Baptist Fan 135deg templates

The baptist fan templates come in a variety of sizes. Normally you would only need the 7" & 8" if you already own the circle templates up to 12". However the smaller 135deg templates are convenient for those with smaller machines that can't fit the large circles between the needle & the machine. This enables shortarmers to still do up to a 8" diameter arc on their machines.

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Some hints, tips and techniques for using these & the circle rulers for Baptist Fan Pattern on your quilt tops.

Using your quilters ruler, score a line to create a 1/4 circle on your template. This will give you your horizontal & vertical  axis to help with placement on your quilt top!  

You will need the 2", 4", 6", 8", 10" & 12" circle templates along with the 7" & 8" baptist fan ruler. This will give you 8 arcs at 1" apart over your quilt top. This is usually plenty but at times smaller 'fans' are more desirable with less arcs in them.

This diagram shows only 4 arcs in each fan. The concept is the same! Decide which way you would like the fans to run on your quilt top. If you have houses for example, then you would decide if you want the arcs to run like bushes or like sunrays coming down. Load the top appropriately on your machine. Looking at the diagram above is like looking at the quilt top from the front of your machine. 

These instructions are now for using the templates from the front of your machine!

Starting from the top left corner, place the first smallest template with the horizontal axis on the edge of the quilt and the vertical axis on the side of the quilt. (If you prefer you can start with the largest template and work to the smallest! It is purely personal preference at this stage. There would be slightly less thread wastage with working from smallest to largest using an even number of arcs/templates....) Do not clip your threads between each arc until you get right to the end of the row. At this stage I clip all the threads on the top of the quilt before rolling forward to start the next row.

Make sure you secure your stitching at the beginning and end of each row, using either small stitches or a tiny backtack.

Another nice way to start your baptist fan is to mark the centre of your quilt top and stitch a complete half circle set of arcs. Then you would do your arcs going in different directions from each side of the centre set. 

A single row like this looks fantastic in a border!! Use a 1/4 circle in the corner if you can work the mathematics out to make it work!! Another advantage is that half of your stops & starts would be off the quilt top ....

Please feel free to let me know of any other wonderful ways to use these templates so that it can be shared by all!

Last updated 16 May, 2002

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