Okay, your quilt pattern says something like this, “Draw a line from corner to corner on the wrong side of a square.”
Sounds easy, right?
So, you get your trusty pencil and away you go! NOT! The lovely little piece of fabric laying so innocently on the table, suddenly shifts under the pencil lead and makes a crazy-looking squiggle!
Well, here’s a Tip and Tool that will help to make this job easier.
Sandpaper. Yep. I said sandpaper.
Years ago, I bought a small pressing board from Clover that has a pressing board on one side and sandpaper on the other. It’s called a Patchwork Board. I have used that thing sooooo many times! The sandpaper side has a flap to cover it that protects the sandpaper and gives the board a non-skid surface for when you use the pressing side.
This is the non-skid-flap side. See how ratty mine is? Like I said, I’ve used it! A lot! But you see, even though the back looks awful…
The sandpaper inside is still perfect!
So, now, my fabric square holds still while I draw that diagonal line or lines. Yay!
Because the sandpaper grips the fabric so well, it can be a bit tricky to remove it from the board. When there is just one or two squares, it’s not a big deal. But, if you need to mark 50 squares as in my In The Garden pattern, it can wear on the fingernails a bit.
I use a pin to coax the corner up so I can grasp it easier. Don’t dig too deep or you will mar the sandpaper’s surface.
Now if you’re in a hurry to get your squares marked and don’t have time to run to a quilt shop to buy a special pressing board, you can buy sandpaper at any hardware store. Select a very fine grit. If you have an old clip-board that’s not been used in years, you can use some spray glue to adhere the sandpaper. You can even use spray glue to adhere it to a piece of cardboard. It just won’t last as long.
I searched Google to see if The Patchwork Board by Clover is still available. I found some on both Amazon and EBay for a little over $30.
Happy quilting!
Diane