The Patchwork Templates are made out of 2mm thick clear plastic nearly all that require it have a ¼" seam allowance marked on them. They are very sturdy and are suitable for use with a rotary cutter. Being transparent they are difficult to photograph but the picture below gives you some idea of what they are like. The picture on the left is a 4" Square from the Beginner's Dozen pack the templates for which are those on the right.
We are sometimes asked about the holes in the templates - do they have a purpose? The 4mm holes in the centre of Squares and other templates are just that, they are there to allow you to centre any feature on your fabric, thay are also used to centre the geometric shapes Circles, Diamonds, Hexagons and Squares to allow you to mark a seam allowance, all other 4mm holes serve no purpose they are a result of manufacture. There is one other type of hole (the pencil hole) this is a 2mm hole with a chamfered edge, these are on only a few of the templates and are there to assist in marking seam allowances especially on curves. Finally if you want to place a particular feature on your fabric in a particular place on every block you can draw all or part of that feature on your template with a marker pen, place it on the fabric and they will all be in the correct position.
They are packed in packs and the illustration below shows the information that comes with each pack of templates, namely the PACKCARD. On the front is a picture of the Block, on the back in most cases a Piecing diagram, in this case it is for the pattern Stars at Sea otherwise known as Storm at Sea. At the top, along with the Block Name there is a reference number, in this case A74/1-7. The A74 is the unique pattern number while the /1-7 indicates that there are 7 templates in the pack, and these are shown on the illustration. Should there be an ( R ) next to a template number this signifies the template should be reversed at this position in the pattern. The right side of the templates can always be identified by the scribing, if you can read and feel it then it is the right way round.
To view larger click on Image
The thimbles on the packcards indicate the level of difficulty as shown below.
The Piecing diagrams are designed to give a visual idea on the easiest way to assemble the Block. To transfer the ¼" seam allowance to your fabric, simply place the scribed line along the bottom of the fabric and draw with a pencil along the edge of the Template.
