cable templates?
 

how do you create templates for cabling?

i mean....usually i use stiff cardboard, glue the image to the board and cut it out. but that doesn't seem like a very effective way to create a cabling template.

i have a book of amish designs. how do i transform this one slightly intricate cable, including a gorgeously woven corner, into a useable template?

thanks for you help!

aileen

i should probably also ask how you make it fit your particular quilt?

usually i mark as i go because i quilt in a hoop and everything wears off if i mark too farin advance.

i'm a little afraid of how this is going to go!

aileen

like you I normally make my own templates - but I did end up buying a stencil for the cable pattern because I couldn't make one that worked!!! as for making it fit I measured the distance it was covering and worked out how many cables were needed mine were on a border so made it a bit easier.

what is cabling

It is easier and less time consuming to just purchase a stencil for the cable design. There are books which show you how to do it but not sure of the titles. The Amish made their own because stencils were not readily available. The time saved is worth the small cost of purchasing. I wrote an article for a Fon's and Porter magazine some years that discussed adjusting the border stencil but don't believe it covered actually making the design.

huh. i don't know that i will be able to find this design. i found a couple of web pages that showed how to make stencils, and i have a double bladed exacto knife. i guess that a primitive outline with the original image in hand will have to do. it's funny because inside he front cover of this book are images of the original templates, drawn out on old boxes and whatever other stiff material was on hand.

thanks for the thoughts :)

aileen

I make my own stencils using transparency plastic (you remember, the overheads teachers used to use?). Your double bladed exacto knife puts you one up on me (where did you find it?). you just have to be careful that you never remove the plastic across and intersection. Once I figured that out, stencils are pretty easy to make. Then I mark it with pounce chalk.

Sizing is more difficult - but a plastic stencil at least lets you lay it on top and see where you need to adjust.

Are you going to be quilting by machine or by hand? If by hand, it would be easiest to have a template to use to do your tracing of design onto quilt. If you are going to quilt by machine, I use examining table paper and trace the cable out on the paper, pin to the quilt, quilt on the design on the paper, then tear the paper away. What is nice about the paper, is if the design doesn't quite fit the border, you can take a tuck if the design is too big, or you can cut and stretch out the design if you need to make it fit (usually at the center).

I'll be honest, I just wing it when laying out my stencils. I do mark w/ a frixion pen and that doesn't wear off as I hand quilt. If I make a mistake, then a hot iron will erase the marks and I can start again.

What Holice DIDN'T tell you is that he is The Stencil Company (or rather his daughter is), the "best" stencils in the business as far as I'm concerned!! I've bought from him for 20 years and find their prices to be low, their stencils to be sturdy plastic, their selection to better than you can imagine - hundreds and hundreds of designs, and their catalog to die for as far as inspiration is concerned. Try them! http://quiltingstencils.com/

Jan in VA