iQ Project #1. Part 2. The Quilt Map.

Simple Custom Quilting.   iQ Project #1. 2017

2. The Quilt Map.

When starting a new project, I have an idea about what the end product will be, so I need to think about the steps to achieve that end.

What will be the first step?  I have no ready made quilt yet so In this case, the first step will be to think about the finished project and then create the blocks that will make up the quilt. The blocks will not be stitched, but they need to be on the screen so patterns can be placed in them.

This collection of blocks is called the quilt map. It is an empty template that can be saved and re-used. It will be saved at the size for this project, but that does not limit you – a quilt map can be re-sized, or scaled, to any size you like or need.

Our quilt needs blocks, sashings, sashing cornerstones, and borders.

So, let’s get started. The tablet can be away from your machine for these first installments. Setting your tablet on its stand close to your computer will make it easier to complete this installment if you prefer not to print out the instructions. Every button you need to touch, or action you need to take is listed here, step by step.

If you have printed out this installment on paper, it might be helpful to check off each section as you complete it to avoid confusion.

I do a couple of steps a little differently in the video, so don’t try and follow the written steps along with the video – watch the video then either create the quilt map as I do there, or just watch the video to get an idea about what you’re going to do, then follow the steps written here. They are just minor differences but might be enough to confuse new iQers if you try and watch the video at the same time as reading these steps. There are a couple of times when I clear my throat, sorry about that.

Here is the video. 
If you'd prefer to watch it on youtube, here's the link https://youtu.be/YGmkELjqDjA

Here are the step by step instructions.

Starting at the main menu, touch Design/Sew Quilt > Start New.

If a pop up window appears answer the questions appropriately.

Add Block > Enter Rectangle Manually.

Width: 10”, enter

Height: 10”, enter

Continue.

Turn the grid on. Using the grid will help with making the quilt map and placing the patterns later.

If the block isn’t already centered on the grid, turn snap on (look for that button in the ribbon below the image)

Move the block so that it snaps to the grid. Grab one of the reference points and move it close to a grid intersection. The block will snap to that intersection.

Finished.

Add Block > Standard Block > Enter Rectangle Manually.

Width: 10”, enter

Height: 2”, enter

Continue.

Move the sashing block so that it snaps to the top of the 10” block. You may have to zoom out if you cannot see the top of the block.

Finished.

Copy Block > touch the sashing block. It will turn red. Continue.

The copy will be slightly offset from the original – it will be red.

Rotation.

Tap the degree button in the ribbon until it reads 90º.

Touch the rotate arrow to rotate the block.

Move. Grab the block and move it until it snaps to the side of the 10” block .

Finished.

Add Block > Standard Block > Enter Rectangle Manually.

Width: 2”, enter.

Height: 2”, enter.

Continue.

Zoom out, or touch zoom full, so you can see the whole quilt.

Move the 2” square block to the upper left corner.

Finished.

Repeat Block(s) >Touch each block in turn until they are all red.

Continue.

X Repeat(s) > tap the plus sign twice.

Y Repeat(s) > tap the plus sign twice.

Finished

Repeat Block(s) > Touch the vertical row of sashing and sashing cornerstones on the left.

Continue.

X Repeat(s) > tap the plus sign once.

X Distance > touch the key pad and put in 36, enter.

Finished.

Repeat Block(s) > Touch the horizontal row of sashings and sashing cornerstones at the top.

Continue.

Y Repeat(s) > tap the plus sign once.

Y Distance > touch the key pad and put in 36, enter.

Finished.

The body of the quilt is finished, now we need to add the borders.

Add Block > Standard Block > Enter Rectangle Manually.

Width: 38”, enter.

Height: 5”, enter.

Continue.

The full image with the grid turned on isn’t easy to see, so turn off the grid.

Move the border block to the top of the quilt.

Finished.

Copy Block > touch the border block > Continue.

Move the copy to the bottom of the quilt.

Finished.

Copy Block > touch one of the border blocks > Continue.

Rotation > touch one of the rotation arrows > Move

Move the block to one side.

Finished.

Copy Block > touch the side border block > Continue.

Move the block to the other side of the quilt.

Remember to always grab hold of one of the reference points then it will snap to another on the adjacent block. I like to grab the middle side reference point.

Finished.

Now we just have the border cornerstones to add. I am going to add two triangles rather than a square because I want to see a diagonal line across the corner. It will help me to position corner patterns accurately.

Add Block > Standard Block > Load From Block Catalog > Geometric

Select triangle > Continue.

Zoom Full

Move the triangle to the top left border cornerstone. It is much too big. Grab the reference point at the right angle and move it until it snaps to the top of the left hand side border.

Stretch. Touch that same reference point for the anchor (the one that won’t move).

Grab the snappoint (reference point) at the lower right point of the triangle and move it until it snaps to the top right corner of the left hand side border. Zooming in will help.

Finished.

Copy Block > touch the triangle > Continue.

Zoom in so you can see the triangle more easily.

Flip X > Flip Y, move the triangle into place next to the original triangle to complete the cornerstone of the border.

Finished.

Copy Block > touch one of the triangle blocks > Continue.

Move the block into position at the other top corner.

Rotation > touch one of the rotation arrows.

Finished.

Copy Block > touch the triangle at the top right > Continue.

Flip X > Flip Y > Move. Move the triangle into place.

Finished.

Repeat Block(s) > Select all the triangle blocks > Continue.

Y Repeat(s) > tap the plus arrow once.

Y Distance > touch the keypad and enter 43, enter.

(Look at the diagonal lines – they are going in the wrong direction)

Flip Y.

(Now they are correct)

Finished.

Finished > Save Quilt/Pattern > Save The Quilt

Touch Clr to get rid of the existing name and call this PROJECT 1. Enter.

New Catalog is highlighted so touch select and name the catalog PROJECT.

The quilt map is now saved and can be recalled for the next installment of this project.

Did you notice where I did something differently in the video? That’s o.k. – I still ended up with the quilt map I wanted. In the end it doesn’t really matter which steps you use to create the quilt map.

By the way, I am not using the latest update in this installment.

Save Needle Position.

In this video Shirley shows how to use the saved needle position. This helps when a quilt hasn't been completed and you need to remember where you stopped quilting when you start up iQ again.


If you prefer to watch it on YouTube, go to this link https://youtu.be/o9FysaIEBb8

Simple Custom Quilting. iQ Project #1. Part 1.

Simple Custom Quilting.   iQ Project #1. 2017

1. The Outline.

The finished project.

 

This project will begin with planning out the complete quilt on the tablet. We will create a quilt map then add block, sashing and border patterns.

We will be using patterns that are already loaded onto iQ and will modify some of those patterns to create our own variations. Path pattern will be used to place the border pattern.

When the whole quilt is planned, we will move on to stitching from that plan. iQ will be used to stitch everything.

For this project, we will turn the quilt to stitch the side borders. We will use distort and perhaps shape shift and magnet tool to modify our patterns to fit the real quilt. This is a simple custom project so we will not be doing any stitching in the ditch.

The small quilt measures approximately 47” square before quilting.

Cut 9, 10½” squares for the blocks.

Cut 24, 2½” x 10½” rectangles for the sashing.

Cut 16, 2½” x 2½” squares for the sashing cornerstones.

Stitch the quilt body in rows as follows:

Row 1 – cornerstone, sashing, cornerstone, sashing, cornerstone, sashing, cornerstone.

Row 2 – sashing, block, sashing, block, sashing, block, sashing.

Row 3 – same as row 1

Row 4 - same as row 2

Row 5 – same as row 1.

Row 6 – same as row 2.

Row 7 – same as row 1.

Stitch the rows together to complete the body of the quilt.

Measure your pieced quilt to determine the length of two borders on opposite sides of the quilt. Cut 5½” wide strips of fabric the length of those two sides.

After adding two borders, measure the length of the remaining two sides and cut the strips to the correct length, again 5½” wide.

NOTE: I do not usually plan out custom quilts in this way. This is just an exercise showing that option. It allows us to audition patterns and alter them to suit a project, and save a complete project for future use.

If you'd rather not do any piecing, you can draw the seam lines on a plain piece of fabric to represent this quilt.

Borders, using line pattern. The easiest method.

Using line pattern in conjunction with the quilt's piecing is the easiest way to set up and stitch border designs. There is no need to turn the quilt using this method.

Making one repeat of the border pattern relate to the piecing means that it will always look good. It doesn’t matter if the piecing isn’t perfect and each repeat isn’t exactly the same length, your eye will not see the difference because the pattern fits with the piecing.

On this star quilt, one swag relates to one star block. 

I set this up by marking only the top border, because all the borders were the same size. I marked the border by tracing along the seam line between the border and the body of the quilt, then traveled out to the edge. I traced a quarter inch inside the raw edge to allow for a quarter inch binding. Marking the block at that quarter inch, meant that I could see that the pattern would not go into the binding area.

I chose add pattern, line pattern. 

On the line pattern screen, I touched 'catalog' and chose the pattern I wanted to use. 

I placed my needle over the seam line between the body of the quilt and the border at the left hand end. I then moved my machine to the seam line between the first two stars, and made sure my needle was at the seam line where the border meets the body of the quilt. I then looked up at my screen. 

The pattern was only 2 inches high - the line pattern default. That didn't fill my border so I touched 'height' and used my stylus to drag the image to a height I thought looked good inside the border block. Sometimes I tap, tap, tap the up arrow for fine tuning.

I always make a note of the height because if I don't finish the quilt in one day and shut down, iQ will not remember the height of my line pattern. Making a note allows me to continue with the same height without having to go through the set up process again, hoping I can re-create it exactly.

Once I was happy with the pattern, I touched ok, which set that first repeat in place. I then moved my needle to the next seam between the stars, and hit o.k. I continued in this way until the border was complete. This can be done very quickly.

Just a note: if the border varies in height because the piecing or cutting was not done with care, then I would mark the border block carefully and look at each repeat of the pattern. If the border is significantly narrower or wider, then I'd alter the height of each pattern repeat to make it fit inside the border more pleasingly.

Line patterns are continuously stitched so the top border will stitch as one pattern. 

If the quilt is very wide, then I start in the center of the quilt and set the line patterns in place going out to the left, then start in the center again and set them going out to the right. I'd then stitch them that way, in two sections, starting at the center. This controls the fabric movement. No matter how accurately you place a line pattern, when a very long border is stitched from left to right as one, the fabric will draw up and the patterns will not stitch exactly where you want them to be by the time the machine gets to the right hand side. It's worth having one more start and stop to get accuracy in the stitch out.

In the screenshot above, I have also come down each side for one repeat. This was as much as I could stitch before having to advance.

After advancing, I didn't need to mark the border blocks, I simply set the line pattern in place on each side for as many repeats as possible.

As you come down the side, look at the pattern on the screen - if it is facing the wrong way and appears to be in the body of the quilt rather than out in the border, touch flip Y.
If the pattern is directional, it may be necessary to flip X as well.

When placing the patterns in the bottom border, look at the image and flip X to turn them the right way up for that border (upside down).

Note: as you advance the quilt, these side patterns will not line up on the screen - do not be alarmed. I will often delete any patterns I've already stitched on the screen to avoid confusion. This also keeps the screen image large.

Now what to do with those empty corners? On this quilt, I popped in a small motif to fill that space.

If at all possible I will always chose to set up and stitch border patterns this way. 

               

     

Resize and Aspect Ratio

Patty Butcher explains the resize quilt button and aspect ratio in this video.



The one time I've found this useful was when I had stitched and saved a wholecloth quilt that was about 40inches square.  I then decided to make a miniature quilt exactly the same, so I simply resized the quilt, with the aspect ratio locked, down to 24inches square. It looked exactly the same on the screen but turning on the grid, or going to true size, showed how the whole quilt had been scaled down. I stitched it out at that size too. At the smaller scale I had to reduce the speeds on iQ to get an accurate stitch out.
Why would you want to do this? If you had made a quilt for a child and wanted to make the same one for their doll, or pet.
It's a fun thing to do.