Snail Trial Block Resizing
 

Hello, I'm in the process of making the Kool Kat pattern and I took it into EQ7 so I could have a printout on what size to cut each section. Made a slight change on the kat body so the block came out as it should at 8.5 unfinished. The snail trail block though came out at 9.5 unfinished using what EQ7 told me to cut. Don't know why but it did. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get it down to the 8.5 unfinished to match up with the kat body block. Does anyone know how to resize this block as I'm clueless. I've done a couple trial runs changing the section sizes and just about have it done but wonder if there's an easier way to resize blocks. Thanks for any assistance.

This is a link to the Kool Kats pattern. Is this what you are using? Or, just EQ?

https://stoffogstrikk.files.wordpres...atskwilt_1.pdf

Yep! Those are cool cats! I don't have an answer to your problem as I have no knowledge of how to use EQ. But, I usually just reduce the pattern to the size I want on my printer, cut apart, and add 1/4" then stitch out to check for accuracy.

it does not matter what size you draw the block in EQ. in the quilt layout, make all of your blocks 8" and drop your two blocks in. then you can choose the block and choose rotary cutting and it will give the measurement of the pieces, hopefully.

When you print a block with EQ it gives you a chance to input the finished block size for the printout, even if it's a different size than the one you drew or put in your quilt. I think snail's trail blocks are difficult, so I usually paper piece them.

What Dunster said. Don't waste your time adjusting the size in the program itself; do it when you print templates or paper-piecing patterns. Will take you all of 4.7 seconds. Much easier! :thumbup:

I have the Kool Kat pattern and because I printed the instructions on both sides I hadn't seen the measurements. Some of it seems a bit weird but the snail trail measurements are there and what I finally came up with were very close. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Now I can move on with it. Just got all the kitty body sections cut today. What a chore for 80 blocks of kat bodies. Now on to the snail trail sections. Will still make a trial run to be sure it fits before I cut into the rest of the fabrics. I'd cut a strip 6.0 x WOF from each fabric so have enough leftover for re-dos.

QuiltnNan, that's what I did in EQ and the block came out 9.5 size for the snail trail. The kitty body came out almost okay but the section between the ears was incorrect, easily fixed though.

If you haven't already made the cat body blocks, I'd not cut down the snail trail blocks. Instead I'd make the cat body blocks 9.5" to match.

Snooze....how did you get a block to print out at 9.5 inches in EQ??? Granted, I have EQ5 but it is giving me fits trying to do this with another pattern (hunter's star). Trying to paper piece that block. Have it drawn in EQ; have the block dimensions at 9.5 in all the places I can find in all the dialog boxes and the stupid thing still prints out as a 6" block! Grrr. Any hints or clues as to printing a 9" (finished) block would be greatly appreciated.

do you mean 9.5 after sewing, or the printout? depending on your version of EQ, when printing, you may have to input your desired size or check "size from quilt". i've never had a block come out the wrong size since version 4... i have 7 now

when you print a block, make sure that the finished size appears in the size box before proceeding

Nan, thanks. I thought I had done that but apparently not. When I just tried again, it was finally correct. It prints over 2 pages, of course, so I might have to export that to some other software so I can copy/paste the 2 sections and have each section print on one page.

My cat body block came out fine and I've already cut all 80 fabrics to those sizes so that's not a choice for me. Dummy me should have waited till I got both blocks figured out. Will be trying the dimensions from the Kool Kat pattern and see if it comes out correctly.

NJ, I printed out the rotary cutting instructions, not the PP ones those PP the snail trails might have been easier for me. Just thought it too much paper to use up though only need 20 snail trail blocks.

Dunster, thanks for the tip when printing. I just checked my original printouts and yes, they were for a finished 9.0 block. Don't know how that happened as the kat body block came out at 8.0 finished. Still the section between the ears was incorrect but again easily corrected. Just printed out the correct snail trail size rotary cutting measurements. Now I can move forward. I knew you folks would have the answers for me and I learned something new for EQ.

Quiltnan, just found out when I go to print that I need to make sure it still says 8.0 for size. Never noticed that before. Great tip so thank you.

Peckish, after figuring out what I did wrong in EQ and finally getting the correct dimensions I decided to go with paper piecing. Since I was using 80 different fabrics, I didn't want to waste so much fabric with the cutting directions for some of them cutting diagonally once or even twice wasting half or 3/4 of the square. I found I could cut 2 size pieces, cut them once diagonally, use the extra for the next size down and just cut them down a little. Lot less waste of fabric. Thanks all for your help on this and giving me tips on how to use EQ more efficiently.