Problem with Template

[Chris T.]

Sherie, This looks like a perfect example of what I call Issue #4. The new templates which Sarah has created should fix this problem. We're still waiting for those new templates to be posted; we'll make an announcement here when they're available.

Jeanie
http://www.KalCollections.com

Whew! Thought I was going nuts! THANK YOU!

[Sarah V.]

Hello Chris,

If you are maintaining the 2" square across pages, I don't think you will have a problem going forward. It would be a good idea to measure 4 squares (should be 8") and 5 squares (10") to see just how much your printer is gaining or losing over a page - be sure to measure across the page and down the page. One of my printers prints exactly, the other gains 1/32"-1/16" over the length of a sheet of paper. The quilt went together well, and until this discussion started, it didn't actually occur to me to do any measuring! And I printed my templates out using both printers.

Months 3, 4 and 5 will be good checkpoints. The finished blocks for these months are 12" squares - so you will have 9 squares that should all measure 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" when they are ready to go into the quilt top. This is very easy to check - and is totally independent of the template/foundation that you are using. Beyond month 5, we are dealing with a pretty big circle and bias edges, both of which (in my opinion) make accuracy less of an issue than it would be if you were making a quilt from square blocks. As long as your seam intersections or points are accurate, the seams in between the points can be eased using the bias of the fabric. And some good pressing!

I'm loving seeing the blocks that people have posted in the Show and Tell area.
Sarah :-)

[Chris T.]

Thanks Sarah. Will also post as well as soon as I have time.

Chris

[Chris T.]

I am wondering if the new templates (for 1 and 3) have been posted... I have managed to get the center star assembled, and pieced border assembled, but I have the #4 issue with my printer and I was hoping to have the new template (3) before I attack that skinny outer circle. I am a little bit scared :shock: to mess up the lovely work I have already done! Any news?

[Sarah V.]

Leslie - it doesn't look like the new templates have been posted. I'll send them to Lilo again.
Sarah :-)

[Rita C.]

I seem to have a slightly different problem to those that I have just read. I did print out Jeanie's test page and it was perfect which suggested to me that my printer was printing accurately. However, when I printed out template 1 I notice that the grey squares are 1 7/8" square! I did download this template as soon as it became available and saved it to my hard drive. Is there a newer version of template 1 which I should have used instead. I use a Mac so there is no mouse or right-click button by the way. Rita.

[Sarah V.]

Rita - the new templates will deal with the large printer margin issue. Not sure why one doc would print accurately and the other is too small.

[Rita C.]

I tried printing out the first page of the new template but the squares were still 1 7/8" too small. I will have another look at it tomorrow. Thanks anyway Sarah. Rita.

[Rita C.]

Thanks for the quick response, Sarah. I will keep my eyes open!

[Rita C.]

Thankyou Jeanie for posting your troubleshooting blog. I have followed all your instructions and now realise that all my issues were down to "driver error". I have now managed to produce perfectly aligned and correct sized templates.

Thanks again.

[Rita C.]

DH helped me figure out how to get the right size so I am now sorted thank goodness. Now I just have to figure out how to do this block :shock:

[Jeanie S.]

Rita, If you can explain what your husband did, I'm sure it would help other Mac users. I am not very familiar with Macs, so can't provide much guidance. I'd be happy to update my blog post with Mac instructions if I know what's needed!

Jeanie
http://www.KalCollections.com

[Rita C.]

Okay Jeanie this is what worked for us:

1. Save template to desktop as PDF.
2. Click to open and it will be in Preview.
3. Go to Preview on top left corner of screen and click on 'preferences' - a PDF box will appear.
4. Click the button to change 'Initial document scale to 'use scale of 100%' (not size to fit which is directly under it)
5. You also need to define 100% scale as 'size on screen equals size on printout'.

There are a few other boxes but we didn't need to tick any of those.

And that was all we had to do to get the right size template. I hope this is of use.

Rita.

[Rita C.]

could someone please post here with the correct printed-out dimensions of the triangle from template #4? there's nothing on it to indicate the correct size, and i want to be 100% sure before I start piecing.

[Beverley T.]

I tried the templates on several printers and had success on only one at first. The clue seems to be no scaling and choosing Letter 8.5 x 11 instead of the default of A4 on 2 of them. I thank this forum for pointing out the A4 issue. Also cut 2" and 3" templates to help line of the pages. This helped me realized how the marking helped line up the pages. Am now confortable in printing on good stabilizer. The beginning is so important.