Templates for printing on fabric

I made a hand-pieced Lone Star wallhanging like the picture above using this template technique for the diamonds. I don't like spending lots of time preparing to sew - I want to get to the fun part! For me, this technique made the preparation part go much faster. 

These templates include a stitching line and a cutting line, with a 1/4" seam allowance. If you print them using an inkjet printer, the ink will usually wash out easily, and won't bleed through the fabric when it prints. If in doubt, print a test piece first.

You need to have Adobe® Acrobat installed on your computer to view the templates. If you don't have it, you can download it for free here.

Using the templates with freezer paper: 

1. Cut a piece of freezer paper to 8 ½” x 11”. I usually cut a good supply and put them in the middle of a large book to flatten them out. Freezer paper can also be purchased in packages of pre-cut 8 ½” x 11” sheets at your local quilt store. I understand this paper is heavier than the kitchen variety, and goes through printers easier. I have not used it personally.
2. Cut a piece of fabric to fit the paper. Make sure the straight grain of fabric is going with the arrows on the template sheet.
3. Press the shiny side of the freezer paper to the right side of the fabric. When it is stuck together, you will have paper on one side, and the other side will be the wrong side of the fabric.
4. Put the paper/fabric in your printer so that it will print on the fabric. This will vary with the printer.
5. Print the page of templates.
6. Peel off the freezer paper and cut the patches out. If they are all straight lines, you can use a rotary cutter and ruler. For curved templates, you will need to use scissors.

 TIPS:

• Make sure the edge of fabric is even with the edge of the freezer paper on the end that will feed into the printer. If it isn’t, the printer may not be able to feed it through properly, causing a paper jam.
• Cut off any stray threads before printing.
• Make sure the freezer paper is adhered to the fabric all over. If there are any spots not stuck together, the printer may feed the fabric unevenly, causing the lines to be skewed.
• One piece of freezer paper can be used 3-4 times. When it won’t adhere to the fabric very well anymore, it is time to use a new piece.
• Some ways I have heard from other people to get the paper to feed through your printer without jamming are: 
  
  1. Cut off the corners of the leading edge of the paper/fabric sheet (the edge that will go into the printer first).
  2. Press another sheet of freezer paper onto the first sheet for extra thickness. Sometimes just the extra thickness will help it feed through your printer better.
  3. Press a second sheet of freezer paper onto the first sheet so that about 1/2" - 1" sticks out on the leading edge. Fold that 1/2" - 1" over and press it. Now the folded edge will feed into you printer.

Using the templates with label paper:

I used Avery® "InkJet Sticker Project Paper" for this. I'm sure there are other brands out there as well. You are looking for a full sheet (8 1/2" x 11") removable label or sticker paper. It comes with a peel-off backing on each sheet. I personally found this to be much easier than freezer paper.

1. Cut a piece of fabric to fit the paper. Make sure the straight grain of fabric is going with the arrows on the template sheet.

2. Lay the sticker sheet back side up and peel off the backing.

3. Carefully position the fabric on the sticker, with the wrong side of the fabric up. I find it easier if I fold the fabric in half, then line up the top edge with the sticker and sort of roll the fabric down. If it is not positioned correctly, it can be re-done, but the more often you do this, the fewer times you can use the sticker. It is especially important that no fabric sticks out past the paper on the leading edge (the edge that will go into the printer first).

4. Make sure there are no stray threads that can get caught in your printer.

5. Place the sticker/fabric combination in your printer so that you will be printing on the fabric side. This will vary depending on your printer.

6. Print the template sheet of your choice.

7. Peel off the sticker paper, then cut the patches out. If they are all straight lines, you can use a rotary cutter and ruler. For curved templates, you will need to use scissors.

8. The sticker paper can be used many times over. Store it with the peel-off backing stuck back in place, or stick it to a piece of wax paper until the next time you need it.

There are other ways to use these templates!

If you have a light table, you can print the template page on a plain piece of paper. Put the paper on your light table, and position your fabric over it. Now you can trace the lines onto your fabric. 

Or, if you really enjoy tracing around little bits of plastic, you can use the template sheets to trace the template onto template plastic, cut it out, and trace onto your fabric. If you do it this way you should cut your template out on the sewing line, not the stitching line. Trace the sewing line onto your fabric, and make a dot at each sharp corner. Then, you can mark the cutting lines or just "eyeball" the 1/4" seam allowance when cutting. I actually use this method when I want to "fussy cut" some pieces. In my Lone Star quilt, there were some diamonds cut from a striped fabric. Each one was positioned to have the stripe in the center of the diamond.

Isn't it great to have options?

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