In this second video I am showing you how I use Illustrator to create my color library.

Emmanuelle

I have been using Illustrator by Adobe for a couple of years, and I have been finding ways to use the software in creating quilt patterns or just to make my work easier.

I bought a collection from Alison Glass when she came to the fair in Nantes in September 2021.

I want to create a pattern using her fabric, so in order to make my visual easier, I just upload her collection into Illustrator, this video shows how I do it.

The video is in french.

Emmanuelle

I used the templates from Marti Michell, Set A to make the blocks :

I always start preparing all my block pieces on a design board and once all the pieces are cut, I then move on to the piecing with my sewing machine.

Emmanuelle

Using the board of the color set up, prepare all the blocks :

The next step is making the blocks.

Emmanuelle

By using the block and the color set up, the six colors are dispatched on the motifs:

Color in all the plain squares :

Then when coloring a motif section, choose the biggest shapes to color in :

Finish coloring in the rest of the motif with the same or other of the six colors :

Emmanuelle

Now that we have an idea on how to make the background, let's move on to the motif.

What motif are we going to use?

Once we have decided on the motifs that are going to be used we need to move on to placing them on our blocks.

They can be placed in a traditional way, meaning in a geometrical way, or they can be placed in a randomly way:

The two blocks on the left are placed in a geometrical way, but the two blocks on the right have the motifs placed in a randomly way.

Next step will be to associate the colors that we had decided for the background with the blocks that will be designed.

Emmanuelle

Rather than doing a traditional checker board, we are going to add some extravaganza to it.

The block has two set ups possible, I have chosen to work with 6 colors:

I am going to place these colors on my two blocks set up, I am then going to draw one block set up at the top and the other block set up on the side:

I am now going to match both set up to obtain new color set ups:

If you notice, in the diagonal I have a full blue, then a full purple all the way to the bottom to a full beige.

I will be using those set ups differently and you will see how later on.

So until the third step, have a good week.

Emmanuelle

I have a project for you for the coming few weeks.

I am going to show you how I create from scratch a quilt pattern.

I will call this project : The Checker Board Quilt

Step One: The preparation of the board

A Checker board is the alternation of a black square and a white square, if we add colors to it, it would look like this:

If we divide the checker board into 3 patch blocks, then it would look like this:

If we want to have different background colors, it would look like this:

Two block set ups come out of this, a block with the colored squares in the corners and in the middle, and a block with the colored squares on the edges:

So these are the two block set ups that we are going to work with.

Next step to follow.

Emmanuelle

Lately I have been working on paper piecing Flying Geese designs.

The fact of creating a triangle repeated and ending up making a circle needs to be done thanks to certain functions of Illustrator.

While searching through different videos, I discovered lots of new functions, some I might never use but others have been very useful in my work.

There is a software available to create patchwork designs, Electric Quilt 8, but I like to play around with my shapes without having a set grid, so I will continue using Illustrator.

During my cross stitch designer years, I did use the cross stitch software, I had Patternmaker and I loved it but believe me when I say that I started by using Excel and putting the letter "X" in the boxes to represent the stitches. Mostly I printed out my blank grid with Excel and then I would fill in the boxes with a pencil. Those were the days!!

Now we have computers that allow us to work professionally just from our homes, I love spending hours on my screen...

I'm going to take you behind the scene of my working process.

When I started creating quilt patterns, I had a computer using Windows, so I searched for a program other than "WORD" to draw up my patterns. 

Back then there were no "online pay monthly" systems, you would simply go to the shop, buy a box with a CDrom in it and a manual to help you install the program and a tutorial on how to use the software.

So the software I came across was PAO (Publication Assisté par Ordinateur, which means Publishing Software Helped by the Computer). I learned how to use it and started making my patterns with it.

As time was going by, I had started designing fabric, I had been taking a 3 year class in Fabric Designs and was learning to use Illustrator. After a while I wanted to upper my game and get myself a screen that would allow me to view the colors better than on the laptop. I was recommended to buy a wide screen Apple computer. And that was the best decision ever.

I am now a proud...