Inklingo

By: Kris Driessen

Inklingo is a method of printing templates directly onto the wrong side of fabric for hand piecing, machine piecing or appliqué.  It is a very accurate method of preparing patches for cutting and stitching.  Inklingo templates:

• position templates on the straight of grain

• compensate for mirror image

• print seam lines for hand piecing, plus cross hairs and matching marks

• provide precise cutting lines

• have perfect seam allowances

• eliminate basting onto templates

• allow you to perfectly cut patches at all angles without specialty rulers. 

Watch a free demo video online now!

The color coded templates are available on a CD of shapes which you print on your prepared fabric.  These templates are printed as identical rows can be stacked, aligned and accurately cut at the same time.  

Any inkjet printer can be used to print Inklingo templates.  The prewashed fabric is first prepared for printing by being adhered to a stabilizer (see below), wrong side up toward the printing.  A printer that doesn't wrap the fabric package around the roller works best.  

Set your printer properties to deliver the least amount of ink possible.  If you have an HP printer that uses ink cartridges 10 or 11, this is ideal.  These inks wash out very easily.  Do a test swatch using your printer on both the photo and the normal quality of print.  You may find your lines clearer but not darker on photo quality.   For more information on choosing a printer, click here. 

Need some ideas?  Join the Inklingo chat group to ask questions, share tips and ideas.  To subscribe to this group, send an email to: Inklingo-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Stabilizing your Fabric:

There are several ways to stabilize your fabric . You could iron it to the shiny side of a piece of freezer paper. Remember to iron it wrong side up!  Use a hot (1200 watt) iron on the hardest surface you can find. A cutting board works well.  Freezer paper is that wonderful stuff you can find in your grocers storage aisle or at a butcher shop. One side is paper and the other has a light coating of wax which melts when you iron it. It does tend to curl, so try to cut your sheets ahead of time. Flatten them under your cutting board for a few days, or press them to a pressing sheet. 

Pay extra attention to the side that is going through the printer first - you want that side to be solidly adhered to the freezer paper.  Be sure to remove any stray lint, strings or threads. If you are having trouble getting your fabric adhered freezer paper to go through your printer, try scoring the paper 1/4" from the edge that goes into the printer first and folding it over the fabric.  

Instead of freezer paper you could use Palette paper, available from your local art supply store, NASCO Art Supplies or Dick Blick's art supplies site. Choose Canson,  Bienfang or Strathmore Paper Palette palette papers. ProArt Acrylic Media Palette is made differently and won't work for this project. Avery 8 ½" x 11 labels work too, if you can get the fabric to stick without bubbles. It stays sticky through up to 10 applications.

Click here to order Inklingo Collection One - Hexagons
Everything you need for Grandmother's Flower Garden, Seven Sisters, Baby Blocks & more!  Some sample shapes are:

• 1" hexagon, whole, halves & quarters

• 1" 60 degree diamond

• 1" 60 degree triangle, whole & half square

• 1" square

• 1" pentagon 

• 2" hexagon, whole, halves & quarters

• 2" square

• 2" X 1" elongated hexagon, whole halves & quarters

Click here to order Inklingo Collection Two - Triangles
There are many sizes of half square, quarter square and half rectangle triangles!

Free Pattern!

Ami's Sisters for Alzheimer Quilt Initiative