I come from a long line of sign writers and am happiest with a brush and some paint! Add
paint to fabric and I get really excited!!

Sunday, August 3, 2014

My Dumptruck Pantograph

A local fabric store was selling these cute little panels and I was asked by two quilters to quilt one for each of them. They were excited when I said I could quilt trucks on them, so with two to do, I invested the time to create a pantograph of dump trucks.

When I create my own pantographs, I use a very basic method. I draw my design element out, outline it in a fine black line with a Sharpie, then I print multiple photocopies of the image. I cut the excess white background away from around the edges of the image and then lay them out on paper I cut from a roll. Once I am happy with the layout, I tape the individual images down and add marker lines to create a continuous line of quilting.

This is a fairly antiquated way to create pantos, considering I could be creating digitized ones on my computer if I had the right software, but I actually enjoy this process. I am able to enlarge or reduce my designs and I can flip them and reverse them. And it allows me time to study how pantos are designed and how to best create a flow for the stitching line to follow. 


As well, I sometimes enlist the use of my opaque projector, or even my overhead projector when I want to enlarge a design and adjust it to the size I find best suits the quilt top I am working on. My opaque projector was one of the first tools I purchased when I started out in the sign business and even this many years later, I still find lots of uses for it.



Both clients provided me with Fireside for the backing and 80/20 cotton batting. 

8 comments:

  1. I've made a lot of stencils but never a pantograph. I find this very intriguing! Thanks for sharing, and great job.

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  2. wonderful quilting; thanks for the ideas.

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  3. Oh so cute!!! I have that panel

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  4. This is fabulous Jennifer. Love that pantograph! A super job on cute quilts!

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  5. Jennifer Scantlebury VienneauAugust 9, 2014 at 10:46 AM

    Thanks, Lori! Like I said, it is kind of an antiquated system, but it works well for me, especially with large or simple motifs.

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  6. Jennifer Scantlebury VienneauAugust 9, 2014 at 10:46 AM

    Thanks, Susan! Thanks for visiting and commenting!

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  7. Jennifer Scantlebury VienneauAugust 9, 2014 at 10:47 AM

    Did you see the cute whale panel they have in the shop now? Adorable!

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  8. Jennifer Scantlebury VienneauAugust 9, 2014 at 10:47 AM

    Thanks, Lorette!

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