Printing from EQ7: Part 1, High-Resolution Templates A Free Tutorial

Printing from EQ7: Part 1, High-Resolution Templates A Free Tutorial Al Navas, EQ7 Instructor With Pam V, http://mysassynotions.com/

Background: I received via my website’s Contact Page the message on the right. Pam needed to print high resolution images from EQ7; and she also wanted to minimize the number of pages printed , by moving objects around, if possible. I went to work on this right away; a few days later I sent her a draft of this document, to apply my workflow to her images. Later Pam gave me feedback on the process I describe below. She was happy with the process; later she provided the images we used in this publication. Along the way she had additional feedback, comments, and suggestions to make the workflow better. I include the changes in this PDF. I call this collaboration at its best! Please read on. — Al Navas, EQ7 Instructor — Pam V, http://mysassynotions.com/

Pam’s note to me: Appliqué: would like to create printouts for professional printing. I don’t like the following when printing templates: 1. Letters on shapes. 2. Can’t rotate 45°, only 90°. 3. Can’t print more than 1 motif at a time. What I have done is so complicated, but works. Print, scan, import to Bernina Embroidery Software, convert to embroidery, convert to vector, copy to Corel Draw, move and rotate shapes, save as PDF. Breathe, start over. ...If you can suggest a software that will do what I want that would be great. Would really like to get to the point where designing takes more time than preparing to publish. Can’t wait to go through your lessons. Thanks. — Pam

ACKNOWLEDGMENT: My thanks to Pam V. for creating all the graphics used in this Tutorial, and for the suggestions she made to create the best possible workflow! — Al Navas What you will need: • EQ7; download the free *.PJ7 file if you wish to follow along this Tutorial. • CutePDF printer driver. Free: Download here. Install driver per instructions. • The free vector graphics editor Open Source (free!) Inkscape. Our preference is Inkscape. Download this program here. Important note: Most of the time the printouts from EQ7 are great, and no changes are needed; that was the case with the example provided in the Tutorial. However, when the printouts or images will be submitted for publication, cleanup and reduction of the number of pages printed might be a requirement - and this Printing procedure will be available to help! Printing from EQ7: Part 1, High-Resolution Templates © 2015 Al Navas, EQ7 Instructor With Pam V, http://mysassynotions.com/

Notes:

Page 1 of 12 Design. Questions. Answers. Learning.


The Process to Create Great Template Prints-Outs: 1. Create the small quilt you see on the right. It consists of background fabric, one border, and one butterfly appliqué. 2. Using the free CutePDF writer, “print” the templates to a PDF document. 3. Specify printing in “Finished Block Size”, and “no Seam Allowance”. 4. Preview the printout. The preview shows the total number of pages required. 5. Open the PDF in the Open Source (free!) Vector program called Inkscape, click on the templates, and Ungroup all template shapes if necessary. 6. Once ungrouped, select all the template pieces and increase the line Stroke to make a thicker line. This will make it easier to see the outlines on paper.

We will also make this little quilt/wall hanger. It consists of a center background, one 1-inch border, and a butterfly appliqué. In this Tutorial we will learn how to print the butterfly appliqué templates in high-resolution, and at the proper sizes to use them to cut fabric.

That’s it! In the following pages you will find the step-by-step details required for hi-res printing. I believe that using Inkscape to manipulate the objects exported from EQ7 provides the greatest flexibility of any other method. Others may have an easier alternative. Enjoy! — Al Tutorial: Butterfly appliqué quilt.

Notes:

Printing from EQ7: Part 1, High-Resolution Templates © 2015 Al Navas, EQ7 Instructor With Pam V, http://mysassynotions.com/



Step 1: Launch EQ7, and create a small quilt, 9” x 9” in the center layout, no sashing, and a 1-inch wide border all the way around. Use the Layout tab to define this:

Fig. 1: Create a small quilt. Define its properties on the Layout tab.

Note: Please remember as you follow along with this Tutorial: You can always come back to the Layout tab and change the overall size of the quilt, the number of borders, add sashing, change the fabric colors, etc. In other words, you will learn the steps shown here, but you will learn even more if you come back and modify this little quilt to make it YOUR design!




Step 2: Add one border to the quilt. We must click on the Borders tab, at the bottom of the EQ7 window:

Fig. 2: Adding a Border.

Step 3: Locate the Butterfly Motif and Add to the Sketchbook (#4 below), so we can use it in the quilt:

Fig. 3: Butterfly Motif. Locate, select, and Add to Sketchbook. Printing from EQ7: Part 1, High-Resolution Templates © 2015 Al Navas, EQ7 Instructor With Pam V, http://mysassynotions.com/



Step 4: “Setting” the Motif Block on Layer 2:

Fig. 4: Set the Motif block on the quilt, on Layer 2.

Step 5: The Motif size can be adjusted with the Adjust Tool. Use the “handles” to make the Motif larger or smaller. Or click once directly on the Motif, to move it to a new location. Click away from the Motif to deselect it, to add a new Motif or to perform a different operation:

Fig. 5: Adjusting the Motif block size with the Adjust Tool - Still on Layer 2. Printing from EQ7: Part 1, High-Resolution Templates © 2015 Al Navas, EQ7 Instructor With Pam V, http://mysassynotions.com/



Step 6: Preparing to print to PDF: Select File | Print Setup | Select the CutePDF “Printer”:

Fig. 6: Getting ready to print the appliqué Motif to a PDF document.

Step 6: Print Templates for the Butterfly Motif:

Fig. 6: Preparing to print the Templates, by clicking File | Print | Templates Printing from EQ7: Part 1, High-Resolution Templates © 2015 Al Navas, EQ7 Instructor With Pam V, http://mysassynotions.com/



Step 8: Most of the time we want the appliqué templates to be full size. This means we must “Use size from quilt”; we also do not need a seam allowance. Once these are selected, we want to click on the Preview button”

Fig. 8: Print template: Use size from quilt (full size), and NO seam allowance!

Step 9: The Preview page offers several options, to optimize the layout of the template pieces prior to printing. Use them to YOUR advantage, based on your preferences, especially when the Preview yields several pages:

Fig. 9: Print Preview page. We can Move and Rotate items, and also Delete them.




Step 10: We leave EQ7 for a little while, and manipulate the PDF file in Inkscape. Why? Because we might wish to remove letter designations, footer text, etc. Or might wish to rotate an item (another Tutorial):

Fig. 10: The PDF file now open in Inkscape.

Step 11: We brought the PDF file into Inkscape to manipulate its contents. For example, we wish to delete unwanted items such as text, and we also might want to rotate some items, for better fit or presentation. As this image shows, all items are Grouped into ONE package. We will Ungroup them: Right-click on the Group, and select Ungroup.

Fig 11: After clicking on the Select Tool(1), click on the appliqué pieces. They are Grouped! See all the arrows?




We wanted to Ungroup all appliqué pieces. We did it by right-clicking on the Group, and selecting Ungroup”

Fig 12: All appliqué pieces now are Ungroup(ed)!

Step 13: Any remaining items after Ungroup(ing) can be removed by clicking on it. In this case, a small letter designating an appliqué item is selected (3):

Fig. 13: Ungroup until even the smallest item can be Select(ed). In this case, the letteR designation is selected (3). Printing from EQ7: Part 1, High-Resolution Templates © 2015 Al Navas, EQ7 Instructor With Pam V, http://mysassynotions.com/



Step 14: Keep selecting and deleting unwanted items, such as the footer text - it is not needed for work in the sewing studio, or for publication:

Fig. 14: We do not wish to publish the footer text. So we Select it for deletion.

Step 15: This was the reason we wanted to use Inkscape: to remove all unwanted elements, such as text on the appliqué pieces, and also the footer text:

Fig. 15: All unwanted text is gone, and the drawing is “clean”!




Step 16: As a final step before exporting the appliqué drawing, we change the Stroke width to 2, to make the lines more legible:

Fig. 16: Changing the line thickness (Stroke) to 2, to make it more legible.

Step 17: This is the reason we went through the trouble to import into Inkscape: To clean up the EQ7 output, and to get the best possible templates for use in our sewing studios — or to submit for publication!

Fig. 17: Steps to exporting the “clean” appliqué template components to a drawing. Printing from EQ7: Part 1, High-Resolution Templates © 2015 Al Navas, EQ7 Instructor With Pam V, http://mysassynotions.com/



Step 18: Highly recommended: Use the Windows Photo Viewer to confirm that the quality of the image exported from Inkscape is satisfactory. If it is, it is ready to print:

Fig. 18: The “clean” drawing, in the Photo Viewer.

Note: With thanks to our readers, for downloading this document and the accompanying PJ7 project file. Please stand by, as there will be followup posts with free hints on the use of EQ7. — Al Navas, EQ7 Instructor — Pam V, http://mysassynotions.com/



Printing from EQ7: Part 1, High-Resolution Templates A Free Tutorial

Printing from EQ7: Part 1, High-Resolution Templates A Free Tutorial

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Printing from EQ7: Part 1, High-Resolution Templates A Free Tutorial