This is sometimes the fun part of long arm quilting.......sometimes it isn't. I use a digital method for my designs, others use paper and guide the machine. I don't do custom work, I just do edge to edge although I am going to try some new things in about a year when I feel really comfortable with the machine.
First of all you buy your designs from a wide variety of online shops and you can download those designs immediately into your computer. No waiting. If I need a new one I can go to several different sites and just search for what I like, pay for it and then it's mine. I do try to find pantographs that I can use several times. Apricot Moon is one of several I deal with.
The first thing I have to do
is download a design. I chose this one for a recent quilt I was working on.
Before I do the next step I have to decide how large I want the design to be. I chose 6" depth and once that was done, I clicked
and found out I will need four patterns going across the row.
and it would look like this
BUT, the patterns are not connected so that has to be done
a few more little moves and they are joined and I can stretch the pattern so it fills the width of the quilt I'm working on.
After I have done that I need to duplicate the row and see where I will start the next one. This one was easy.
6" depth for the first row and then start the next row 6" down from the starting point of the previous row.
I have a ruler I wrap tape around so my eyes travel to that point when I put the pin to make my spot.
Of course, that is after I've done a few things in the programme there to.
It isn't quite as easy as I wrote this up. There is math involved and your memory too. Once you have done it for awhile it almost becomes second nature.......almost.
I will take a few minutes one day and show you how the pantograph is entered into the machine.