Piecepatcher
Quilts
One Canadian's Website ~ Not Just Quilting
Drawing a Vest in EQ 5 and EQ 4*
A note:
This project file was originally drawn for EQ 3 way back in 1999
Back then we didn't have as many tools and options as we have now in EQ 5
Although the page refers to EQ3, it has been updated for use in EQ4 and EQ5. ~ Carolyn
Up until now I only used EQ3 to draw square quilts. After all, wasn't that all that I could do in EQ3? Not so! Take a look at these vests that I drew in EQ3! Read on to find out how I drew them and how I got them on this web page. Take my EQ3 Challenge. Get a copy of my Vest project file for EQ and if you use it, or are inspired by these ideas, I would love to hear from you.
A CREATIVE IDEA FOR EQ 3: I love vests! I've made several in different quilting techniques. Vests are fast to make, small and portable for quilting, and unique to wear. I have two or three purchased patterns that I use over and over as the basic fit and pattern for all my quilted vests. But I wanted to find a way to use EQ3 and it's various drawing tools and fabric choices to help me draft out my vest patterns, so I could "play" with colours, placement of blocks and really "see" what my vest would look like. My project was not designed to use for actual sewing and cutting, but for visualising what I could do with my paper pattern. And besides, I just have fun with EQ3 and enjoy trying to do new things with it.
HOW I DREW THE "QUILT" VEST: I have one Vest.prj file in my EQ folder that holds these 5 Quilt Vests. There are 2 basic blocks, the vest front and the vest back. First I drew one front piece as an outline. Then I cloned a copy and reversed it and placed both pieces side by side in one block...saved it. The vest back was drawn as an outline shape in a second block and saved. I altered the vest front for different "vest" fronts, adding pockets, collars, or dividing the shape into smaller shapes within the large shape. And I altered the hem lines on the backs. These were all saved as new blocks. In total, my prj file has 8 different vest fronts and 4 different vest backs.
Then I played! Tried different colours, different fabrics, different combinations of vest fronts and backs - you know ~ all the fun things we love to do in EQ3! When I had the colourings I wanted to keep, I saved the blocks again. Then I created 2-block quilts, each one comprised of a vest-front block and a vest-back block, and ignored the area surrounding the vest shape and the border, which I made as narrow as possible.
USING THE APPLIQUÉ LAYER: You'll notice that some of the vests have buttons on the front, and one has buttons sprinkled all over the collar area. I drew just one button in its own block (it's a circle, with 2 smaller circles for the button holes, and a small rectangle on top for the thread). After I had the 2-block quilt drawn and saved as the pieced layer, I added "buttons" using the appliqué layer. My blocks are 20 inch size, but the buttons were resized to be an appropriate size for the vest.
The vest below has a star block on the back. It is not part of the vest layer, which just has a solid strip down the centre. The star block (you could select any block from the EQ library) is on the appliqué layer and sized to fit the area as a focal point to the vest.
PUTTING THEM ON A WEB PAGE: Once I had the blocks and quilts I wanted in the EQ program, I saved each one in my EQ PIC directory as vest#.pcx format. Using Microsoft Photo Editor Program, I opened the *pcx file and erased the quilt border, and the dividing line between the two quilt blocks. Then I saved the file in *gif format. This can be done with any graphic program that lets you edit an image and save it in a different format. I use Netscape Composer to design my web page, and just inserted the *.gif images that you see here.
TAKE THE EQ3 CHALLENGE
-
ARE YOU READY TO TRY SOMETHING NEW?
DRAW YOUR OWN VEST
I would recommend you be very familiar with EQ3 drawing tools before you attempt the more detailed blocks (such as the water-colour one) And I should warn you that I had lots of polygon algorithm errors and missing segments and lines, before I finished drawing these ! Here are some tips and hints that helped me:
Once the basic vest shapes are drawn, change the layout of the drawing board to a MUCH smaller grid (I used 96). Then before starting to add more lines for patches and curves, check each node to make sure it snaps to the new grid. Save your block often you go along. View it often in the sketchbook (F8) to make sure all your lines are showing up. Use zoom in and out feature to make sure that the ends of all the lines touch and match up correctly. I found if the lines went past the vest edge a little, it made no difference to the finished block, but if they stopped short, then the colouring did not work properly, nor could I "see" all my lines in the saved block.
I am making a basic vest.prj file available to EQ users. Barbara Skjønberg was kind enough to post it for me on her EQ users page in February 1999 (Thanks Barbara !!) If you use my vest project, I would love to hear what you've created with it. You can e-mail me, or please share your ideas by posting to the Info-EQ mailing list. I hope you have as much fun with this project as I did.
OR DOWNLOAD MY EQ PROJECT FILE
EQ 4 or 4.1
EQ 5
GETTING STARTED - IDEAS
Use the prj file like a quilt colouring book. There are no fabrics and no colours in it. You'll need to choose your own palette. Start with a basic vest block. Try different colours and fabric choices. Make a 2 block quilt, using one vest front and one vest back. These should go on the pieced layer of your EQ quilt. Use the appliqué layer for buttons and decorative blocks. I used 20 inch blocks, but it really doesn't matter. This is not intended to be a pattern actually used for cutting and sewing, but for visualising a design, or to practice your EQ skills, or just to have fun.
MORE IDEAS FOR YOU TO TRY
Select appliqué blocks from EQ library. Hearts. Stars. Flowers. Make a theme vest. Christmas. Birthday. Make a country vest with trees and a cabin on the back. Select your favourite pieced block and put it on the vest back, as I did. Pick 2 or 3 paper pieced blocks from Sew Precise and add them to your vest. Use "Country Set" to make your appliqué additions in different sizes. Create a "pocket" block then add one or more pockets on the appliqué layer. Design something other than vests. Round quilts? Tea cosies?
Here are the blocks you'll get if you download the EQ file
