On the occasions when I do need to use my own fabric in an EQ drawing, it’s so easy with EQ7. The best way to do it is to scan each fabric individually and import those. My scanner is not my friend! If I used it more, I’d get a different one. I suppose the worst problem with it is . . please don’t laugh . . it’s part of my printer. I print too much stuff and leave it in the printer. We all share the same networked laser printer. We each have our own inkjet . . don’t ask me why . . but everyone uses the laser. When Vince or Chad come to get something they’ve printed, they take all my stuff and put it on top of the printer . . which means before I can scan anything, I have to move mountains of paper. So, I never use my scanner!
Now you know I’m a lazy slob so I’ll share with you the lazy way I get my fabrics into EQ.
I lay them all out and take a picture of the whole group.
Then I crop out a square of each fabric and save it separately. I end up with these .jpg files in my picture folder.
Then following the directions in the EQ7 book, pages 208-209, I import the fabric files into my sketchbook and can plug them into my design. Using the camera vs. the scanner, I do get some tiling in my sketch but that doesn’t affect the sketch enough for me to take the time to scan each fabric individually.
One bit of advice is to take your photo using the best light to produce an accurate image of your fabric. In this picture, I had these fabrics laying in a darker spot in my sewing room where there was a halogen light.
The next photo is the same fabrics but moved to an area of the sewing room with better lighting.
The second photo is much more true to the fabric. If we want an accurate sketch of how the quilt will look with a specific fabric, we have to be very careful to get the color as close to true as possible.
Almost all the time I can find a fabric in the EQ fabric library that works with my design without importing my own fabric. There are many, many fabric palettes that can be downloaded from EQ here and added to your fabric library.
Pat says
hahahaha….do you think we were twins separated at birth??? I have the SAME issues with my scanner as YOU have (and mine is part of my printer, too). AND…only owning EQ7 for a week now, I have already discovered to photograph my fabrics and get them into the program. It works much better than the scan for me.
CJ says
Oh yes, I agree. Photographing them is the only way to go, but I do it because I can get a perfect represenation of my fabric with a photo, but my scans leave a lot to be desired.
Pam says
Haven’t tried either yet but I will. I’m having so much fun with EQ7.
Thanks,
Pam
Diana G in England says
Great idea to photo fabric, I have always scanned mine into EQ6 [ hopefully EQ7 is waiting for me at home!]
Thanks for the tip
Happy Room Diana
Deb says
I havent played much with scanning photos. I did when I first had EQ5, but havent since. I really want to, since I have a Mariner’s Compass I have to do. I have not gotten my EQ7 yet, (SOON, I hope!!!) and have some ideas with this qulit that I hope it will help me with. I was just starting to learn EQ6!! I wasnt even going to get 7, but they had a good deal, so I did it. TMI. This wee brain cant keep up! I havent thought of photographing the fabric (Or havent gotten to that part in the book!) but that does sound like a good idea. I already have the photo. Hmmmm. will have to play today!
Thanks Judy!
Denise says
Like you I generally find something similar to the look I want already in the EQ fabric library. But my solution to all that stuff that gets piled on top of the printer, I dump it on a pile on the floor net to the printer if I need to scan. LOL So I guess that makes me a slob too since it’s only me printing to the printer, only me piling stuff on top of it , and definitely me dumping it on the floor until I want to organize the printed stuff. 🙂
timelady says
As 3 of us share our fabrics, i have found using Dropbox (online free file storage, you can share folder with collaborators), with pictures i take and then crop with my iPhone (they have them too now, so no excuse), gets fabulous results.
We point EQ to Dropbox (looks like just another folder in Explorer), save fabrics and projects in subfolders, and can then work on each others designs when needed, or shared work, or the communal fabric.
Being a geek helps at times;)
Mary Johnson says
Another way to use the photo option is if you’re on a fabric site, save the photo and use that. Mom had some Connecting Thread’s fabric and I was able to save the photos right off that site and use them in the quilt.
Linda says
What a light-bulb moment you have given me! I have a scanner and no one uses it but me….so that isn’t my problem. Dragging all the fabrics to the scanner and going through them one by one is a pain! So I hardly ever do it. But your camera tip has just inspired me! Thanks.
One question…. How small do you save each one so it will work in EQ?