Drafting complex blocks
 

I am attempting to draft several complicated Jinny Beyer eight-pointed star blocks from a couple of her books. The books show the grids, but the grids are very small and there are few if any instructions for how to draft.

I have been to four quilting instructors who got stuck and had to give up (going to number five next Tuesday). Now I am working on this by myself and I seem to have figured out how to draw the blocks on graph paper (I won't go into enormous detail in case you guys don't need all this) but the problem is the points and lines aren't accurate enough to make reliable templates. I have spent a large number of hours on this so far, which is not a problem, but I mention just so it's clear that I'm not on a first draft or anything, more like draft five or so...

I have some decent drafting supplies, so not sure how to proceed to get the accuracy I need.

Is there anyone here who has worked on this type of drafting and could walk me through the process so I can get a bit better results?

Thank you so much...

Lainey

I haven't done this, so I can't help except to suggest you check out her free patterns on her website. Maybe something there will be helpful. Also, maybe you could email her directly and ask her for advice. Good luck.

Laurie

What part are you stuck on? If you draw guidelines - vertical, horizontal, and on the two 45 degree angles (which is easy to make accurate on graph paper), isn't that enough to give you accurate lines to draw against?

Yes, I checked out all the free patterns and there was nothing similar in terms of complexity. Then I also called JB Studio and the women there knew how to do the drafting but it wasn't really possible for me to understand what they were saying (I called twice) and I felt like they were somewhat rushed, not really set up for answering my questions. I'm in MA but I'm sure if I went to Virginia in person it would go much better.

Thank you, we both had the same ideas...

OK, I have all the lines you mention and you would think that would be enough, but somehow it's not working. This is a block with a hexagon in the very center, then a small 8 pt star radiating out of the hexagon and then two more stars radiating out of the central star, each one bigger than the one before. The place I'm getting suck is: I can't get the hexagon to have equal-length sides and because of this then each arm of the first central star has a different size width than all the other arms. Does that make any sense? I can try sending photos but not sure I know how?

Thank you for responding...

Lainey

Do you have access to a photocopy machine? Then you could keep enlarging the book pictures so you can see them clearly. Then you could recreate the image on a graph paper.

Do you have a set of compasses (for drawing circles). If so, you can draw a circle centered where your lines cross. Then, where the circle crosses the grid lines are the corners of your hexagon. If you don't have that, then you should be able to measure an equal distance from the center along each line, and use those marks as the corners of your hexagon.

So the drawing has a hexagon (6-sided) with an 8-point star radiating from it? That sounds a little strange.

The interior angles on a regular hexagon (meaning all 6 sides have the same length) are 120 degrees. You can use a quilter's ruler to draft them.

Yes I have a compass and have done both methods as you explain. It's not that I can't find the points, it's that I can't get the accuracy. I am off by a 32 or even a 16th of an inch no matter how many times I keep drafting these points.

Maybe my next question is, how much wiggle room do I have? If one arm of the central hexagon/triangle is plus 1/32 of an inch and another is minus 1/32, is this going to give me trouble? I just can't seem to get it any better than this. And in a couple of lines I am off by 1/16th in most of my attempts.

SORRY, of course I meant to write octagon! No, it's not six sides, it is eight.

Does this work? Have people tried this? I guess I discounted this method because if it were that simple the books would tell us to use this method? But maybe it works, I just haven't heard the authors of the books mentioning it so I figured the images would distort as you enlarge?

Yes ... enlarging on a photocopier does work. You may have to fiddle with the numbers to get the exact size ... 129% increase vs 130% increase for example.

Wow, that totally worked! I got it to come out to a twelve inch block size. I wonder why the first four quilting instructors didn't know about this method...so simple.

Thank you all very much.

Now I just have to sew it:)

Lainey

This book might help you.

Drafting and Design Simplified (Quilting Library)Sarah Sacks Dun http://www.amazon.com/Drafting-Desig.../dp/1579545033

Thanks, I will get this book right away.

Now here is something interesting:

I used my scanner on my printer and enlarged the block/grid in the Jinny Beyer book until I got a twelve inch block, as I mentioned above. However, now I am measuring all of the pieces in the block - the central octagon, the three stars radiating out from the octagon, etc - and there are fairly significant size discrepancies between the pieces that should be the same sizes and measurements. This is the same thing that happened to me when I drafted it from scratch. So for example, the central octagon has lines that should all be exactly the same length, but instead they are all varying in length by about 1/8 inch! And this continues in the measurements throughout the block.

What does this mean? Does it mean that I should just make a template based on an average of all these lengths? Or does it mean I should be working with a computer draft design?

I am just worried that if I make up templates and one is too large or small by 1/8 inch I will be in major trouble after a few seams. But the only way to know the correct sizes of the pieces is to draft it, and now I have done that two ways (doing it from scratch and blowing up the JB grid) and I'm getting all this irregularity.

Thank you for any insights...

Lainey

One thing that is terrifically annoying is kerf. At least that's what I call it. Even using a 3 mm pencil, the line has width, like the kerf from a saw cut. It can add up. Is there some way that you can figure to paper piece it? It might be easier.

Kerf is a definite issue and especially when I blew up the JB grid the draft lines are very thick now. But no, the instructors I have spoken to say I do best to machine or hand piece this, as do the women at the JB studio. I guess it can't be paper pieced easily.

But it's more than kerf because even when I draft with a mechanical pencil, very thin lines, I am still having lots of irregularities.

I think you will have to draw the original octagon accurately, that could be the root of all your problems. Also, there are about-or-at-least 50 pages of block-drafting instructions in her )Jinny Beyer) .. latest book... Maybe draw on the computer in a drawing program if you are finding out that no matter what drafting tools you are using, you cant get the octagon right to start with......

You originally said you had 1/32 or 1/16th discrepancies when you drew it. There is no way a difference that small is going to show when you piece it, in my opinion. I'd move ahead with one of those drafts. The 1/8" is more likely to be an issue.

If you let me know which block it is (is it from her Encyclopedia of blocks?) I can create it for you in EQ.

I hadn't seen page two of the posts... and I agree, 1/32 or 1/16 of an inch off should be able to be worked in accurately... and 1/8 over and 1/8 under... probably could cause problems. If you can get it all within 1/32 or /16, I would make templates and *go for it*... and besides the drawings having that small discrepancy, you will have to be working with making templates and tracing *around them* (add more kerf) etc.. .you will have to deal with the very fine pencil line widths, and cutting, etc. :) Make a sample and see where you are at.

And keep repeating... "We Do This For Fun"

good luck again :)

OK, this is helpful. I think I can get my draft to where there is nothing greater than 1/16th in terms of discrepancies.

This is such a nice offer, Lynda. The book is Jinny Beyer Patchwork Portfolio, the page is 135, the block is called Sea Pines Star...

And keep repeating... "We Do This For Fun"

Oh dear, this sounds ominous!

:)

Please post the pattern on here when it's done....it sounds beautiful and I want to see!!!!!

An octagon is built on a 67.5 degree angle. I was going to post a pic but wasn't sure how to get it on this post. I drew a picture up in Coreldraw for acuracy. If you would like for me to send it to you via email send me a pm.

Why dont you contact Jenny Beyer? She could probably help you.

Go to Jinny's website. There are tons of her star blocks for free. I'll bet your stars are there.

Is there any way you could make a card board or stock paper template, cut the star pieces out of muslin, sew them together and make a mock-up block to see how it work? I like to do that when making a garment to get a correct fit. Looks like it could be used for a complex block... just a thought, imho. However, I certainly am not an expert in block making. Would love to see your results though.

I have contacted the JB studio twice, the blocks I am doing aren't there on the website...and the women at the studio weren't really able to help over the phone, too busy...

Lainey

I want to post the block draft and also my sewing results (I have the central star sewn but NOT sure about the integrity, seemed like everything was a different size!) but I need to figure out how to post photos...I have a mac and somehow it's fussy with boards. Let me try though...

OK, let's see if this worked. I have hopefully attached a photo of the block I want to sew with a draft of the block next to it, out of Jinny Beyer's Patchwork Portfolio.

This is a beautiful design. I am assuming you wanted to fussy cut fabric like Jinny did to acheive the same tile mosaic effect.

If that were not the case, I would have drafted it quite more simply than drawn out with 8 triangle meeting in the middle like a kaliediscope block. However, I have to agree that the block's beauty is definitely in how Jinny used her fabric and fussy cut motifs for specific areas.

The center hex shouldn't have given you too much trouble. I would have drafted it like a mariner's compass star using a compass drafted circle for the center hex. Then once I had drafted my first 8 star points I would have drawn straight lines across where the star bases met the inner most circle to get my hex. From there I would have continued to draft like a multi pointed MC. However, I can see where those outside bits that form the background of your star would give you a lot of trouble. This definitely is the kind of block that would be best adapted to hand peicing. You should get Judy Mathieson's book "Mariner's compass setting a new course" she gives great directions in how to draft star blocks like this in any size.

I am sorry, I don't have a suggestion, but I would love to see your block (even your practice one) when you get it together. Please post a picture. Good luck

I've read this thread, don't have a clue about the drafting, but i'm looking forward to seeing your quilt!

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions and ideas. I tried to sew the central star and it was just way off in terms of the template so when I went to the next step of setting in the following star, well, it was a disaster.

Apparently I can't get EQ because I'm on a mac, so I think I am back to the drafting board, literally...

The photos are giving me trouble to send but I will try to send my two previous drafts and my little off kilter central star...

I haven't forgotten about you and I've been working on it. I'm having a problem putting the smaller triangle points of the background stars. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to add it after. I'd like to post a PDF of what I've got so far but need to know what the finished size of the block will be.

Thanks!

Here are the drafts I have done so far, they are not accurate enough for good templates nor is the enlargement of the Jinny Beyer block from the book (repeating myself I know, just to be clear)...the little inner star I did isn't accurate as all four lines are a little different from what they need to be.

Interesting - my Jinny Beyer Encyclopedia has a block with this name but it's a bit different. I'm including the beginnings of that block as a JPG.

The octagon on mine is in a different orientation. I don't think mine's going to work at all for you.

Here is the enlarged JB block draft - my mac won't let me post the inner star for some reason.