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Circle Templates
Elaine asked a great question–where did I get my circle templates, and I thought others might enjoy the info, so here you go. In a small miracle, I actually have the info on the makers of all three sets. In a nutshell, I used to have a sort-of-retail-shop where I used to live on San Juan Island, Wash. We didn’t have a quilt store on the island, so I set up a wholesale account and sold thread (literally out of the back of my car!) so we didn’t have to wait two months to go to the mainland to buy thread to quilt the quilt. That led to doing special orders for folks from the wholesaler (nice small income for me, a small discount off retail for them), and I got to troll through the wholesale catalog. Which meant I got to see all SORTS of cool stuff … like circular templates!
The “solid” ones (that don’t have a hole in the center) are from Creative Grids. They come in 2 1/2 to 6 1/2 inch sizes (one inch increments), and have the Creative Grids “grippy” sanded area on the bottom. Here’s a link to the company’s site and product list; they do not sell to the public. As far as I know, Checker Distributors still have an exclusive contract with Creative Grids to sell these tools in the US, so your quilt shop would need to order from Checker, or you’d need to find a catalog that carries them. I didn’t find a google link (a quick search!) for a company I know, so will let you do your own searches. I like these a lot.
The skinny circles are from Quilters Rule. They are a set of 12 nested circle templates ranging from 1 inch to 12 inches. The tan color you see is the paper on the clear plexiglas that I just haven’t peeled off. They are marked in 1/8 th’s around the circle, and have the inch size staped/cut into the under side of the ring. According to the paper strip, mine are the 1/8″ acryic, but they are also available in 1/4 and 3/8 inch acrylic–I’m guessing those are designed for long-armers to use. Here’s a useful review of them at this link. And here’s a link to the Quilters Rule website where you can buy them.
I actually like these the best, I think, because I can use the circle as a “frame” and see clearly what will be in the “picture” when the circle is cut out. I can use the one-size-larger circle to frame the area I want to cut out, then I place the next-size-down circle inside it. I remove the larger circle, and cut on the outside edge.
The dayglo yellow-green circles are from The Gadget Girls and are called “Remarkable Circles”. These rings (nested also) are 1 inch thick, so the largest one is 12″ diameter on the outside of the ring and 10″ on the inside. I’m guessing I bought the Quilters’ Rule set after I bought these, because that gave me the intermediate 7-9-11 inch sizes.
MARKING AND CUTTING:
I usually just cut around the template with my 18 mm Olfa cutter…that’s the itty bitty one with a blade the size of a dime. I put off buying it forever, thinking sheesh.. how many rotary cutters can you need? Well.. the answer was one more. I LOVE this little baby–it’s great on curves, especially tight ones, and greast for free-form cutting because it is so maneuverable.
If I mark around the template, a chalk pencil works best, but I manage to make the Chaco-liner (seen in the picture above) work, too. Check out that link above (ok…here it is again: Link) to the review of the Quilters Rule nested templates. It has some great hints and tips!
The final hint…I’ll bet there are LOTS of cool templates out there…really useful, versatile ones, sold to the long-arm crowd. Those of us who quilt on home machines could do well to learn from them!
And stay tuned…. if I can get photos today, the nativity quilt is almost DONE! All I have left is to sew down the bottom half of the hanging sleeve, add the documentation pocket and label, and it is DONE! Hope to have pictures up in a couple days.
Cheers, Sarah (and sorry this got so long!)
June 27th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
Sarah,
Thanks for all of the information about the circle templates.
Elaine