New Pattern: Palette

Title: Palette

Designer: Modish Quilter Magazine

Technique: Sewing circles

 

Sizes: 1

Colour Layouts: 1

The 5th issue of the Modish Quilter Magazine is launched with the Palette Quilt pattern which is ready on QuiltInk for you to make your colour versions before sewing it.

This is an ideal pattern to learn and practice sewing inset circles, a way to sew circles with less seams and a wonderful result!

This pattern is one size, throw and it allows a lot of colour combinations.

Check on @modisquilter Instagram profile the video tutorials about this pattern and get your copy of the magazine. 

And remember to register on QuiltInk to save your colour versions, check the QuiltInk Wall to get inspired to colour your version of the #palettequilt and share your colour versions! We can’t wait to see them!

QuiltInk 2.0 is Here!

After a lot of months working on a big update for our app, we are so happy to announce to you it’s active and we hope you love it!

And what’s new??

  • New look.
  • Tutorials center where you can learn all about how to use QuiltInk in its full potential.
  • Notifications center for don’t miss any news.
  • Patterns sorted randonly, a part the ones just released or highlighted in the top.
  • Possibility of unmerging the pieces if designers haven’t blocked it (only for new patterns or the ones designers have remade)
  • Possibility of random colouring.
We want to thank you Capaquilts for all his help us setting up all the tutorials.
Surf on QuiltInk and discover all the new options. And we will keep working to improve the app every day. New ideas are already popping up in our heads!
And remember we would be happy with your feedback and ideas about how to make the app better!
Happy colouting and quilting!

New Pattern: Orbits PatchBall

Title: Orbits PatchBall

Designer: Amarar Creacions

Technique: Foudnation Paper Piecing

 

Sizes: 1

Colour Layouts: 2

PatchBalls are a wonderful combination of geometry, curves and tiny piecing. They are a great way to use scraps. They are perfect for a gift for a child or decoration for your home.

 

The Orbits PatchBall reproduces some  in 3D format. You can make it in 2 colours or customised as you wish.

 

Skill Level is Advanced. The Foundation Paper piecing part is easy. The hard part is closing the Ball, which you can make by hand.

New Pattern: Galaxy PatchBall

Title: Galaxy PatchBall

Designer: Amarar Creacions

Technique: Foudnation Paper Piecing

 

Sizes: 1

Colour Layouts: 2

PatchBalls are a wonderful combination of geometry, curves and tiny piecing. They are a great way to use scraps. They are perfect for a gift for a child or decoration for your home.

 

The Galaxy PatchBall reproduces a spiral in 3D format. You can make it in 7 colours or customised as you wish.

 

Skill Level is Advanced. The Foundation Paper piecing part is easy. The hard part is closing the Ball, which you can make by hand.

New Pattern: Chess PatchBall

Title: Chess PatchBall

Designer: Amarar Creacions

Technique: Foudnation Paper Piecing

 

Sizes: 1

Colour Layouts: 2

PatchBalls are a wonderful combination of geometry, curves and tiny piecing. They are a great way to use scraps. They are perfect for a gift for a child or decoration for your home.

 

The Chess PatchBall reproduces a Chess board in 3D format. You can make it in 2 colours or customised as you wish.

 

Skill Level is Advanced. The Foundation Paper piecing part is easy. The hard part is closing the Ball, which you can make by hand.

Subscribing to a Plan

Before placing your patterns on QuiltInk you need to subscribe to a plan.

You can see all the plans available at the “Subscribe to a Plan” button in your Designer Page.

As new designer on QuiltInk, you have two options to start placing your patterns on the web app:

Trial Plan

A time where you can see and learn how the app works. You can also check the response of your followers by being able to color your pattern on QuiltInk. Terms of this plan:

  • Number of patterns: 1.
  • Numbers of sizes per pattern: 1.
  • Time period: 14 days.
  • It can only be subscribed to once.
  • It is cancelled automatically at the end of the trial period.

Paid Plans

These paid plans are always available on QuiltInk and allow you to place patterns in the app. You can subscribe to one of these plans and skip the trial period. Terms of these plan:

  • You pay a monthly/yearly fee, through Stripe, depending on the patterns included in the plan.
  • Every pattern can include all the sizes you want.
  • You can set up as many designs as you want of every size/pattern.
  • You will have a personal page on Stripe where you can manage your subscribed plan ; change your plan to a higher or lower one, or cancel it whenever you want.

Submitting a pattern

Preparing your files

Before sending a design to Quiltink, please prepare the files using this guide. We need to receive the files in a properly edited way, otherwise we will have to edit it by ourselves, involving some extra work. 

Whichever is the designing software you use to create your pattern designs, please follow these simple steps:

  • Use only closed shapes. Please don’t use open lines to create the shapes. 
  • Remove any stroke from the shapes, using only fill colours.
  • Send all the shapes filled in the same colour. You will create the different colour lay outs once the pattern is uploaded in Quiltink. Check here to check how this works.
  • Check that all the shapes are one next to the other, avoiding blank areas between them
  • Place all the shapes in one layer, please don’t duplicate shapes.
  • If you are sending several quilt sizes, make one file per size, naming each file with the corresponding quilt size.

Files must be in .svg vector format . Please don’t send img formats like jpg,  png, tiff… Here you have some instructions on how to export your files in .svg format, depending on the designing software you use. If you use a different one, export it in pdf format.

Exporting from Inkscape

Inkscape is a Freeware tool that already works in svg format. So there is no need to export it. You may send the file.  

Exporting from AI or InDesign

To save your artwork as SVG, choose File > Export > SVG (svg). Check “Use Artboards” to export the contents of your artboards as individual SVG files. Make sure that the name of each artboard is the quilt size of the layout in it.

InDesign does not export to SVG directly. Export your shapes to PDF, open that in Illustrator and save your SVG from there.

Exporting from Quilt Assistant

Go to File – Print Preview. Check the Design box and both options shown in the image below. Then Print. In the printer dialog select “save as a pdf”. 

Exporting from EQ8

You only need to print a pdf from the “quilt worktable”. Click “print & export”, then “block” on the right side.

This dialog box pops up. On page set up change the measurements of the page to the quilt size. Select “outline drawing” and the settings shown here.

The rest of the process is exactly like any other pdf printing. You just need to select PDF as the printer.

Submitting your design

Once you have your files ready, it’s time to submit them! It is quite simple to do. Here is a step by step explanation:

1.

On the main page, go to your account.

2.

On the top right account icon, click on designer page.

3.

Click on Manage Patterns

4.

Click on submit a pattern.

5.

Fill in the form with the information requested:

  • Name: The name of the pattern displayed in Quiltink when published.
  • Type: Quilt, pillow, block….
  • Technique: Traditional, Fpp…
  • URL: Link to your shop where the pattern is for sale.
  • Description: tell us something about the pattern, like level rate, design inspiration…

Once you have finished, upload the files. We need to receive one file per size. Please name the files with the size.

 

Creating colour layouts

After submitting a pattern to Quiltink, we will create one skeleton per size of the quilt. These skeletons are not coloured yet and you’ll need to make the different colour layouts depending on the ones available in your pattern. Let’s see how to create them:

Creating the draft

First of all you need to create a draft. In your account icon, go to designer page, then click manage patterns and click on the pen icon next to the pattern you need to create a colour layout for.

In the edit pattern page, click on the purple plus sign to create a colour layout. Then select the size you want to create the colour layout for, by clicking on the plus sign.

Coloring the draft

A new draft layout will be created automatically with the name “New Layout xxxx”. You’ll change this name later. First, click on the colour palette next to this new layout.

A new window will pop up where you can colour your layout.

You may find further info about how to colour your layout here.

Merging pieces by colour

One of the new features in QuiltInk is the possibility of merging pieces of the same colour. You might group or ungroup the pieces of the same colour at any moment.

  • The icon on the left side of the highlighted area will merge the pieces by color. The user, by clicking on one of these pieces, will be able to colour all the pieces of the same color automatically. This is very useful if you have fixed colour distributions in your pattern.
  • The icon on the right side of the highlighted area will unmerge the pieces. The user will be able to colour the pieces one by one, and create a custom colouring of the design. Also, if during the colouring, you need to add/remove one of the pieces from the same group, you can use this tool for that.
Once you have a clear idea of the pieces that should be grouped by colour in the final colour layout, you have the option of locking the merge in the “…” icon of the left side menu. If you lock the merged pieces, the final user won’t be able to change the colour distribution. If you don’t block the merged pieces, the final user will be able to create a custom colouring, merge or unmerge the pieces on their own.
Remember, the lock of the merged pieces can’t be undone. So, be sure the colour layout is ok before to do it.
We recommend the designer to check the colour layout is working fine before publishing.

Final checks

Please note that a colour layout can only be published if all the pieces have a colour asigned. To check you have painted every piece, you can click on the dropper and a window will pop up showing the list of colours included in the colour layout. If there is any piece missing, a message in red will show up on top of the list.

Also, the publication of the colour layout will be locked. You’ll see a crossed out cloud in red next to the layout draft in the edit pattern menu.

When you are finished, click on the floppy disk icon to save your draft. This action will not publish the colour layout yet. You might come back and edit it again.

Editing the Colour layout options

Once you have the colour layout ready, you can edit the properties. Go back to Edit pattern and click on the “···” icon of the layout you need to edit. You’ll find three options there:

  1. Edit layout properties
  2. Duplicate the draft layout
  3. Delete the draft layout

1. Layout properties

If you click on edit layout properties, a new window will pop up showing you the properties:

  • Name: here you can change the name of the layout. For example: 3-colors, multicolor, etc…
  • Size: set the size of the layout
  • Real size: type here the finished size of the quilt.

When you are finished, click save.

2. Duplicate the colour layout. 

This is very useful if you want to change/amend a published colour layout.

It will create a new draft based on this colour layout. Then follow these steps:

  1. Unmerge all the pieces
  2. Re-colour the pieces you want to change
  3. Merge again. And block the merging if necessary
  4. Save
  5. Publish
If the colour layout you need to change has been already used by any user, it’s not possible to be removed, but you may deactivate it clicking on the eye icon.
Notice this option is not possible if you locked the merging. When you lock the merging it can’t be undone adn you will have to redo the colour layout if you need to change/amend it.

3. Delete de colour layout

This action will remove the colour layout. If the colour layout you need to delete has been already used by any user, it’s not possible to be removed, but you may deactivate it clicking on the eye icon.

Publishing

When you are ready with all the settings, click on the cloud icon to publish the colour layout. This colour layout won’t be public after publishing. If you want to make it public, click on the eye icon. You can deactivate it at any moment.

Once you have ready all the colour layouts, you need to set a cover of your pattern before it’s published. 

To set it, select the layout you want to be the cover of the pattern, click on the “…” icon and “set as pattern cover”.

Embedding the Colouring Pages

As QuiltInk Designer, you have the possibility to embed your QuiltInk pattern colouring pages onto your website.

For those of you that don’t own a website, there is the possibility of a link, which can be opened with a browser and redirect the customers directly to your pattern colouring pages on Quiltink. This link can be placed on Etsy or your Instagram profile, for example, or where ever you want.

Get the code/link on QuiltInk

  1. Go to Manage Patterns on your QuiltInk Designer Page.
  2. Click on the “…” icon near the name of the pattern you want to embed.
  1. From the drop down list click the “Info” icon.

Here you will see some info about your pattern plus the code and link for two different ways to embed the colouring pages of your pattern:

  • Embed the main pattern page with all the Colour Layouts:
    This embed code/link will show your customers a
    page on Quiltink with all the Colour Layouts you set up for
    your pattern. Then, they can choose which one to use as the basis to
    colour your pattern.
  • Embed one Colour Layout: this embed code/link links directly to the colouring page for a specific Colour Layout. This way is suited for patterns with only one Colour Layout, or when you want to place all the individual designs to color in a blog post, for example.

Paste the code/link in your website

  1. Copy the code/link you want by clicking over it.
  2. Either paste the embed code in the “text” editor of your website page.

Alternatively, you can share the link to your pattern / Colour Layout, where you want. The link can be pasted in any place from where people can copy it and paste in a browser, or you can add a hyperlink to it and redirect customers directly to your colouring page by clicking at it. For example: a pdf file, Etsy, Instagram profile, etc.

Result

The result is that people will be able to color your pattern directly in your website or, if you share the link, in any browser window.

The embed allows you to offer the colouring QuiltInk service to your customers in a more direct way. They can color the pattern in the product

page and then buy the pattern directly, they don’t have to return to your website from QuiltInk. If customers don’t leave your website, they don’t

have to come back, so there are more chances they will buy the pattern.  

To have in mind

  1. Since customers are not in the app, they won’t be able to log in and save their colour versions in their account (there isn’t a “save” icon in this option). This Colour Version can’t either be placed on the QuiltInk Wall.
    If they want to keep the Colour Version Made in your website they can export it.
  2. With the embed/link option, people are not able to see the colour versions of your pattern placed in the QuiltInk Wall. The Wall is only accessible from que QuiltInk app, so if you want people enjoying all the colours versions made by other users and get inspired by them, you have to redirect people to www.quiltink.com

Managing Private Rooms

Private Rooms allow you to offer the possibility to colour a pattern to a selected group of QuiltInk users.

This option is thought to be used by Designers when:

  • You are still working a pattern and want to make colouring layouts tests.
  • For coworkers in a pattern designing.
  •  To offer to your testers the possibility to colour the pattern on QuiltInk in a private way, before making it public. 
  • For fabrics shops that have to prepare kits for your pattern before it’s released.
  • Or just for quilting friends you want to give you colour layout suggestions about a new design you are working on.

Creating a Private Room

You can create one Private Room per pattern. For that:

  • Go to Manage Patterns on your QuiltInk Designer Page.
  • Click on the “…” icon near the name of the pattern you want to create the private room.
  • From the drop down list click the “People” icon.
  • Add the users you want to include in the Private Room:
    1. Tape their usernames in the field.
    2. Click the “Person +” icon to add them.
  • Click the “Stick” icon, at the top right, to create the Private Room with the users included in.
NOTE: The users included in a Private Room will receive a notification about it in their Account Page (a purple floating button in the top right of their account profile box indicating with a small red circle over it, the number of new patterns they have in the Private Room). We also recommend the designer tell personally to the users they’ve been included in the Private Room.

When you finish using the Private Room you can close it by clicking the “CLOSE THE PRIVATE ROOM” button. 
When a Private Room is closed, the Colour Versions made in that private room will turn into Colour Versions made from an active pattern in the main page. 
There is no possibility to reopen a Private Room closed. If you close a Private Room and open it again with the same users included, it will look as if it was new.

Notes:

  •  One pattern with a Private Room can be activated in the main page or not. The fact it has a Private Room doesn’t mean it can’t be activated. So, be aware to not activate the pattern (“Eye” icon near the pattern list) if you don’t want it to be public.

Using the Private Rooms

To access the Private Room you, and all the users invited, will see a purple floating button in the top right of your account profile box. Click it and you will access to the Private Rooms page.

The Private Rooms page is a mix between the QuiltInk Wall and a “Colour Layouts” main page for a pattern. So:

  • At the top, you will see all the patterns with a Private Room you have access to.
  • By clicking over one of the patterns on top, you will have access to the Private Room of this pattern, and you will see below all the Color Versions of this pattern made by you or the users included in
    this private room, which you can “love”, save in your favorites, export, etc. (all you can do in the public Wall).
  • To create a new Color Version of the pattern, click the “NEW +” button, over the second bar. The Colour Layouts page will be opened in the same way it does in the QuiltInk main patterns page. Click the Colour Layout you want to use as a basis and the colouring page will open, in the same way as in the public mode.
  • Make your colour versions and save them as finished versions or as Drafts, in the same way than in the public mode.
  • In your account, for your colour versions made in a private room, you will see an extra “Eye” and “Cloud” icons in a purple box. They are the icon you can use to make that Colour Versions visible or not in the private room Wall, “Eye” icon in the Saved versions, and to turn a Draft from a Private Room into a Saved from a Private Room, “Cloud” icon in the Draft versions. 

IMPORTANT: When you create a Colour version in a Private Room it won’t be published in the public Wall regardless the pattern is activated or not, and the “Eye” icon to share in the public Wall will be crossed. So, REMEMBER when the designer activates the pattern to appear as a public pattern in the main QuiltInk page, to click the “Eye” icon for your Colour Version appears in the public Wall (The “Eye” icon which is not in a purple box).

When a Private Room is closed, the Colour Versions made in that private room will turn into Colour Versions made from an active pattern in the main page. 
There is no possibility to reopen a Private Room closed. If you close a Private Room and open it again with the same users included, it will look as it was new.