with one week to go
Friday, February 8, 2013 at 5:23PM
a Valentine’s Day themed project seemed in order. I had promised to dream up a simple idea for the NFWI website and with time a little on the short side, I looked for a tried and tested pattern for a little card to tuck in a pocket, lunchbox or amongst meeting papers. I knew I had that pattern somewhere, but finding it was another matter. This was something I made pre-computer days and since I can’t google my filing cabinet of craft worksheets and class handouts, it wasn’t going to be easy to find. Did I have time to go through all of those?
I do, however, have a box of templates from all kinds of projects I’ve done and it wasn’t too difficult to find the one I was looking for. All I’d need to do was to trace round it, scan it into my computer and create a pdf. No problem. I might even create some cutting files for those with Silhouettes and Cricuts too!
See what happened? I thought that perhaps I’d better try it out to check that it all folded neatly together and actually worked as it was supposed to. It’s a good job I did, because it didn’t. The central square was no longer symmetrical because, I guess, the template had been traced round so many times that it wasn’t quite precise any longer.
So, I fiddled around with the pattern, using my Silhouette to cut it out and sometimes, not choosing a large enough piece of scrap card to fit the shape. I can tell you, joy was not abundant in my studio yesterday morning. The frustration of not being able to create something simple but perfect gets to me every time!
Eventually, I decided that the best thing to do was to redraw the pattern from scratch; to stop trying to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear and find some squared paper and a ruler and go back to basics.
So very nearly there. Still, if this is going out into the wide world, it had better be as perfect as I can get it, and this isn’t. See that pointy bit at the bottom of the heart?
A few minor adjustments and it was done. Didn’t seem much for a day’s work really, but this is how it is. It’s a good job I don’t charge an hourly rate, isn’t it?!
If you’d like to download a copy of the pdf pattern it’s here. Leave me a comment if you’d like the cutting files and I’ll share them with you, too.
Have fun!
Reader Comments (3)
Persistence pays off, as your valentine illustrates. Good job!
Very cute :) Gill have you tried using inkscape software to make your svg. / cutting files? It's a free program, very good at what it does but takes a while to learn all it's capable of. There is a very good online help site and a couple of forums too I believe. I haven't used mine much as my cougar is still packed up!
Thanks for sticking with it, just what I need for my idle days this week!