By indirection, Rosemary, you gave me an idea which might have potential I know a lot of people do not have a cutwork tool (I have one to use with my Bernina and understand that other sewing computer makers have them too), but I'm thinking that I should be able to design a stencil in the Bernina V6 software and then use the cutwork tool to cut it out. Don't have time now to try it but just put it on my to do list. Does anyone see pitfalls to this method? Has anyone tried it already?

I have cut a stencil out of cardboard, and it is not something I would care to do again, as it is difficult to get nice smooth lines, and really tedious. If you wanted to you could use the interfacing idea and cut out all the lines and then place all the pieces back in place, thus relieving the necessity of drawing on the net with the sharpie, but you would need to cut out two mirror sets of patterns instead - swings & roundabouts, which is worse for you.

Nancy, your posting just below is a keeper for me--gives me a fair number of options to choose from and try. Thanks for laying it all out.

Reetzbobeetz wrote:
I only tried this once and decided fairly quickly that this wasn't for me. I used template plastic and had a hard time putting on enough pressure to cut through while also keeping enough control to make nice lines. But I only tried it once and it was many years ago. I'm sure it works well for some people.

Nancy

Don Linn does the same thing, except that he uses an embroidery hoop instead of the interfacing/freezer paper frame. Easier to make taut, but limits the size of the design. You can also trace the pattern on freezer paper and iron to your quilt, then quilt through the paper and remove the paper when finished. The freezer paper is a little hard to remove, but this worked well for me when using a small, complex design that I printed directly onto the freezer paper from my computer. Or trace it on regular paper and sew along the line using no thread and a thick needle then use a pounce pad to transfer the design to your quilt. Or trace it on the rolls of thin tracing paper (like Golden Threads paper) and pin or spray baste, quilt and then remove. I've heard that Glad Press-n-Seal also works well and is see-through and I've heard of using water-soluable stabilizer. There are many methods of transfering a quilting design to your quilt! (Just like any other part of quilting!) It's good to hear about as many as you can so you can try some and see which works for you.

Nancy

Thanks for that Rosemary, I will have to give it a try. I was just looking at a stencil cutter online. Has anybody ever used one of those? I guess you would use template plastic, draw the design onto the plastic with a sharpie and then cut it out. But what would I know?

Rosemary, What a great idea to use interfacing and net to make a frame for a stencil! I like this idea because you could easily pin it to the quilt to hold it in place while you mark. I also think it would be so much easier to judge placement because its easier to see through nylon net than the opaque plastic stencil. Thanks alot for that one.

Don't actually have any stencils myself, but I do have 4 books from Lilian Hedley, with traditional North Country quilting templates, I got the latest one at the GNQS and it contains patterns for Borders & Strippys - there are some great patterns in it that I fancy trying. I also got a Follow the Line Quilting Designs, vol 3, by Mary M Covey, at the show which looks interesting too. So far, I have made up my own templates (all 4 of them ) using cut paper/sandpaper, or in the case of Too loud/Dogrose cardboard, and it has worked out ot so far.

I do know a way of making your own stencils that is quite easy, I used 2 pieces of iron on interfacing (preferably a heavy one) and a piece of net/tulle. Cut the interfacing so that it makes a frame in both pieces, lay one piece adhesive side up, place on the net, and pin it around the outside edge so that it is just taut, place the other piece of interfacing adhesive side down exactly over the first piece & iron it together. Then using a sharpie, trace the design onto the net. To use: place over what you want to mark and draw along the lines with your prefered marking pen/pencil - you will get a row of dots to follow for stitching. Just as I was typing this I realised that instead of using iron on interfacing you could use freezer paper instead, but I would still recommend that you sandwich the net to keep it firm.

I had already gone crazy on the stencils last year after taking Karen McTavish's wholecloth class. Then I went crazy again earlier this month after watching Cindy Needham and then noticing that we could get 20% off our entire purchase from The Stencil Company through the SewCalGal FMQ project. And now I just ordered some more today because I can't decide on the last border for my angel wholecloth. I'm still well shy of Cindy Needham, but I'm gaining ground as quickly as possible!!

Nancy

Rosemary I can see how that would work. Once you have SID'd a block then you could go in and do the fun stuff rather than try to do the whole SID in one go. I will definitely SID ESS on my sampler quilt - my problem is trying to figure out what to do with the rest of it. I think it will end up with a feather border as it seems to be saying that to me. I feel a great need to get some stencils now as my complete collection (4) is a little lacking!

Nancy--what a wonderful quilt!

Rosemary, your quilt within a quilt design is awesome! Can't wait to see it with all its borders and quilted.

Nancy, great layout!

Everyone's projects are turning out so great. It looks like it was a fun class. I haven't done any of the other online classes like Craftsy. Sounds like they are worth checking into. I loved CIndy Needham when she was on TQS. She does awesome work.

Lorna

PosyP wrote: I've just got to this part of the course, and much as I dislike SID I am even considering ESS my sampler quilt :shock: , but only because I am planning on entering it into competition. But I am fairly certain that I will not be doing it all the time It was interesting going through the questions, one lady said the sid ESS was sending her mental & Cindy replied that she doesn't like doing it either - but she likes the finish, so she does it, sometimes she sid's a bit of the quilt and then does the fun stuff on top to give herself a break from the boring siding.

Nancy, your top looks great! Do wait for that perfect border fabric.

Lois, don't worry about those bias edges. It's actually easier to ease blocks together on the bias than those on the straight grain. I've made several quilts using the square-in-a-square method where all of the outside edges are on the bias and they turned out fine, and my Week 3 blocks were on the bias.