What is a good circle template to purchase? I'd like to make a quilt with circles.
 

I would like to make a quilt that has circles on it. I have tons of cherry fabric from Moda's Berry Delicious line and feel that something with circles would work nicer than squares or straight lines. I have never made a quilt block with curves to it so I am unsure how to proceed.

Is there a circle template you would recommend and/or a method of making them? A google search took me to Elisa's Back Porch and while I like her designs, her circles are broken up into quarters and I'm thinking I want mine whole. If you have used Elisa's templates (the 6 inch quick curves or the 7 inch crazy curves, are those very easy to use and does the method result in nice blocks? Are most or all quilts that have whole circles made doing appliqué? Not sure I want to do that.

Sounds like you may be better off doing applique circles if you want the fabrics to remain whole circles. I made this quilt that way and it was a great to go project.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]469003[/ATTACH]

I hand appliqued the 5" circles to precut 6 1/2" squares then machine sewed the squares. For a template, I used a compass and drew a 5" circle on water color paper (same as card stock or poster board) and cut it out. then I used the template to draw my cutting line on the back of the fabric and cut leaving a generous seam allowance. I then did a loose running stitch around the outer edge of the circle and left very long thread tails. I placed the fabric over the card stock template and pulled those tails to draw the fabric around the template, like making a yo yo. Then I pressed well, removed the template starched and pressed again.

At this point you can either hand or machine applique the prepared circles to a background block. So don't bother buying a template, make your own. Don't have a compass? use a lid from a plastic tub like Cool Whip or cottage cheese or saucer or a cup or a glass. Your house is full of circles to use.

I ordered the circle maker from Nancy's notions and I love it. You can do so many things with it. I am getting ready to use it to make a quilt now.

Go into your kitchen and choose a round plate that is the size you want. Turn it over. Voila! Circle template. Never tried this but bet you could even use a rotary cutter with it (only not with the best china of course). Or use it to draw around and cut out with scissors.

I use the EZ circle cutter which has several different sizes, its really easy to use.

that's a good idea. I have corelle dishes and use one of the small ones to round my corners. I just use my rotary cutter with it as if it was a ruler.

I use a compass or some circular object to draw whatever size I want. My technique for applique circles is to use water soluable interfacing, draw the circle on that. Stitch to fabric, right sides facing, allowing for a good 1/4 inch outside of stitch line for cutting. Cut out, then slit the interfacing enough to turn the fabric right side out, smooth the curves with a knitting needle or your instrument of choice. You're left with beautifully smooth circles that are easy to applique by hand or machine. Once they finished project is washed the first time, the interfacing dissolves completely, leaving you with no extra bulk or stiffness under the circle.

It is why I bought my Go Baby...to make circles. What a time saver and the die has three size circles.

RST, I really like your method of doing applique circles. Good results.

depending on the size you want you could just use an old DVD or CD ... nice and firm, or the bottom of a plate ... no expense involved.

Glasses and mugs make great templates for smaller circles, too. The world is full of free circle templates. :)

I have four different size circle dies for my Go. That's the way I cut circles now.

Dishes out of the kitchen cabinet-----------and glasses, too.

I'm lazy and cheap

You made a very stunning quilt with just circles. Very good job Feline Fanatic

Missouri Star Quilt Company has one today for $15.99 - advertised as about 45% off...............

I use the Easy Circle Cut by Sharon Hultgren You can make circles from 2" to 10"

A quilt that I have on my bucket list is Illuminate featuring Red Rooster fabrics. It has all sizes of circles. I am sure the pattern has templates in it that are sized to what the pattern designer wanted the pattern to look like. The thing about circles is that anything round can be your template. The fun part is deciding how to stabilize them if they are larger ones.

http://www.love-to-sew.com/illuminate-quilt/

ps...just wanted to add.... I might better buy a fabric kit soon, because the fabrics for this quilt are so unique that it might not look that good with a different collection of fabrics. The pattern itself is free as a downloadable PDF.

Barb in Louisiana, this sure is a pretty quilt.

I also just used whatever I could find around the house that was round - I used that round thing to cut out freezer paper circles. I then made a template about 1/4 inch bigger to cut my fabric. Iron the fabric onto the shiny side of the paper. Sewing machine baste around the outside edge, then draw it in until it fits just right around the paper circle. Iron it down, let it cool, remove the paper, then machine or applique the circle however you want. You can reuse the freezer paper circles at least 3, maybe even more times. I did one of my first quilts like this and was surprised at how easy it was to do.

I also use this method. One tip I learned is to cut out the circle out with pinking shears after you sew it together and before you turn it right side out and your circles will lay nice and flat. Sometimes I don't use water soluable interfacing but a very thin other interfacing or used dryer sheet. I'm sure if you look on Eleanor Burn's QIAD website she has a tutorial for this method. It's how she does her applique.

I love, love, love my "Cut-a-Round" rulers. They cut perfect circles (you fold the fabric into quarters, but it means you never have to contort yourself trying to cut all the way around a circular object). PLUS, it lets you cut a frame for the circle perfectly sized - I don't applique (don't like the look of it) so this works perfectly for me.

Same here. I have a couple compasses. Mine make from 1"-12" circles

I like Missouri Quilt Co. Circle Magic template. It is the deal of the day today! It also comes with a book.

The MSQ circle ruler is a good deal but it is only 1 size, if you are wanting circles just use something out of your kitchen. I use the interfacing technique - draw circles on interfacing, rough cut a little larger then stitch on the drawn line, cut a slit in the interfacing and turn. I actually machine stitch these onto the quilt using matching or invisible thread and the blind hem stitch

I do have the templates from the Eliza's back porch and love them but they are quarter circles and I don't think I would use them for whole circles.

There is a sale today on circle templet and book at MSC.

You will see circles on my avitar. I used different sizes of Tupperware lids as a template. You kitchen is full of circles.....plates, saucers. pan lids..etc.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]469003[/ATTACH]

I do the same thing with any round, oval, petal shape, hex ...etc Works great....But MORE IMPORTANTLY...feline fanatic...i LOVE this quilt !!!!!

My advice too. Why spend money you could use for fabric on expensive plastic templates when you have a cupboard full of sturdy templates called "dishes".

http://annamariahorner.blogspot.se/2...r-circles.html

There's this tutorial too.

Cups, saucers, plates, pizza pans, round trays, etc. I also have a ruler with a hole in each end and many holes along the center. You just pin it down on one end and use one of the other holes with a pencil in it to rotate and make the desired size of circle.

I also use plates, cups etc for my circle templates. I have a circle cutting rotary cutter that is like a compass with rotary cutter instead of a pencil. I have a hard time making good circles with it. I have had the best success with fusing it to freezer paper before I cut. I hate to applique. There is a method for doing inset circles totally by machine. I use it all the time. I just taught a demo at my quilt guild on it. Several people tried it and said it was easy. I can't get the link to transfer on here. It is Dale Fleming method and it is called the 6 minute circle.

Accuquilt! I have the Baby and there is a die that cuts perfect circles 2, 3, & 5 inch diameter. I love it, and I do have the circle cutter from Olfa, which is great for larger circles. Applique on a square with the circle is better, fuse it!!

Whatever you use, make sure and use it to cut the template from freezer paper or whatever, and then use the gathering technique that people have mentioned here to turn under the edges of the fabric. Otherwise you'll have some pretty pointy circles**. Of course, those could be design elements....

**Please don't ask me how I know ;-).

Your quilt is just beautiful!!!!!

I just use an old CD to draw my circles and it works for me.

I use both plates/saucers/cups depending on the size I need. I also own an OLFA circle cutter. It's sort of a compass with a replaceable rotary blade. Works great. It adjusts to the size you need and it's better than buying a template for every size circle you may want to make. Goes up to more than 8" in diameter.

The question for me is not the circles.... there are so many things around the house that can be used. It's .... what method do you want to use to apply them to the fabric? If you don't want to applique, sewing circles can be a challenge. I use freezer paper,
1. take a good sized square of freezer paper and draw my circle in the middle. Cut out the circle.
2. Iron the circle to the back side of the fabric.... this will be the fabric around the circle.
3. Cut the center of the fabric away 1/2" away from the paper. Then snip the fabric close to the freezer paper.....
but not all the way to the paper to make tabs that can be folded under the paper.
4. Use a glue stick and glue the fabric tabs to the paper. Be careful that you don't get glue too close to the fold.
Glue can cause your needle to not stitch when you're ready to sew. Smooth the round edge. I take an old
magazine and lay the fabric with paper on it when I glue. Then, I can just throw away the magazine page and
have a fresh one for the next glue job.
5. Now you have a fabric circle that you can focus over a picture or whatever to center the fabric the way you like
it. Now glue the tabs of fabric and glue your circle over the selected fabric circle you want to make.
6. Carefully, lift the original fabric to expose the freezer paper and machine sew along the edge of the paper. You
are actually sewing the 2 fabrics together. Tear away the freezer paper and behold...... you have a perfect
circle.

I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE.

I make large ovals or circles this way. You can't do squares or rectangles but it makes the most perfect circles you ever saw. For small circles, I iron the freezer paper to the back side of the fabric, hand sew a row of stitches about 1/8" away from the paper and draw it up tightly.

This is a baby quilt I've just gotten ready to quilt so there are a lot of pins in the picture. But, I made all the circles and ovals using the method I described.

I love your quilt, it is on my to do list as I have lots of Asian fabric, thanks for sharing the instructions.

I am with you on this one, do not need another ruler to clutter up my sewing room.

Here's a video that might give you an idea.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2INxkVfGyqE