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When I'm making a card that has little squares affixed to it - for example a row of three squares or perhaps nine little inchies organized in three rows and three columns...how do you line them up so that there is exactly the same space between them? I get my little ruler out and all but it seems that even the tiniest little difference throws the whole thing off kilter! Any sure bets out there?
I would probably use my ruler and lightly pencil in actual lines for placement, and then erase after the squares were stuck down.
I am fortunate because I have that kind of brain/eyesight that seems to really be good at getting things straight by "eyeballing". I've sewed for a lot of years, so maybe having to sew straight seams has helped me get pretty good at lining stuff up evenly.
Good luck!
__________________ Bugga in OK
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Dalai Lama
...I've sewed for a lot of years, so maybe having to sew straight seams has helped me get pretty good at lining stuff up evenly.
Good luck!
I think this is the same for me. My eye is trained to line things up. I can also eyeball anything from 1/16" up to 5/8" pretty much dead on from all the years sewing. Helps getting borders even when matting my images. I think the best thing would be to use a ruler and lightly mark with pencil, if you're not comfortable eyeballing it.
Don't know if this will help, but heres how I do it:
What I did was cut some thin strips of cardstock using my paper trimmer- the sort of width you want your gap to be, and about 6" long. Then I put my first square in place, and lay one of my cut strips along the bottom of the square,and one down the side. Then I butt my next square up to the two strips.If I was having a vertical row of three I would repeat this, adding another strip below the second square.If I want a double row of three you will already have the 'squares' in place from the strips you have laid down. Use a fairly thick cardstock (cereal/detergent box is ideal) and they won't move around, and its easy to butt up to. Its like making a 'noughts & crosses' grid with strips of card, lol.
Don't know if this will help, but heres how I do it:
What I did was cut some thin strips of cardstock using my paper trimmer- the sort of width you want your gap to be, and about 6" long. Then I put my first square in place, and lay one of my cut strips along the bottom of the square,and one down the side. Then I butt my next square up to the two strips.If I was having a vertical row of three I would repeat this, adding another strip below the second square.If I want a double row of three you will already have the 'squares' in place from the strips you have laid down. Use a fairly thick cardstock (cereal/detergent box is ideal) and they won't move around, and its easy to butt up to. Its like making a 'noughts & crosses' grid with strips of card, lol.
Thats a good idea. You could have premade strips in widths that you commonly use like 1/4" and 1/8".
I just use my ruler...but I love the idea of cutting strips to match the lines you need. You could use repositional adhesive to keep them in place easier.
After placing your first square, lay a piece of tape above it, making it as long as you want your row of squares to be.
Lay a piece down the left side of the square, making it as long as you want your column of squares to be.
Use a short piece on the right side of the square for spacing between it & the next square.
Keep shifting the short piece of tape to the right of the square just placed, to mark spacing for the next square, until row is finished.
Keep moving the tape from above a completed row to below it for placement of the next row until your grid of squares is completed.
The tape is 1/16" wide so you can use multiple widths of tape for wider spacing. It's available at an office supply store or in the stationery department of some big box stores.
I like the repositional glue idea- I hadn't thought of that! I made the strips because I simply cannot get all my squares lined up,lol. I can do most, but there was always one that just wasn't right.
I get my little ruler out and all but it seems that even the tiniest little difference throws the whole thing off kilter! Any sure bets out there?
I'm with you. I have 7 different rulers, each with a different asset, and STILL precision escapes me EVERY time. But perhaps it is the fact that the original cardstock is slightly off square, my trimmer is slightly off, the Score It is slightly off, the laser-cut quilting ruler is slightly off, and if I put a part through the Cuttlebug it will just slightly shift a bit off.......but the worst is when I use a stamp positioner or a Stamp-a-ma-jig and the line of sentiment on the stamp wasn't made exactly straight in the first place.........slightly off is my normal. Maybe it's a gene.
Check out Susan Raihala's blog, Simplicity. She LOVES making grids. Even the 9-element ones. Her tutorials are fabulous..........but they mock me. Her cards are NEVER just slightly off, even when she cuts the squares with a crafting knife and a quilting ruler. She's from a different gene-pool I guess.
I'm gridless. You make me happy to know I am not the only one.
Bahb- I am with you exactly on the sentiment stamps! That really, really annoys me that they can't be bothered to line them up straight. I have ended up unmounting many a sentiment stamp because of it. One I even had to cut between two lines of text because the bottom line angled up towards the top line at the end. At least then I could lay them out straight.
Thanks for all these really good suggestions. I seem to have days where I'm in the "good at eyeballing" gene pool and then days when I'm definitely NOT. So for those days, these tips are great. I'm going to make myself a little set of "grout lines" right now.
I'll have to try these! What great ideas for those of us that weren't blessed with they "eyeballing gene" I honestly thought I was a bit nuts when score marks and things just seemed a little bit off. Can it really be that they are?
Last edited by greatgrace; 05-17-2012 at 04:32 PM..
I use 1/8" and 1/4" quilling strips, applying removable adhesive to one side of the strip.
__________________ Linda E
Caution: You are entering an artistic zone. This is not clutter - this is creating. These are not pajamas - it's my work uniform.
Lining up squares
