In my previous blog post, I talked about making a Tripoli mat. This time I will talk about how I made the fabric circle for the mat and a couple other circle making techniques I use.
Some of the tools I usually use are a ruler, a compass, maybe a cup or bowl, and especially a sharp pencil. For ease, I will show the techniques on paper.
For fabric circles, generally I only need small circles. The fastest and easiest way to make them is to trace an existing circle. I like to use cups, bowls, and even small coins.
For tracing, make sure the item is securely in place and wont shift around. then draw around it.
Compasses can also be useful for drawing circles. They can come with or with our pencils attached. This one did not, so I improvised and taped a pencil to it.
When drawing a circle, keep the point right at the center, hold the top knob and twist gently to draw the circle.
For the last method, I used a pencil and a ruler. This is the method I used to make the mat because I needed an 18 inch circle. That is too large for a compass, or a bowl. For this example, I am making an 8 inch diameter circle.
I started by marking a center point.
Then, knowing I needed a four inch radius, (half of 8 inches) I put the four inch mark of my ruler right on the center mark a drew a line, from 0 inches to 8 inches. at each a did another mark to verify the ending points. You don't have to draw a line, but could just make the ending marks.
Then, at multiple angles, draw the same kind of 8 inch line through the center point. I doesn't matter what angle you draw them at.
Finally, connect the end point lines with a smooth lines. The more end points you have, the easier it is to make a smooth, curved line.
Here is the final circle.
For the game mat, I needed marked lines for 8 equal areas. I used my large quilting ruler and mat to make sure I had 8 equal areas, separated by 45 degree angles. Then filled in with a bunch of end marks without the lines.
There you have it. Lots of options for making circles for your next quilting project!
Have fun quilting!
