There's got to be an easier way!
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 12:41 pm
I'm a newbie to the cutting machine as well as to the SCAL software. I feel like I'm taking one step forward and two steps back and there's got to be an easier way. Let me explain what I'm trying to do.
I'm a quilter and I'm making a wall hanging for my church that measures 22w x 48h. I'm appliqueing words on the wall hanging in various sized words and in various fonts. I've attached a .jpg of the example I'm following to help you visualize. I've made one wall hanging by using WordArt in MS Publisher and I print the word in the size I want and if necessary paste pages together to make a small banner. Then I iron the adhesive medium to the fabric, and I then have to trace the word. Then I cut out the word so I can iron it to the wall hanging. A very labor intensive process.
Then a friend I saw recently talked about the Brother Scan N Cut machine and said how easy and much faster it be because it cuts on fabric. I've been eyeing it anyway for months but was hesitant because I wasn't sure what I could use it for as I'm not really a paper crafter. But I decided to go ahead and buy it and I figured I could find other uses in my quilting craft. I have now spent a good 4 days since I've purchased it trying to figure out how to get this thing to cut all of the various words I need and I'm about at a point where my old method is starting to look pretty easy compared to what I've been having to do to get the cutting file ready and preparing the fabric so it would stick to the cutting mat.
I first tried the Inkscape web app and was getting frustrated as it wasn't really intuitive, but I watched some training videos so I could do what I felt I needed. I ultimately decided I didn't like it and after searching the internet found SCAL. I bought it because it was way easier than Inkscape and I loved the quality of the training videos. The problem I'm having is that I can use the Text tool and write out a word, however, since I may have series of letters that when appliqued together on the wall hanging may measure up to 20" wide, which obviously exceeds the size of the 12x12 mat, so I have to split my letters up on multiple lines. Seems relatively simple. However, what I'm finding is that when I do this and group some letters together, the size ratio of the letters are not the same. Imagine words that have letters like r, m, i, k, etc. The width of an m compared to an i is different. So, when I try to size my small groups of letters in SCAL, one group of letters might total 4" wide while another group of letters might total 6" wide. My thinking was that when I cut the words and put them together, my word would measure about 10". But like I said, the problem is that in the 4" wide grouping the letters are not the same "point size" as the 6" grouping. I now am spending more time trying to group the same letters together to build the file and trying to figure out the measurements so that after I cut the letters they'll combine to the total width I want.
There's got to be an easier way. So I had a light bulb moment. Since SCAL will trace a .jpg, I thought, why couldn't I type the word in MS Publisher, in the font and point size I want, then save it as a .jpg and trace it into SCAL that way. Then export it as an .fcm file. I thought "omg, this will be a breeze now". I actually got it to work once. But now, when I bring in the .jpg file it shows my tracing outline in white and I can hardly see it. The image of the word is in black text so why is it brining it into SCAL in white? I can see it when I try to move the handles around the image on the screen but as soon as I quit dragging it around, the image goes white. Why is this whole process so difficult? THERE MUST BE AN EASIER WAY. If someone could help me I sure would appreciate it and if you have any thoughts on how to type the letters of the words and split them so they are all the same size and fit on the mat, I sure would appreciate it.
I'm a quilter and I'm making a wall hanging for my church that measures 22w x 48h. I'm appliqueing words on the wall hanging in various sized words and in various fonts. I've attached a .jpg of the example I'm following to help you visualize. I've made one wall hanging by using WordArt in MS Publisher and I print the word in the size I want and if necessary paste pages together to make a small banner. Then I iron the adhesive medium to the fabric, and I then have to trace the word. Then I cut out the word so I can iron it to the wall hanging. A very labor intensive process.
Then a friend I saw recently talked about the Brother Scan N Cut machine and said how easy and much faster it be because it cuts on fabric. I've been eyeing it anyway for months but was hesitant because I wasn't sure what I could use it for as I'm not really a paper crafter. But I decided to go ahead and buy it and I figured I could find other uses in my quilting craft. I have now spent a good 4 days since I've purchased it trying to figure out how to get this thing to cut all of the various words I need and I'm about at a point where my old method is starting to look pretty easy compared to what I've been having to do to get the cutting file ready and preparing the fabric so it would stick to the cutting mat.
I first tried the Inkscape web app and was getting frustrated as it wasn't really intuitive, but I watched some training videos so I could do what I felt I needed. I ultimately decided I didn't like it and after searching the internet found SCAL. I bought it because it was way easier than Inkscape and I loved the quality of the training videos. The problem I'm having is that I can use the Text tool and write out a word, however, since I may have series of letters that when appliqued together on the wall hanging may measure up to 20" wide, which obviously exceeds the size of the 12x12 mat, so I have to split my letters up on multiple lines. Seems relatively simple. However, what I'm finding is that when I do this and group some letters together, the size ratio of the letters are not the same. Imagine words that have letters like r, m, i, k, etc. The width of an m compared to an i is different. So, when I try to size my small groups of letters in SCAL, one group of letters might total 4" wide while another group of letters might total 6" wide. My thinking was that when I cut the words and put them together, my word would measure about 10". But like I said, the problem is that in the 4" wide grouping the letters are not the same "point size" as the 6" grouping. I now am spending more time trying to group the same letters together to build the file and trying to figure out the measurements so that after I cut the letters they'll combine to the total width I want.
There's got to be an easier way. So I had a light bulb moment. Since SCAL will trace a .jpg, I thought, why couldn't I type the word in MS Publisher, in the font and point size I want, then save it as a .jpg and trace it into SCAL that way. Then export it as an .fcm file. I thought "omg, this will be a breeze now". I actually got it to work once. But now, when I bring in the .jpg file it shows my tracing outline in white and I can hardly see it. The image of the word is in black text so why is it brining it into SCAL in white? I can see it when I try to move the handles around the image on the screen but as soon as I quit dragging it around, the image goes white. Why is this whole process so difficult? THERE MUST BE AN EASIER WAY. If someone could help me I sure would appreciate it and if you have any thoughts on how to type the letters of the words and split them so they are all the same size and fit on the mat, I sure would appreciate it.