Originally Posted by
Weezy Rider
I need a tool that will perforate computer paper. I prefer to do the simple border shapes on the computer and resize as necessary. It's a major pain to use the point of a seam ripper to perforate the paper. The Dritz pattern tracer almost does it, but not quite.
Why not print it, put an old needle in your machine, put the paper on the sewing machine, and follow the stencil? This will create a lot of "lint" in the machine, so it needs to be cleaned sooner, but it should work. It wouldn't be as thick as a seam ripper, but certainly faster and less frustrating.
Originally Posted by
romille
I of course will make some little practice sandwiches first, and if I am terrible at it I will just go back to stitch in the ditch until I get good enough at FMQ to try it on a real quilt.
i am wondering if a stencil and pounce are worth buying, or if I should just go for it without a guide. What do you guys suggest?
I find following a stencil much harder than freehand. I'm still very new to quilting as well, but I've spent a good deal of my time practicing the FMQ part of things. My brain doesn't like following lines, whether for SITD or stenciling apparently. I can't stay in the ditch, and straight lines are not part of my repertoire. I can't sew a straight line, draw a straight line with a ruler, or cut one with a rotary cutter. These all take huge concentration for me. FMQ, the basics anyway, came "easily" to me. It's a matter of how your brain works best what will work best for you.
Try both ways, but give yourself a really fair amount of time practicing the freehand before you judge. For most people, it's not the most natural thing, the brain does have to be trained (so do the muscles). Sort of like learning to ski. You can't expect to be doing all the black diamond runs without having first learned how to put the skiis on and challenging the bunny hill.
And your quilt is really beautiful
