Help
How to get your cloth ready, and how to lay and stitch your panel.
Prepare your pieces
A panel takes 35 squares of cloth. Get them ready in six steps, in this order.
1Choose your cloth
Cotton and linen work best.
Plain cloth and printed cloth both help the design, so keep some of each.
Worn cloth is fine, as long as it is still strong.
Do
- Use cotton or linen.
- Keep some plain cloth and some printed cloth.
- Tug a corner gently. If it stretches or tears, leave it.
Don’t
- Use stretchy cloth, like T-shirt knit.
- Use sheer cloth you can see through.
- Use very thick cloth, like heavy denim or towel.
2Cut 6 × 6 cm squares
Cut every piece 6 × 6 cm.
Only the top-left 4 × 4 cm shows on the panel. The 2 cm along its right and bottom edges is covered by the next square, or trimmed at the printed line on the last row and column.
Make a template from things at home
- Best is a window template. Cut it from a stiff clear plastic lid, like an ice-cream tub or a food box, or from an old file folder.
- Its outside is a 6 × 6 cm square. You trace around it.
- Its 4 × 4 cm hole sits in the top-left corner, flush with the top and left edges. That is exactly what shows on the panel. The 2 cm strips along the right and bottom get covered.
- Hold the template the same way up for every square.
- On printed cloth, move the window around to choose which flower or stripe shows.
- Simpler: a plain 6 × 6 cm square of cereal-box card or plastic.
Keep the cloth from slipping
- Glue small pieces of fine sandpaper under the corners of the template. They grip the cloth and leave no mark.
- Or use double-sided tape, or a loop of masking tape.
- Or work on a grippy surface, like a rubber jar-opener mat or a non-slip drawer liner.
- The ends of a Band-Aid work in a pinch, but they can leave sticky marks. Test on a scrap first.
Mark the line
- On light cloth, use a sharp HB pencil or a washable fabric marker.
- On dark cloth, use tailor’s chalk or a white chalk pencil.
- You wash after you cut, so the marks wash out.
Cut
- Use sharp fabric scissors.
- A rotary cutter with a ruler and a mat is fastest and straightest.
Do
- Line the template up with the threads of the cloth, so the square does not stretch.
- Cut from the strongest part of the cloth.
- Check your first square with a ruler.
Don’t
- Cut over seams, stains, holes or thin, worn spots.
- Mark with a ballpoint or a permanent marker. It bleeds and will not wash out.
- Use paper scissors. They chew the edge.
3Wash and dry
Wash the cut squares, then dry them.
Cloth from home has usually shrunk already, so the squares keep their size.
Do
- Wash by hand, or put the squares in a mesh laundry bag.
- Dry them flat.
Don’t
- Machine-wash loose squares. They fray and tangle.
- Tumble-dry them hot.
4Iron them flat
Press each square flat.
A flat square stays square, and its photo shows its true colour.
Do
- Press: set the iron down, lift it, and move to the next spot.
- Use the right heat for the cloth.
Don’t
- Slide the iron back and forth.
- Stretch the square while you iron it.
5Photograph them into a box
Each kind of cloth gets one photo.
In the studio, open the Cloth box tab and press Add pieces (on a computer, Add pieces is in the column on the right). Photograph the cloth, then set how many squares of it you cut.
Your boxes are Box 1, Box 2 and so on, in the order you start them.
The studio starts you on a Sample box of real cloth to try. Add a box when you have cloth of your own.
Do
- Photograph in daylight.
- Fill the square with the cloth.
- Lay it flat, with no shadow on it.
- Set how many squares of this cloth you cut.
Don’t
- Use the flash.
- Photograph under coloured light.
- Let a busy table or background into the square.
6Design and print
Pick a pattern in the Design tab. Press it again for a new arrangement.
Choose a mount, preview the stitches, and press Save.
Press Share, then Print pattern PDF — A4, print at 100% (also called actual size).
Do
- Print at 100% or actual size.
- Measure one square with a ruler. It must be 4 cm.
Don’t
- Print with “fit to page”. It shrinks the squares.
- Print on paper other than A4.
Lay and stitch
You have the printed sheet and your squares. Lay them on the sheet in order, then stitch.
1Lay column by column
Video coming Laying the first column on the printed sheet.
First lay a backing cloth flat, and put the printed sheet on top of it.
Start at the top left. Lay the first column from top to bottom, then the next column, and so on.
Put each square’s top-left corner on its corner of the printed grid. It reaches 2 cm past its own square, to the right and down.
So each square covers the edge of the one above it and the one to its left.
Along the outer edges, trim the squares at the printed line.
Do
- Use a backing cloth a little larger than the sheet.
- Lay the cloth the sheet shows in each square.
- Finish a whole column before you start the next.
- Keep each square straight on the grid lines.
Don’t
- Lay row by row. The laps end up the wrong way.
- Leave gaps between squares.
- Lay the sheet on the table with no backing cloth under it.
2Stitch
Video coming Sewing a running stitch across a square.
Sew a running stitch: the needle goes in and out along a straight line.
Sew straight rows across each square, through the square, the paper and the backing cloth.
The stitch preview in the studio shows a thread that stands out on your cloth, and how close the rows go.
When all the stitching is done, tear the paper away gently along the stitches.
Do
- Use the thread the stitch preview suggests.
- Keep the stitches even.
- Let the thread lie flat.
- Tear the paper along the stitch lines, a little at a time.
Don’t
- Pull the thread tight. The cloth puckers.
- Make long stitches. They snag.
- Pull the paper hard. It drags on the stitches.