I'm looking for anyone who started out with using paper templates. I don't have any plastic ones and really can't afford to go out and get them, so I made them out of paper that I pin to the fabric. Problem is the fabric shifts under the paper and I end up cutting the fabric wrong. Any suggestions to keep it all in place?????

I wonder if you can redraw the patterns on the backside of fine-grain sandpaper?? Means duplicating what you've already done but, if you use the templates many times, it might be worth it. Good luck!

I usually use freezer paper. You iron it to the fabric and cut accordingly. Freezer paper templates can be re-used numerous times.

I'd use the freezer paper also, you can use the same peice numerous times, or,a spot of glue stick to the center of your paper

Every time you buy bacon you get free template plastic. Just make sure you wash it really, really well with Dawn before using it.

freezer paper....

Try using fabric basting spray on the back of your templates. It worked for me when I tried it. I had the same complaint. I got some of that quilters plastic to make templates; there are several sheets per package, cheaper than buying the individual templates.

Right now school supplies are on sale. I bought the plastic dividers for binders (not the ones with the folders these are just plain clear matte plastic)
I think I got a 8 pack for 3.50 at walmart.
You place the paper template on a table and tape it down. Then draw the template on the plastic and then cut the plastic out.
Then trace around the template on the fabric


Also if you are only going to use a template a few times you can use card stock paper its heavier but because of paper it will lose its accuracy after you trace around it a lot of times

Before I knew what template plastic was, I always traced my pattern pieces onto cereal box cardboard. Now I wonder how I ever managed to fit the pieces together and make a halfway decent quilt. Live and learn!

I use freezer paper and if I need plastic and I'm out of template plastic I use a gallon plastic milk carton. Look around you , you will notice many things you could use , just think outside the box!!

Whenever I get something with lots of plastic packaging, I save all flat bits for use in templates. I don't know the name of the plastic but here it is used in food packaging, toy packaging, lids of shirt boxes, etc.

My MIL used to use the butter bowl lids!
I still have some of her plastic butter bowl templates!
and I made my first several quilts with them.
I traced around them with a pencil or fine pt pen and then cut them out.

if they are straight lines, no curves, try your local glass cutting shop.
I've had dozens made of c.1/8" plastic.
I paid 50 cents each, $1 if large

I brought in what I wanted PRECISELY drawn on graph paper and told him they had to be absolutely accurate.
He was off only a couple of times.

I just make one block and then measure and cut all the pieces at once and just remember what size i am cutting everything. it works for me this way. I don't like trying to cut each and every individual piece one at a time. takes to long for me.

School glue either the stick or white washes right out , can peel the paper off :wink: I use it for paper piecing :thumbup:

I use tape when I have a paper piece

freezer paper makes great templates. can be ironed on over and over.

If you are interested I have templates I send out for free. I have a 1 1/2" 2" 2 1/2" 3 1/2" now. If there is any other size you would like just email me or pm me.

This works great for me. Find and old photo album, the kind that used to have plastic sheets that you lifted up, placed your photos, and then put the plastic sheet back down. I found one easily at a local thrift shop. The pages of those albums are just sticky enough to use for templates. They don't shift and they don't leave any sticky residue on your fabric.

I use freezer paper for English Paper Piecing and I have glued on copy paper templates to be rotary cut around for odd-shaped paper piecing. I have also used light weight cardstock--the little subscriber cards that fall out of magazines.

Great idea! Never thought of that; I have some of those somewhere.

I'm always on the lookout for heavy duty plastic placemats, I make all my templates out of those. They are cheap and durable and last forever.

I have found clear or almost clear cutting rollup cutting mats for $1.00 for two use those also with careful cutting you can get a lot of templates from a Poster frame. it has a thin hard plastic in the front. I discovered this by accident one time.

You can also make your templates out of paper, then, if you have a laminator, you can run them throught that a could of times to make them strong, then cut them out. I have done this a few times too. I then use a spot of stick glue to hold them to the fabric, or a touch of spray baste. Works well for me

I use the flexible cutting boards from the dollar store. Two in a package. They are see through enough to trace the pattern and easy to cut with a pair of scissors.

When I started out, I used fine grit sandpaper and cardboard from the back of writing tablets.Some time I glued the sandpaper to the cardboard.

I also use freezer paper

I use freezer paper or basting spray. Good luck!

You can also buy sheets of laminatimg plastic and just stick them on paper.

instead of paper templates I use the thin chopping mat I found 3 for $1.00 at the flea market. It trims up great with the heavy duty scissors.

Awhile back, DH made me some templates out of scrap plexiglass. It worked great! :) He got the plexiglass at his job, but sometimes Lowes has scraps left where they cut a piece for someone. They'll often sell (if not give) you the scraps if you ask. Just depends on who's working at the time. ;-)

I read that someone on here used an old 3.5" floppy disk to make squares. Nifty idea!

An upside-down saucer would work for a circle, as would old CDs or DVDs. Even a Pringles tater chip lid would work for a small circle.

Glass would work, but after working with glass for several years (stained glass panels), I personally wouldn't recommend it. It's very easily broken, and can be chipped in a heartbeat by a rotary cutter bumping against it the wrong way. I've been bitten a few times too many by glass shards, if you can't tell! LOL!

Clear contact paper might work.

An old credit card or cover from an old hardcover book would give you a rectangle.

A plastic school-type ruler would work for a straightedge.

Shapes cut from plywood scraps or foam poster board would work.

Butter tub lids could be cut into shapes and used for templates. They wouldn't last forever, but should last a reasonable amount of time.

(With any thin template, watch that the rotary cutter doesn't "jump" the edge and get your fingers!)

I use old cereal boxes, old meat trays washed really well, and cardboard boxes so I have a nice built up edge to follow.

Try ironing several layers of freezer paper together,then cut the templates... rusty

take your quilting basting pins stick them straight up and down in the fabric it wont shift ( I sometimes place a large piece of cardboard under the material then stick the pins in

Not sure if this will help, but I bought some plastic, the touch stuff that is transparent, at Dollar Tree. They sell 2 in a package, and are labeled for crafts and for cutting mats...the size is 12" x 15", it says on the front, set of 2 CHOPPING MATS.
they are flexible too, and I will use them for templates.

I made a lot of templates from plexglass. They make a cutter especially for cutting it.

Spray the paper with a temporary adhesive. I believe that Krylon makes one for paper.
Also, there are packages of template material out there that are not too expensive. They are thin but durable. Mine are called Quilter's Temp A Graphs because they also have grids printed on them which makes it easy to get the right size when making a template piece.
Good luck to you.

If you have any old xrays around the house, you can use them instead of template plastic.

You may have heard of this but anyway, you can use used x- ray plastic from the medical imaging dept . My sister works in the hospital in this capacity and she keeps me stocked up. I make a paper template and glue it to the xray plastic then cut out . I use mine mostly for applique so it does not have to be as accurate as for piecing . hope this helps!

Ah.......bacon..........................your brillant............thanks.......calla/Sue