This Electric Quilt
Tip is written by Patti R. Anderson and is the first of series that Patti will
doing for Computer Quilting BYTES. Patti Anderson is a quilt teacher, quiltmaker
and designer from Rainelle, West Virginia. Her husband is a pastor in Rainelle
and they have two college age daughters. All three are patient and loyal
supporters. Patti bought her first Electric Quilt software in 1993 with
moneys she received as grant from the local Arts Council. The rest is history.
Patti has become notorious for stretching EQ to the limits of its
potential and regularly adds lessons and tips for EQ users to her
Patchpieces
website. You will also find Patti on the Faculty at QuiltUniversity.com,
where she teaches the intermediate and advanced EQ4 classes, as well
as other quilt classes.
EQ Photos-as-Fabric
by Patti R. Anderson
(A tutorial on how to use photo images as fabric in EQ)
Whenever anyone says, "I wonder if we can do this
in EQ?" something strange comes over me. My adrenaline starts
pumping, my brain starts working overtime, and then I jump to the
challenge. Hey, I never said I was normal. :-) Recently
on the InfoEQ mail list, someone asked if there was a way we could
add photo images to our quilts in EQ4. After a little trial
and error, I discovered a way that we can import photo images into
EQ4 and make it look like we have photo transfer blocks in our quilt.
I knew that we would have to use the Import fabrics
feature in EQ4, but I needed to be check to see if we could predict
how the fabric falls into a quilt layout. I played around and
studied how the fabric tiles in a quilt layout. Look below at
the image of a quilt layout with four blocks set 2 x 2 in the center,
and Corner Block Borders. I chose a fabric already in EQ4 that
had a large single motif so that I could easily see the tile repeats.
Fabric always tiles from the upper left hand corner (northwest). If
you look at the northwest corner of the blocks in the quilt center
(look at the red flower) you can see that the fabric tiles separately
for each. In the border, fabric tiling is separate for each border
and each corner block. In the top and bottom borders you can
see that the fabric tile repeats due to the larger width.
Once I was sure that fabric tiling was consistent
in the way it falls in a quilt layout, I knew we could make a "photo
image fabric tile" to fit a quilt block. Before you think I'm
nuts, let me show you how I did it step by step.
What you need:
1.
Create the Quilt Layout. Since
this process involves dimensions by pixel, you will need to get your
quilt made in EQ4 first. If you change the quilt center layout
or the borders, the photo-as-fabric will need to be resized.
2.
Measure the space. Have your quilt on the Worktable.
Click on the Snapshot tool
and take a snapshot of JUST the blank block/space where you want to
place your photo image. Choose Copy to Windows Clipboard from
the Export Snapshot dialog box. (At this point you can minimize EQ4,
so that you can bring it up later in Step 8.)
.
3. Find pixel dimensions. Open
Irfanview. In the Edit menu, click on Paste (or use Ctrl+V).
You should now see the image of the blank space you copied to the
Clipboard. Click on the Information button in Irfanview and
in the Image Properties box, look at the line that says Original size.
Write these pixel dimensions down. My space is 209 x
208. I didn't get it quite square, but that's OK.
4. Crop the photo image. Open
your photo image file in Irfanview. Irfanview cropping tool
is ready to use as soon as your image is showing. My original
photo bitmap is a rectangle and I need it to be square, so I'll do
that first.
Point the cursor at an approximate starting point
and while holding down the mouse, drag a box to select the area you
want to crop, releasing the mouse when you're done. The cursor
changes to a plus sign. If you don't like the selection, click off
the image and start again.
If you watch the blue heading at the top of the Irfanview
window, you can see the dimension change as you make your selection
to crop. This will help you make it somewhat square.
Once you have made your selection, in the Edit menu,
click on Crop (Ctrl+Y). the area you selected is now in Irfanview.
5.
Resize the image. In the Image menu,
click on Resize/resample. Type in the pixel dimensions you wrote
down in Step 3, in the New size boxes. I rounded up to 210 x
210. Click OK.
6.
Decrease colors to 256. In
the Image menu, click on Decrease Color Depth. Click to check
256 colors. Click OK.
7.
Save as bitmap. Now save your
new photo image as a bitmap. In the File menu, click on Save
as. Give the file a name and under Save as type, select BMP-Windows
bitmap. You now have a new bitmap resized and ready to import
as fabric into EQ4.
8. Import photo bitmap as fabric.
We're almost there now. Go back to EQ4. In the Library
menu click on Fabric Library. In the Fabric Libraries box, click
on Import. Navigate to find and select your new photo image
bitmap file. Click Open. You should now see the image in the Fabric
Libraries, click on it and then click Copy to add it to the fabrics
in your project file. Click Close. The image will be added
to your fabrics. Please note that these photos-as-fabrics will
be larger and you will only see a portion of it in the Fabric Sketchbook.
9. Add the new photo fabric to the quilt.
With your quilt on the Worktable, click on the Paintbrush tool, select
your fabric from the menu. It will be the last one in the mini Fabrics
& Colors Sketchbook. Point and click on the blank space
to fill with your new photo fabric. Save to Sketchbook. Save
the project file.
10. Perfect fit! You now have a very
close facsimile of a photo transfer quilt in EQ4. Now you can
play with fabrics in EQ4 before you make a REAL quilt!
Extra hints and things to remember:
-
If you change the borders or the quilt layout
in any way, the photo fabric tile will not be centered.
-
EQ4 projects using photos as fabric result in
BIG file sizes. Don't push your luck in trying too many
photo fabrics in one project file. (ask me how I know...<grin>)
-
Take the time to add your new photos-as-fabric
to the My Library files for safekeeping.
-
In the Sketchbook, the photo will not tile correctly
in the quilt.
-
Practice, practice, practice. You've heard it
before, yes? This photos-as-fabric method will be easier the more
you play with it.
Visit this page on my Patchpieces website to see the photo transfer
quilt of lighthouses that I am going to make for my daughter Bethany.
http://www.patchpieces.com/Photo-as-Fabric.html
The lighthouses have already been transferred to real fabric
and I almost have all the gorgeous blue fabrics that I will need
to make it. That is what this exercise was all about,
right?
Patti has become notorious for stretching EQ to the limits of its
potential and regularly adds lessons and tips for EQ users to her
Patchpieces
website. You will also find Patti on the Faculty at QuiltUniversity.com,
where she teaches the intermediate and advanced EQ4 classes, as well
as other quilt classes.
Electric
Quilt Software review, 
Hints and Tips for Electric Quilt User Series:
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