A few weeks ago I bought an art quilt pattern on Etsy from Darcy Hunter Arts. I love all things winter (I know it’s weird) and this design spoke to me. Cameron, my knight in shining armor, generously agreed to transfer the drawing of the design into Lightburn and then double its size. I liked the design so well that I thought if I was going to do it I wanted it to be bigger. He said he hand drew much of it but I couldn’t begin to tell you what that actually means. I just know that he scaled it up and made sure each section was its own file so the laser would cut the fabrics one at a time. It’s my first collage quilt so I followed the instructions regarding the freezer paper but it became clear that it was unnecessary in the event that you’re cutting on the laser.

He first “drew” the design on cardboard so I could visualize all of the different hues and prints assembled together. Choosing the fabrics took more time than I thought it would and I changed my mind a few times on some of the sections but in the end I think it was worth the reconsiderations. Here is the cardboard “drawing”-true to size.

I won’t bore you with all of the cutting but here are two clips, one of cutting cork and the other of cutting the freezer paper backed fabric.

The precision of the laser is unmatchable with my hands. They fit together perfectly and my job was then to attempt to quilt it artfully. I have created other pieces that were cut entirely by hand. I wonder to myself if this is cheating? Most sewists will tell you they hate cutting, I’m no different. I don’t find any satisfaction in cutting fabric for a project. However, I am considering hand drawing some scenes and asking Cameron to load those into the software to cut the sections of my own art. If you’ve ever seen me draw you’d share my trepidation about the odds of success!

Thanks for reading; tell me what you think. Is it cheating to have the laser do the cutting?