I forgot where I got this file off the internet however, is the instruction on how to make a pattern board. I this doesn't come across on the message board, please email me at
[email protected] and I will email it to you.
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First of all, home carved groove boards will never be as perfect as computer guided, laser cut boards. That’s impossible. Also the process for making these boards is time consuming, you could be making quilts. In essence hours are being traded for dollars. These are the negatives.
Now for the positives: You save a bunch of money. Just about any design can be carved, keeping in mind the continuous line theory, and adjusting for the fact that the groove is about one 1/8 inch wide. (don’t want lines to close together) Be as creative as you want, carve any size the HQ16’s work area will allow.
1. Purchase ¼ inch pressed board from the hardware store. I go to home depot. The board comes in 2 foot by 4 foot pieces, and costs $4.00 in my area. Have them cut the board to what ever sizes you want. I’ve been using 1 foot by 4 foot for my over all designs and one foot square for my block designs. One by three would also be good for over all design, as two boards would give six feet.
2. Decide what design you want and adept it to fit your board or your quilt block. A copy store helped me enlarge some things I had. Transfer the design to the boards using graphite paper. Get this from a craft store. I went to Michaels. Darken the design with a sharpie permanent marker so you can see the lines as you carve.
3. Put dremel bit number 107 in the dremel tool. (#107 is a small round ball) Attach the cutting guide to the dremel. This guide comes with the dremel kit, ( it looks like a collar the vet puts on an animal to keep it from biting or scratching, but it’s black). It allows you to control the depth of the cut and keep it consistent. Adjust the cutting guide to make a very shallow cut, about half the width of the small ball head on the 107 bit. Practice a couple of inches on a practice board to get the feel of the tool. It makes a fairly loud