FREE Templates for Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses (POTC) – Part 2

Make templates for any shape!

In Part 1, we showed you the advantages of freezer paper templates with an acrylic ruler.

It works for ANY SHAPE—triangles, hexagons, anything you can draw or print!

  • Have as many as you want!
  • They’re free! (Spend the money on fabric instead!)
  • If you lose one, you can make another one!
  • No waiting to start a project!

The advantages for FUSSY CUTTING POTC!

I find fussy cutting hexagons for Patchwork of the Crosses (POTC) difficult with acrylic templates because they slide around.

Freezer paper (plus acrylic edge) gives me more control and makes everything go faster. Once you try it, I don’t think you will bother with acrylic hexagons again!

(NOTE This article describes traditional fussy cutting, which makes Swiss cheese of the fabric. Inklingo is also perfect for No Waste Fussy Cutting when you have the right fabric!)

Once you have turned freezer paper templates into acrylic templates with your rulers, I don’t think you will need acrylic shapes for any design.

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Hexagon template for Patchwork of the Crosses

1. Print or draw the shapes on freezer paper or plain paper to make individual window templates (above).

It is an advantage to have several window templates instead of one acrylic hexagon. You will usually need 4 or 8 for POTC and 5 or 10 for Passacaglia and Ballet from Millefiori Quilts and Millefiori Quilts 2.

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Print templates for POTC

2. Prepare as many FP templates as you need.
(No seam allowances, see Part 1.)

You can use the shape from the window template or you can print the Inklingo shapes without seam allowances and rotary cut precision shapes.

ANYTHING you can draw on freezer paper can be used this way!

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Fussy Cutting identical hexagons

3. Position the window template over the first design, with the fabric draped over your ironing board. Find identical designs in the fabric and mark with additional window templates.

If the window templates are freezer paper, press with a hot, dry iron to hold in position. (Use a small piece of tape to hold the paper templates in position temporarily, if necessary.)

When you see several of them positioned on the fabric, you will get a good idea of the number of repeats available and what will be left for additional sets of identical shapes.

Depending on the design you want to fussy cut, it may not always be possible to have straight grain on two sides. As usual, handle bias gently and never use steam to press.

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Fussy Cutting identical hexagons

With this fabric, I could see the designs just as clearly from the wrong side, so I placed the fabric on the ironing board wrong side up.

You won’t always be able to do this but it is nice if you can if you are planning to use a mechanical pencil to mark the sewing lines.

I find the window more helpful than covering the design with acrylic because I can see exactly where the points and corners fall on each flower in the design.

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Fussy Cutting POTC hexagons

4. Drop the FP templates into the opening in the windows template and touch with a hot, dry iron to hold in position. Then you can remove the window templates. They can be used over and over again.

 

Rotary cut hexagons

5. Slide a cutting mat under the fabric on the ironing board and cut.
Add the seam allowance, as described in Part 1.

Hooray! You have the results you would get with an acrylic template but you did not have to pay for acrylic or wait for an acrylic template to arrive in the mail!

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Rotary cut hexagons

This has many advantages over acrylic templates:

  • You have as many templates as you need, not just one hexagon.
  • The templates don’t slip the way acrylic does, so you can be sure every hexagon is perfect.
  • You choose how wide or narrow to make the seam allowances.
  • Optional: Add the sewing lines if you wish. (Part 1)

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Print hexagons on fabric

Of course, it is easier and more precise when you print the shapes on fabric with Inklingo and rotary cut several layers at a time.

My first choice is always to print the shapes on fabric. It is faster, easier and more accurate than using any kind of template and you can sew by hand or by machine.

If you can find a fabric suitable for No Waste Fussy Cutting, you won’t need templates, but when you do need templates, I recommend freezer paper with an acrylic ruler instead of acrylic templates.

There is also a video for POTC on the Main Lucy Boston Page on the website. (You are on the blog now.)

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Introduction to Inklingo

Just in case you would like to skip templates entirely and print the shapes on fabric instead, there are step by step instructions and a new VIDEO on the Welcome to Inklingo page on the website.

Inklingo quilters spend more time sewing and less time getting ready to sew—and get better results!
Why templates?

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Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses (POTC)

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If you subscribe to the blog (top of right side-bar), you will be the first to see Part 3 of this article.

 

Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses (POTC)

IN PART 3 —FIVE BONUS TEMPLATE TIPS!

Quilting doesn’t have to be as expensive as you think! You’ll get better value when you spend on fabric or a wonderful class experience!

I don’t think you will want to bother with acrylic templates once you have used freezer paper.

I would love to see photos of what you are making with Inklingo. You can browse the albums on the Inklingo Facebook page to see what other Inklingo quilters are sharing too.

 

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REMINDER ABOUT FREE CLEO

If you haven’t ordered and downloaded the Cleopatra’s Fan Design Book (138 pages, PDF), you can still get it while it’s free!

When you can’t use Inklingo, use freezer paper!

Welcome to Inklingo! See you soon for Part 3.

Linda & Monkey

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New to Inklingo? Order and download free shapes and start sewing in the next few minutes. Main Beginner’s Page There are triangles, diamonds, and squares in the free collection—great for dozens of different blocks.

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2 thoughts on “FREE Templates for Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses (POTC) – Part 2”

  1. Thanks, Linda, for another great lesson. Yes, I agree, freezer paper makes the greatest templates and is especially useful for fussy cutting!!

    Reply
  2. That’s brilliant! An easy way to fussy-cut. I agree that templates are slippery. I like how this method allows you to plot out a few areas at a time before cutting too. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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