Quiltingboard Forums - Quilting Software Versus Hand Drawn Plans?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoSewSue (Post 5229176)

I am a beginner quilter and I have had the EQ software programme for about 48 hours now! One thing I wasn't expecting was how much I am learning about quilt construction and block identification. In order to facilitate the learning process I have been reconstructing quilts in the software from magazine pictures or other pictures off the internet. In fact two quilts for which I had been planning on buying the pattern for - once I had truly analysed them for the purposes of putting into the software I realised how simple they really were and knew that I would find them far to boring to make. Now granted, I would have to come across about thirty of those to make up the price of the software. :)

My primary reasons for buying the software :
1/ I have a very hard time finding patterns that I want to make. I find lots that are 'close' but not quite right. The software lets me very easily 'tweak' different elements of the design.

2/ I am still rubbish at imagining different colour combinations. I have no stash to speak of and if I walk into the quilt shop without some semblance of a plan or intent I become overwhelmed and frozen with indecision. The software lets me try different combos - heck I can even try using actual fabrics currently available on the market.

I just purchased EQ 7 about a week ago. I am finding this to be a fascinating tool! I, too, am finding that I am learning about quilt construction and block identification, as SoSewSue said. I have done the same as she has - found a pattern I really liked, then drew it out in EQ 7. I have a hard time visualizing things. I need to literally see it. I love how I can change color schemes, turn blocks around, etc. and "see" what it looks like. Even just playing around with the program like this - it spurs on other thoughts as to what I might like to do in a quilt. The great thing is - I can tweak a few things and see what it looks like before committing with fabric.

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuiltnLady1 (Post 5305625)

I LOVE designing my quilts -- I use both graph paper and EQ (now 7). EQ frustrates me -- here is an example. I designed a quilt with 56 blocks, there are 4 block sets that are the same pattern and different color ways. With EQ I was not able to find out how many of each color way I needed. It does not tell me how many pieces I need to cut of each block to do the whole thing. I wound up counting the blocks by hand using the printout of the quilt and doing my figuring by hand.

I agree with QuiltnLady1 on this. I thought the yardage calculator and/or rotary cutter tool would be more helpful. And some of this could be user error (since I have only had the program for a week). I think the yardage calculator might be more helpful. But the rotary cutter - as best I can tell - you can only have it "analyze" one block at a time (not the entire quilt). So that feature isn't seeming very user friendly yet.

All in all though I love the program and what it allows me to do and see before I commit to a particular pattern and fabric! :p