Swag Border

Quilt-Pro Drafting Series by Frank Smith © 2002

There is no classic swag border in the Quilt Pro library.  The following instructions for drafting the Swag Border, shown in Figure 1, use the 90 degree Arc Patch Stamp Tool from Tip #2.  For those of you who did not save  the Arc Patch Stamp tool, I have included instructions for using the Bezier Curve tool to draft the arc needed.  The Bezier Curve tool is not quite as true an arc as the Patch Stamp tool. 

 

 

Figure 1. Swag Border to be drafted. 

 

In order to keep the curve of the swag a true 180 degree arc (half circle) keeping the length (repeat) and the width proportional when you fit or resize the border for use is vital.  As mentioned in previous articles, I like to my draw borders in the block mode.  Then resize,copy and paste it into the design workspace.  This also allows me to save the border blocks, suitable for using as a regular quilt block, into the block library before making them border blocks.  In drafting this border we will draft the repeat first. then the corner block.  There are several items that need to be setup before starting. 

 

1. Start Quilt Pro or if already running select New in the block menu.   

 

2. In the Tool Bar make sure the Grid Snap tool is on.  

3. In the Options menu select Screen Settings 

Figure 2 Screen Settings dialogue box.

 

4. In the Screen Settings dialogue box select .250 as grid size. See  Figure 2 

 

5. To exit the dialogue box, click OK.

 

To Draw a 90 degree arc using the Patch Stamp; 

 

1. In the Edit menu select Delete all.This will clear your workspace. 

 

2. In the Tool Bar select the Patch Stamp tool.   

 

4. Open the drop down menu by clicking on the arrow.  See Figire 4.

5. Select the Arc.  This name may be different in your computer depending on what you named the 90 degree arc. See Figure 5.

Figure 5. Patch Stamp Shapes dialogue box with Arc tool selected

Figure 6.  Arc completed.

6. In the upper center of the workspace click on the curve and move the cursor to the right five grid squares and then down five grid squares.  Release the mouse button.  The arc is completed.  See Figure 6. 

7. Close the Patch Stamp Shapes dialogue box by clicking on the X or the Close Button.

8. The arc is composed of twenty short lines, so we need to group the lines that make up the arc.

 

9. In the Effects menu select Group. 10. Select the Arc and move the arc off to the right side of the workspace.  This arc will be referred to as the original arc.  It will not be used until the last arc is needed.  It will be used to make duplicates. Instructions for drawing a 90 degree arc using the Bezier Curve tool.

1. In the Tool Bar select the Bezier Curve tool.   2. In the upper center of the workspace click the start point and move to the right five grid squares, click at the corner and move down five grid squares and double click to finish the arc.  If you are using this curve, select it and move it to the right side of the workspace.  It will be your original arc as mentioned above.  If you are not using using this bezier curve delete it.  Do not try to use both curves.  Remember the Stamp Patch is more accurate.    3. Your workspace should now look like Figure 8.  The single curve in the workspace can be either the Patch Stamp arc or the bezier curve.    4. In the Tool Bar select the Select tool.  Select the entire arc. 5. In the Edit menu select Duplicate.  6. Move the duplicate arc to the center of the workspace.  7. In the Tool Bar select the Rotate Right 90 degrees tool. The workspace will look like Figure 9.

 

10. Select the entire half circle.

11. In the Edit menu select Duplicate. 

12. Move the duplicate half circle down one grid square and one grid square to the left until they are aligned like Figure 11. 

 

 
Figure 11. Workspace with two half circles aligned vertically. 

 

Now we want to make an extra duplicate half circle to use later. 

13. In the Edit menu select duplicate.

14. Move the last duplicate half circle up to the top of the workspace out of the way. 

15. In the Tool Bar select the Line tool.  

16. Draw lines two grid squares long where there are red circles on Figure 12.  The red circles will not show on your workspace, they are being used for ease of explanation, 

. 

17. In the Tool Bar select the Select tool. Select the entire swag.

18. In the Effects menu select Join.  See Figure 13.      Figure 13.  Lines and arcs joined to form the swag patch. 14. Select the entire half circle at the top of the workspace. In the Edit menu select Duplicate. At this point I want to stress that this is a pieced border so we need patches to fit both above and below the swag patch.  15. Move the selected half circle to a position so as to superimpose it over the bottom curve of the swag patch.See Figure 14.

Figure 14.  Half circle superimposed on the bottom curve. 
In Figure 14 you can tell the position of the curve by looking at the handles on the selection box.   

 

16. In the Tool Bar select the Line tool.  

17. Draw three straight lines as shown in red in Figure 15. 

 

Figure 15. Position of lines to be drawn shown in red. 

 

18. In the Tool Bar select the Select tool.  

 

 

19. Select the three red lines and the curve that is laying on top of the bottom curve.  20. In the Effects menu select Join. See Figure 16 for results.     Figure 16. Lines and curve joined to make patch below swag

21. In the Tool Bar select the Line tool.  

22. Draw a line from tip to tip of the half circle we saved in the upper part of the work space.

23. In the Tool Bar select the Select tool.  

24. Select the half circle and the line joining its tips. 

 

25. In the Effects menu select Join. 

26. In the Tool Bar select the Select tool . Select the new patch and move it into position as the patch above the swag. Shown in Figure 17. 

Figure 17. Upper patch in position. 

 

27. Unselect all patches by clicking on a blank area of the screen.

28. To paint the swag:

 

Corner Block Instructions 

1. In the Tool Bar select the Select tool.   Select the original arc.  

2. In the Edit menu select Duplicate. 

3. Move the duplicate arc to the center of the workspace. 

 

4. In the Edit menu select Duplicate again. 

5. In the Tool bar select the Rotate Right 90 degree tool twice. This rotates the arc 180 degrees. Now move the arc approximately one grid square up and one grid square left. Make any final alignment as shown in Figure19.

 

Figure 19. Final alignment of two arcs. 

 

6. Select both arcs.

7. From the Color Palette, select the color white.

8. In the Effects menu select Join.  See Figure 20 

 

 

Figure 20. Center patch from joined arcs. 

 

9. Select the original arc and in the Edit menu select Duplicate. 

 

10. Move the duplicate to a position superimposed over the right side of the center patch. 

11. In the Edit menu select Duplicate again. Move this duplicate to a position two grid squares to the right side of the center patch as shown in Figure 21. 

 

Figure 21. Position of second duplicate. 

12. In the Tool Bar select the Line tool.

13. Draw three lines as shown in red in Figure 22. 

 

 

14. With these three lines shown in red, plus the curve superimposed on the right side of the center patch and the curve two grid squares to the right, we are ready to select them and join them to make the right side of the corner swag, 

 

15. In the Tool Bar select the Select tool.   Select all, by dragging the mouse cursor across all the lines and curves. This will also select the center patch.

 

NOTE: The join function will ignore it and join only the lines and curves.

16. In the Effects menu select Join. See Figure 23. 

Figure 23. Lines and curves joined.

 

17. In the Tool Bar select the Paint tool.  

18. Select your swag color and paint the half swag formed by joining the three lines and two curves. See Figure 24 

Figure 24.Half swag painted.

Figure 25. Half swag selected.

19. In the Tool Bar select the Select tool. Select the half swag 

20. In the Edit menu select Duplicate.

21. In the Tool Bar select the Flip Horizontal tool 

22. In the Tool Bar select the Rotate Left 90 degree too. See Figure 26. 

Figure 26.Swag position after Horizontal Flip and 90 degree rotate left.

Figure 27. Swag Positioned

 

23. Move the second portion of the swag up and left one grid square.  See Figure 27. 

 

24. Move the original arc to a position superimposed over the outer right curve of the right half swag. 

25. In the Tool Bar select the Line tool. Draw four lines shown in red in Figure 28. 

 
Figure 28. Position of four red lines. 

26. In the Tool Bar select the Select tool.  27. From the Color Palette, select the color white.  28. Select the four lines (red) and the superimposed curve.  29. In the Effects menu select Join.  30. Select the patch we have just made. Figure 29.

Figure 29. Patch we have just made by joining.

Figure 30. Completed corner block

31. In the Edit menu select Duplicate. 

32. In the Tool Bar Select the Flip Horizontal tool.  

 

33. In the Tool Bar Select the Rotate Left 90 degrees tool. 

34. Move the patch up and left one grid square to complete the corner block. See Fig 30.

 

Note: These blocks are not suitable for quilt top blocks so we will not save them in the Block Library.

 

Making the Border Block 

We will now set up the design border boundary and then copy and paste our blocks into it. 

 

Before we go to the Border Design dialogue box, take note of the dimensions of the swag repeat and the corner blocks.  The repeat is 2.5" x 2.0" and the corner is 2.0" square.  These are the measurement we will need to fill in the Border Length/Width dialogue box. 

 

1. To create a New Border:

Quilt-Pro 4

Quilt-Pro 3

 

 
Figure 31. Border Length/Width dialogue box completed
with the appropriate numbers filled in.

2. Fill in your dialogue box as shown and click OK. The border design workspace with border boundary opens.  See Figure 32. 

 

Figure 32. Border Design workspace. 

 

3. In the Windows menu select the window that will return you to the blocks we just completed.  In my case Swag Stuff 

 

 

4. In the window with the repeat block and the corner block select Select All in the Edit menu.

5. In the Edit menu select Copy 

 

6. In the Windows menu select the window that will return you to the border design workspace.  Which in my case is 2 < untitled 

 

 

7. In the Edit menu select Paste. See Figure 33. 

 

 

 

 

Figure 33.  Design space with border blocks pasted in. 

 

8. Select the entire repeat block and move it into the horizontal repeat space outlined in red.

9. Select the entire corner block and move it into the corner space outlined in red.  See Figure 34. 

 

Figure 34. Horizontal repeat and corner blocks in place. 

10. Reselect the horizontal repeat.  11. In the Edit menu select Duplicate.  12. In the Tool Bar select the Rotate Left 90 degrees tool.   13. Move the repeat duplicate block into the vertical repeat border boundary. See Figure 35.    Figure 35.Completed Swag Border Block.

14. The block is now completed except for saving.  If you want to save the block:

16. Here is a little challenge to draw using the same principles.