Overview
A common frustration in the online modern quilting community is the tendency for projects to require the purchase of additional specialty rulers in order to properly create the fabric shapes. There are hundreds of single-use tools for various shapes and block types available and it’s space and cost-prohibitive to get new tools for every project.
Audience
The online modern quilting community, primarily connecting on Instagram, is composed of mostly millennial women – a lot of them working in the communications, marketing, graphic design, or tech fields. Therefore, access to Illustrator and base knowledge of its functionality is an appropriate jumping off point.
Design and deployment
Learning objectives:
- Describe the overall process of creating custom cutting templates in Illlustrator
- Create cutting templates in various shapes and sizes, using the Polygon Tool and Direct Select functions
- Incorporate proper seam allowance by using the Stroke tool and Expand Appearance function
- Utilize Pathfinder to handle dependent counter shapes for curves and circles
- Configure the artboards and document for desired printing outcomes
Given the sequences of technical tasks needed to build the cutting templates and the target audience, video is the ideal medium for this learning experience.
Keeping with video and pedagogical best practices, I decided to break the objectives and tasks into a scaffolded series of three videos:
Video one: Hexies (single, simple shapes) ~2 minutes
This video orients users to setting up documents, creating a single shape, and the seam allowance creation process.
Video two: Inset circles and curves (more complicated shapes, dependent counter shapes) ~3 minutes
This installation reinforces the document setup processes, but doesn’t show the sequence again. The seam allowance creation process is reiterated. The new process of using Pathfinder is introduced.
Video three: Advanced shapes and multi-page configuration ~2 minutes
The series wraps by demonstrating all of the skills learned so far in one quilting project, as well as introducing the Direct Select process. It concludes with configuring multi-page designs.
Reiterating processes from previous videos, but not making users sit through the demonstrations again, respects their burgeoning knowledge and time.
I developed storyboards and scripts in Google Docs.
Audio and video were recorded through and edited in Camtasia. Captions were added here, as well.
Graphics were created in Illustrator and animated in Camtasia. I created a lot of the graphics, but downloaded some icons for the first video from the Noun Project. I went for a modern and clean design aesthetic, choosing three colors, Avenir Next Condensed in all capital letters with a yellow highlighter-like background as a title font, and Source Sans in a bold weight for other type.
