Design Made Simple
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Design Made Simple!“Where do quilters get inspiration for a quilt design?” is a common question from quilters who are new or have never designed a quilt themselves. Most anywhere really, books, magazines, quilting shows, driving in the country are just a few examples of where many have found inspiration. When you find a design you like, how do you turn it into a pattern you can use for a quilt? Without any quilt design software, you can draft a pattern using graph paper, pencil and a ruler. Do you remember when that was the only way to make templates for quilt blocks. Spending hours drafting the patterns, checking to be sure that the templates were the right size. Those tall, skinny (isosceles) triangles were especially daunting, and something to avoid at all costs. And then if you wanted to change the size of the block or quilt, you had to start all over with a clean sheet of graph paper. What a pain! And, although it took some time to draft the patterns and templates, it wasn’t all that bad. After all, I wasn’t doing it for a living or anything. And it was one of the best decisions in my quilting journey. Not only does it save me time in drawing quilt blocks and templates, and money (since I don’t buy tons of extra fabric), it also provides what seems like an unlimited source of ideas for quilts and blocks. When I am in the mood for a basket block, I just go to the Block Library and 85 basket blocks appear – traditional pieced blocks, appliqué blocks, simple blocks, complicated blocks. And they are filled in with color suggestions. Select the ones you want to play with and go play on the worktable in the program. Color the blocks, create a quilt. You can create a quilt in 10 minutes, or you can take as much time as you like. Change colors, fabrics, size and quilt layout as many times as you like with the click of your mouse. Print all your designs out, or just save them on your computer – whichever you choose. You can even find entire quilt designs to start with – just fill in the colors, print out your templates, and you’re on your way! Plus you can place your blocks in one of the pre-designed quilt layouts that include interesting sashing designs, medallions and square-in- a-square layouts. Also, but not to overwhelm you, you can also create different effects in your borders, including diamonds, half-blocks, long points, short points, simple rectangles, and much more. And now with EQ7, you can even put your own photographs into your quilt design. You can change the color and effects on your photos, too. So, if you want to make a memory quilt and you have a color photo you want to make look really old, just change it to black and white, crop it the way you want it, and then print it onto your fabric. The possibilities are virtually unlimited. This program was written for quilters who don’t understand that much about computers. So you don’t have to be some kind of computer whiz to figure it out; and there are many ways within the program to get help – both written hints and video. EQ7 is the most user-friendly full-featured quilting software yet. * Complete user manual * 22 printable full-color PDF lessons (115 pages) * Point-and-read info on each tool – now linked directly to Help topics * 10 videos targeted for beginners * 67 “How do I?” topics: printable stepped-out instructions for doing everything from printing English paper-piecing templates to drawing a New York Beauty * Built-in Help buttons are everywhere, targeted to the task you're doing * New block tools for creating original blocks instantly without drawing * Blocks size themselves – just drag and drop on the quilt Includes tons of user-requested new features Exactly the same friendly interface, plus loads of new user-requested features. * 5000 copyright-free blocks * 5000 new scanned fabrics, plus grayscale textures * 120 new pre-designed quilt layouts * Snap blocks to a Quilt grid * Instant border blocks with greatly expanded Auto Borders * Print multiple photos on fabric * Create original fabric designs from photos, then print on fabric * Mirror and use myriad symmetries on photos * Use dozens of artistic effects, making everyday photos look like watercolors or Impressionist paintings * 79 new features in all Netbook compatible Works on netbooks as well as laptops and desktop computers. |