Block 1

[Eileen K.]

I'm having a problem with the applique block. I made a copy of the block on my printer and had some trouble lining it up to tape it together. DH Mike fudged it and we thought I could still use it. I traced it onto my freezer paper and it just didn't look right so I folded it in half so I could cut it out, since one half looked good. I then ironed my freezer paper onto my fabric and chalked around it. Even though I folded it, it still didn't come out symmetrical.
We're going to try making copies again tomorrow; any advice for me? I want to get going on this ASAP!!

[Margo C.]

Are you saying that the pattern printed out wrong, or that you can't get it transferred to the fabric?

Do either of my centers look unbalanced to you? Even though the pattern is not EXACTLY symmetrical, I don't think it really matters as long as all of the parts fit inside of the 15" x 15" finished dimension. My stems were done following the printed pattern, but the berries and leaves and flowers were just "eyeballed" into place. There are so many pieces that I don't think it's going to matter if the stem isn't perfectly symmetrical.

You say you chalked your design onto the fabric. Is your marking tool making too wide a line for you to feel like it's accurate? What are you marking with? Could that be the problem?

We will figure this out!

[Eileen K.]

It probably didn't print out right. I think I mentioned that things didn't line up. I used a Sewline chalk pencil so I know the line is thin enough.
Yours do look perfectly symmetrical.

Should I try adhering the freezer paper to copy paper and sending it through the printer? Do you think that might help?

[Margo C.]

OH...that may be your problem. Are you sending freezer paper through the printer? Sometimes the waxy side doesn't slide through easily, which would cause distortion.
I always print mine out on regular copy paper, tape it together, then trace it onto the freezer paper with a regular Ultra-Fine Sharpie marker.

[Margo C.]

Maybe there should be TUTORIAL THread OR SECTION TO THE BOARD WHERE MARGO DISCUSSES issues like this....Different technique for doing the applique .... quilting tips etc.

OH NO .... I ASKED FOR ANOTHER CATEGORY


MARGO's TUTORIALS



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[Margo C.]

Anna, the tutorials are here: learn/classrooms/
and here: learn/all-boms

And questions/answers about applique are here: http://forum/ruffled-roses-2011/4081...liqu-technique

Older tutorials are on my Webshots albums: http://community.webshots.com/user/t...host=community

I'll continue try to catch questions as they come up on the forum, but hope anyone who has an answer or other option will please add a post. There's always more than one way to get something done. We all just need to keep trying until we find what works for us!

[Eileen K.]

OH...that may be your problem. Are you sending freezer paper through the printer? Sometimes the waxy side doesn't slide through easily, which would cause distortion.
I always print mine out on regular copy paper, tape it together, then trace it onto the freezer paper with a regular Ultra-Fine Sharpie marker.

No, I printed it out on copy paper. I thought the freezer paper might be better. Oh well. I'd like to use the one I already cut out; here's a picture. I could cut the 3 stems and shift them so they're centered-what do you think?

[Margo C.]

Eileen, I really think it's fine just the way it is. By the time you get all those leaves and berries and flowers and hearts on that block you really won't notice that it's not perfectly symmetrical! Trust me! It looks fine!!!

[Margo C.]

I agree--it looks fine.

[Constance G.]

I agree with Margo and Ritzy. There's an expression that I remember from my days of smocking dresses for my (now 20-something!) daughters, "If you can't see it (the mistake) on a galloping horse (the child) then it doesn't matter!" Visually, this quilt is the equivalent of the galloping horse. There is going to be SO MUCH going on by the time you add the last border that any small glitches along the way will become lost in the glorious whole. I'm sure we're all striving to do our best work, but the trick is not to get too hung up on any one step in the process.

[Eileen K.]

Thank you all so much! I'll keep it. I will probably just thin out the center stem a little.

[Judy S.]

Similar to Eileen, I've struggled to get my printout to align correctly. I thought maybe if I print each page individually that it would help -- no joy. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Is it possible to get the pattern as a single PDF file that hasn't been tiled to take to a copy center? Judy

[Judy S.]

Similar to Eileen, I've struggled to get my printout to align correctly. I thought maybe if I print each page individually that it would help -- no joy. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Is it possible to get the pattern as a single PDF file that hasn't been tiled to take to a copy center? Judy

I had a little trouble getting it to align 100%, too. I just focused on the vine placement and didn't worry about the berries and leaves because they are all the same anyway. I did have to fudge it a little, but only a very little, like 1/8" on the lower right piece.

I wonder, if you look in your printer default page settings, maybe there's something in there that's resizing it slightly based on your margins or something. I know mine does this with PDF files. I just set it to zero margins and make sure it's not trying to center or align the pdf image in any way.

linny t

[Eileen K.]

Thank you, Linny! I never thought of that. Duh, me!! ops: ops:

[Margo C.]

Yes! Scaling and margins are where to check for distortion! Sorry, Eileen, I thought you and DH had done that. :?