I read in this group awhile back that one of you used Press N Seal saran wrap on the top of their quilt? They'd draw out the design they wanted on it, press it to the quilt, sew on the lines, and then tear it away. I just bought a box of this but haven't tried it yet. You could get pretty creative using it if it does tear away easily. A friend of mine has access to old X-ray film sheets and she makes all her templates out of those and loves them. Donna
No, Press and Seal does work brilliantly for Quilting - you don't need to iron it, it just sticks to the fabric on its own. You mark your pattern with an indelible pen and when it is really, really dry just follow the lines. It does tear away really easily.
However, beware using it this way on a white or pale quilt as the needle can still pick up odd tiny bit of the marker pen. Don't ask - but my Bluebird wall hanging has more appliqué now than was intended! However I will be using it for my starry night quilt, especially for the dark border.
You can also use it to hold down a paper or tissue paper template while you quilt through the P & S and round the template - no risk there! Then just tear off, bin the P&S bits and reuse the template.
(I can never remember how to type accents, but my spellchecker obliged with applique! Spellcheck is my friend!!)
The *easiest* way is not to mark at all! Free motion rules! Although I confess to owning a few favorite store-bought templates, for when things really need to look consistent. I use a mechanical chalk pencil for those.
Have used the light box method -but it has major drawbacks. Easier to trace >I thought I'd try my hand at making my own templates out of some plastic I
I tried this, and it worked pretty well. One cavaet though -- it gummed up the laser window on my stitch regulator after a while and it wouldn't do right at all till I cleaned it up. No problem in the end, but I was nervous wreck about my new expensive machine being "broken". The shop figured it out.
I use BOTH my thumb & middle finger; thimbles on both. It means almost any quilting direction is comfortable without wrist contortions if you keep switching as needed between the fingers.
If I'm not free-motion quilting, I use Press'N'Seal. (I'm an addict of that stuff!)
Lay a piece of PnS on top of the pattern(great for patterns in books), trace the pattern using a permanent marker (one that makes thin lines!). Pull the PnS up, stick it on your sewing machine/hang off the edge of a table, wherever (I use a flannel covered board & a bookcase to hang them from) - Repeat for as many designs as you need. Let dry 24 hrs to set the ink. (I also use a color that will show up easily - light for quilting dark fabrics, medium for light colored fabrics). Sharpie markers come in a lot of colors now-a-days. (You can also draw a square and an X from corner to corner, so that when you trace the design it can be centered within a block.)
Lay the P'n'S down on your quilt, smooth lightly. You do NOT have to use pins to keep it in place -- [so you won't stick yourself and bleed on your work B.T.D.T.!!! ] You can re-position the design easily, too, if needed.
Quilt away - following the lines.
When done, pull off the P'n'S. (Helps to tug gently on the quilt from different directions to loosen it). The hardest parts to tear off are any sharp inside corners of a design - and then, be sure to pull off the outside edges first.
I LOVE P'n'S! - 'specially on boarders where you sometimes have to lengthen/shorten a design to fit. ME-Judy
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