Light Box
 

Can someone on the QB please tell me how you would use a lightbox in quilting?

I think someone had said it helps for tracing shapes for applique. I've also heard that a crafty person can rig up their own instead of buying one.

Indeed!

Mine is very simple ....
an old drawer (you could use any drawer in your home)
with some LED flashlights inside (I'm ready in case of a power outage!)
and a piece of 1/4" plexi straddled across the top

Quite Budget Friendly!

Mine is even easier... I use my patio doors and masking tape. It only works in daylight but is very cheap!

I use one for tracing applique or embroidery shapes onto fabric. You could also use one for tracing quilting designs onto your quilt top. I had a make-shift light box (a piece of plexiglass laid on top of two plastic shoeboxes with a folding Ott light underneath) but I recently bought a CutterPillar, which comes with a self-healing cutting mat. I love that it's completely portable, can be used without being plugged in, and the light is evenly distributed. I got a good deal on it on the last day of the Houston show. I also got the glass overlay. https://www.cutterpillar.com/glow-premium

You use it for anything you trace. Mostly applique or embroidery designs. I put a tap light into a clear plastic scrapbook paper box. It's about 14 x 14 x 3 and flat enough to draw on the top.

It's helpful for applique, especially tracing. I've also used it to help line up fabric for paper piecing (though now that I'm better at that, and using a different technique, I don't need it like I used to).

My sister-in-law is a veterinarian, and she loaned me a portable x-ray film light (it's about the size of a clipboard and just a little thicker). It's awesome! They don't use them anymore (it's all digital now), so she took them home. I'm not sure if I have to give it back or not...

I did find some inexpensive ones on amazon though, around $20 give or take. I know there is a Crayola brand one (for kids and tracing) as well as some other brands, and they work well too.

I have the same CutterPillar as dunster. I love it for paper piecing, especially scrappy. It allows me to see through the paper and make sure I have an area completely covered, and then cut the fabric to size without moving anything.

It's also great for tracing embroidery and applique patterns.

I bought an LED one from Amazon for less than 40 dollars and use it for embroidery and card making and applique. I was so impressed with mine that I bought my daughter one also and she loves hers too . Anna

When I first started quilting, I used to open my dining room table, as if I was going to put the leaf in, and put a lamp underneath with a piece of glass on top. I liked this setup because I can sit as I work, as opposed to standing in front of a window or door.

However, I now have a really cool quilting table that has a light built into it. :D

To make my quilt labels I type them out in the font style I like and play with size and layout till I get it right. Then I print them onto paper and use my light box to trace the letters onto fabric for the label. Much better than writing labels freehand!

I have a light box for smaller projects, and a glass top drafting table with a light underneath it.

Most recently I used to for creating the school logo for a quilt, and I also use it the same as sewbizgirl for making labels.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psoyk0u6uq.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psrbrigddm.jpg

You could use the flashlight on the phone which you could lay in a box of any size with a plexiglass cover. It would certainly do the trick. I do have a lightbox because someone gave it to me. I do not use it often but it is great when I need it. I like the idea above about aligning the fabrics for paper piecing projects. I am thinking of the JN patterns.

I have and love my light box. I do a lot of appliqué and it is great. My granddaughter also uses it for some of her projects for school. It was a gift a few years ago and before that I used my glass top table with a lamp under it. It worked fine. My son saw me doing that and gifted me with my light box.

Thank you all so much! I kinda figured out that I want one...and I'm also going to use the drawer idea to make one. Just to get neat labels would be worth it...My handwriting looks like a doctor's!

I got one of the slim LED light pads for my birthday and I love it. (Tattoo artists use them a lot.) I received the "A2" size which is 18" x 24" - large enough for just about anything you want to trace. (DH said is was around $100). The "A4" size is an 8" x 10" size and are available for under $50. Ebay and Amazon have quite a few to choose from. I highly recommend the LED boxes as they are thin and easy to use. I used to use my patio doors, then my bay window to trace. Now I use the LED pad.

I have one that was purchased at JoAnn's with a 50% off coupon.....hasn't been used much, but it's ready for when I need it for applique projects.

Sometimes I mark my quilt tops before they are basted. Recently I redid a shower and kept the old glass door. I'm going to put it between two TV trays with a lamp underneath. I'm giddy with excitement to have the large area for my next tracing project.

p.s. It's not quilting, but I also trace clothing patterns onto freezer paper so my original tissue paper pattern is not damaged and can be reused. I used to do this on my sliding glass door on sunny days. Now I can sit down and do it any time I want with my shower door. Woo Hoo! :)

Yes to both statements. My husband made mine with some pieces of scrap wood that he had and painted it white. I bought glass at Lowe's to fit. I use a small light bulb he mounted underneath and it's great. I trace patterns or coloring book images and anything else I need to copy. (I used to use the window. Ugh. Hard on the arms holding them up for an extended period of time.)

I had a large picture frame with a cheap print I bought several years ago. I took the picture out, took the glass from behind the frame and glued it to the top of the frame, there's just enough lip to lay it on the outside of the frame. I used masking tape on the edges of the glass (careful, it's sharp). Like above, I use an LED light underneath the glass. I tape whatever I'm tracing on the underside of the glass and prop the back of the frame on a book for a bit of elevation to trace onto my fabric on the topside of the glass. Like others above have said, I don't use it often, but it is nice to have when I need it and my arms don't get tired holding it up to a window and only being able to trace in daylight. The rest of the time, I place it on my cutting table, glass side down and use it as a tray for my cutting stuff.

Got mine at Michaels with 50off coupon ".use it for APPLIQUE tracing

You can use it at night, you just have to be outside looking in.

That is so smart!

my husband made a 12 inch square one and a 2 foot square one. I use mine for paper piecing

Wow! Such great ideas! Thanks, everyone!

long ago i had one that was on legs with an opaque center. I slid a small florescent light fixture underneath. worked fine. i did some applique and had teflon pressing sheets. still have those. good luck.

This has really made me laugh (but I also now want to try it!)