Pantograph

I am so excited! I bought the Grace pantograph for my Grace frame, and UPS says it is out for delivery today! It comes with plastic stencils with tracks in which the stylus rides. It has eight patterns, and you can combine them to make different ones. So far I have just made meandering lines, or something easy like hearts, or my name and the date somewhere on it. If it works out well, I am going to invest in some feathers, etc. Here is a link to the site I bought it at.

http://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/gr...-templates.php

Congratulations! Make sure all your chores are done before it comes cause you won't want to stop playing with it! Lol have fun! :icon_happy:

You will have hours of fun with that. Congrats on you new aquisition.

I think this fall I am going to get a Grace frame and order that set with it....let me know how it works out for you.

That might be just what I need.......follow the lines that are indented in the plastic. How could you mess that up? I just don't have a machine with a stylus long enough. ....mine is an oldie!

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Originally Posted by madampolo

I am so excited! I bought the Grace pantograph for my Grace frame, and UPS says it is out for delivery today! It comes with plastic stencils with tracks in which the stylus rides. It has eight patterns, and you can combine them to make different ones. So far I have just made meandering lines, or something easy like hearts, or my name and the date somewhere on it. If it works out well, I am going to invest in some feathers, etc. Here is a link to the site I bought it at.

http://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/gr...-templates.php

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You are going to have SO MUCH FUN!!!

I have those plastic pantographs, they came with my frame and to be honest I have never used them. I will be interested to see how they work for you.

Right now it is sitting in its box because I don't have a quilt to put together yet. I will soon, though, and will advise on how it works.

My best friend as a Gracie Pro table and used to have a wood stylus that would go with the plastic templates. She upgraded to a 18" Tin Lizzy from a mid arm and now we have a laser stylus that follows the lines on a paper. In some ways I prefer the old wood stylus because it was steady, the laser pointer bounces a little with the vibration from the machine. But now that we use the paper pantographs, we are designing our own and drawing them on freezer paper. We can now customize what patterns we quilt without spending hundreds buy special pantographs for each quilt.

I was hoping that I could use my own designed patterns on paper with the stylus that comes with the pantograph I bought. I have to see how it works with the channels first. But the very first is that I have to have something to quilt!

I have some wooden pantographs that look somewhat like the ones you're getting. Please post your projects when you finish. I'd love to see them! I found some other patterns that I really wanted to try, but they don't fit on the Grace frame, so I was wondering if I could put a laser pointer where the stylus goes and trace the outline on a paper pattern that was long like the pantograph. Now that my house painting is done, I'm ready to try the quilting frame. The laser might take a lot more practice since it's not on a grooved pattern. Have fun with your new toys!!

OK, I didn't read the latest posts, so there's the answer to the laser!! I think I'll try it to see what happens :)

The templates/stencils were first made in wood, and that was what they were selling 6 years ago when I got my frame. They have discontinued the wood ones and only sell the plastic ones now, but it is hard plastic and the grooves are pretty deep.

If you try with the laser pointer, try something with easy curves and loops first to get into the groove of things. I also find that you should approach it more like Tia Chi and move your whole body smoothy with it. If you just jerk your arms around it will look jerky. Just move at a smooth and steady pace and everything goes great!