Tag Archives: Zoe Cherry Oh

Zoe Cherry Oh! Custom Quilt with EQ7 & Misty Fuse

Aren’t I just a fountain of information this week! I have a number of custom quilts to get ready this fall, and I figured while I’m working on them (in the midst of writing my Quilt Possible! pattern) I’d give some tips for those who might be looking for tips and techniques to use in their own quilts. My most recent commission is a toddler quilt that I named Zoe Cherry Oh! in honor of the recipient and the lovely Moda line of fabrics I am using in the quilt. This quilt has the child’s name on it, and so requires a custom set of letters to be appliqued onto the quilt.  I learned a new technique recently that has greatly improved my method of creating applique letters (ultimately my secret wish is to own a set of alphabet dies from AccuQuilt to further simplify this process.) First, the pattern, which I designed in EQ6 (and then converted to EQ7): The letters are proportional to one another, and ordinarily I would try using MS Word – Word Art to try to duplicate the letters.  That’s painful, since you can’t get proportional lettering very easily. Instead, in EQ7 to get the letters, place them on Layer 2, size them appropriately, then go to Print > Templates, and like magic, the letters are the exact size & font as they are in the quilt.  Because of the technique I’m using to cut these, I print them exactly as they appear on the finished quilt.  Otherwise, I’d mess with my printer settings so they print as a mirror image.  I’m glad I don’t have to do this though – because for my printer, the mirror image setting is buried 7 menus inside the print dialog! Oh, and by the way, I take advantage of Print Preview > Move to reposition the letters the way I want them to print & make the most efficient use of the paper.  For letters with openings – like e, b, d, etc. I also move their cutouts back to the correct place on the letter.  For some reason, EQ7 treats these pieces as though they are appliqued on top of the shape rather than cut out of it. Anyway, once they are printed, I cut them apart and place a piece of silicone-coated parchment paper over it.  The parchment is translucent enough to trace the letter with a pencil.  Yes – use a pencil for this, not a pen.  As for parchment paper, I used a generic store brand that’s found in the baking department.  For some reason, I love raiding my kitchen for tools!  Serrated knives, baking sheets, freezer paper, parchment… Anyway, here’s a traced letter on parchment, the pencil, and the printed letter on paper: Once all the letters are outlined on parchment, I prepare my fabric for the tracing.  I use Misty Fuse for this technique for a couple of reasons – I know it works, the Misty Fuse is pretty lightweight & doesn’t make the appliques all crunchy, and well… because Misty Fuse is AWESOME!  And oh yeah, because the package of Misty Fuse is what taught me to do appliques this way. So prepare your fabric like the package says – use a teflon pressing sheet, fuse the Misty Fuse to the wrong side of the fabric, and let cool before removing the fused fabric from the press sheet. Now, place your fabric fusible side up, and your parchment pencil side down on top of the pressing sheet. Scratch that, even though that’s what the pictures show.  Lay your parchment pencil side up, and your fabric fusible side down on top of the traced image.  Unless you want fusible burnt to the bottom of your iron, do it this way.  Otherwise, make triple-sure your parchment is larger than your fused fabric. Press lightly with your iron – lifting the iron as you move to different sections.  You don’t need a lot of pressure or heat, just enough to get some of the pencil to transfer. Let it cool for a few seconds and then peel the parchment back a little bit to see if the lines transferred.  You don’t need these to be super-dark, just enough for you to see them well enough to cut along side them.  If the lines didn’t transfer fully, press the piece again in the areas that need it. Here I’ve done several letters at a time.  You might be a little less generous with the letter spacing, but I save all my fused bits of fabric because eventually they make it into an art quilt somewhere.  I don’t waste it! Once you’ve got the letters transferred, it’s a simple exercise to cut them out.  I use a couple of different types of scissors to accomplish this – shears for the big shapes, and micro-tips for cutting out the centers of letters & tight spots.  These letters are between 4-6″ tall; when I do smaller appliques I almost exclusively use the micro-tips. And then of course, because I was on a roll, I went ahead and cut out the rest of the quilt.  It’s going to be really cute! Happy quilting!

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