Overview
Clipping blocks are essentially the opposite of no-sew zones. A no-sew zone blocks out an area, keeping IQ from stitching inside it. A clipping block, however, will block out the area outside the block. This is useful for creating partial block patterns, such as half wreaths. It is also useful for pantos, as described below.
More detail on clipping blocks is forthcoming...feel free to add your clipping block experience here.
Clipping Blocks and Pantos
For any of you who are inclined - you can learn how to use the new CLIPPING BLOCK today if you are doing a panto. Picture this, you get to the last row, and the border is traveling up or down-hill. The straight clip line doesn't allow for the angle, and you either babysit, stop, re-clip, or just let your panto stitch off one side or the other. Never again! Now you can clip your last panto line exactly as the quilt dictates.
Here's how:
- You are ready to sew your last panto line, and you have realigned. Choose Add Block > Clipping Block > Select the last row of your panto.
- Choose Mark on Quilt (1) or Trace on Quilt (2)
- (1) - move your machine from slightly above your last line, along the width of the quilt, down to the lower corner border, along the wonky lower edge to the other lower corner, and back up to where you started. You are entering points as you go, just as you have Marked on Quilt to define other blocks with IQ
- (2) Trace on Quilt - Touch start when you are ready to Record. Move your machine as described in (1), except you don't have to enter any points.
- When you have completed the block area, touch Stop, then Close Block
- Go to full zoom so that you can see your Clipping Block, and accept it if it defines the correct area.
- Touch Sew Quilt, and the last row of your panto will stitch exactly within the boundaries of the quilt, no matter how skewed.
Uses for Clipping Block
- to crop echo lines (contours) along piecing seams
- to crop the last row of a panto
- to easily create partial motifs without having to split the stitching line in several places (example: half-wreaths for setting triangles)