How do I import my scanned fabric?

You no longer need another software program to crop and size your fabric before importing into EQ. EQ7 does it all!

  1. Iron and scan the largest section of fabric that fits on your scanner bed. Be sure your resolution is set to 72-75dpi and you are scanning your fabric at 100%.
  2. Save it to your computer.
  3. Open EQ7.
  4. Click WORKTABLE > Work on Image.
  5. Click IMAGE > Import Image.
  6. Click the drop-down list next to Look in:. Navigate to find the saved fabric scan. Click to select it, then click Open.
  7. If your fabric looks crooked, click the Twist tool.
  8. Enter a number in the Rotate box on the precison bar. A positive number will rotate clockwise, a negative number will rotate counter-clockwise. (Example: -0.5 for a small adjustment)
  9. Click the Rotate button.
  10. Click Add to Sketchbook.
  11. Click the Crop tool.
  12. On the Precision Bar at the top, type 3.000 for both Width and Height. (Your crop does not have to be square, so if you get a better repeat with a 3″ x 5″ crop box, for example, use that instead.)
  13. Hover your mouse over the crop box on your fabric. When you see a 4-headed arrow, then click, hold and drag the 3″x3″ crop box around on the image until you find the best placement for the crop. Try finding the repeat in the fabric. (In other words, try not to crop through a design on the fabric. This is often unavoidable, though.)
  14. Click the Apply Crop tool, click Enter, or double-click on the image to complete the crop.
  15. Click IMAGE > Histogram > Adjust Histogram to check the levels of your image, if necessary.
  16. Click IMAGE > Color and choose any of the Color Adjustment options to adjust the color of your fabric, if necessary.
  17. Click Add to Sketchbook to save this version of your scan as an image.
  18. Click IMAGE > Add to Sketchbook as Fabric. A copy of the fabric scan is now a “fabric” rather than an “image” in the Fabrics section of the Sketchbook.

Note:

  • The suggested 3″x3″ crop is to keep your file sizes as low as possible. The 3″x3″ image is about 225 pixels by 225 pixels which is a fairly small file. You can make your crop selection any size or shape you want, but remember, the larger the image, the slower your computer may be.
  • Do NOT use IMAGE > Image Resize when working with fabric. When you change the size of the image, you are changing the scale of the fabric so it won’t be true to scale when you use it in your quilt. Setting the crop width and height is the best way to change the size of your fabric because it “cuts out” unwanted fabric, rather than shrinking it to a smaller size.
  • You may want to add your scanned fabric to My Library so it is available to use in any project.
  • To keep file sizes as small as possible, fabric in EQ7 “tiles” (repeats) the small fabric design you save, in order to simulate the effect of a large piece of fabric on your quilt. You can make this tiling less noticeable if you find your fabric’s design repeat, and spend time cropping your scan at the appropriate place. But remember it is important to keep the cropped image as small as possible. Small repeats mean small files (which is good). Large repeats mean large files (which can slow your computer).
  • If you want or need to use the GIF or PNG file format for importing scanned fabric, you will need to make sure that you scan at 96 dpi. These two file formats require scanning at 96 dpi if you want the fabric to be the appropriate scale (size) in EQ7. All the other formats should be scanned at 72 dpi.
  • Please remember the higher the resolution, the greater the file size. The greater the file size, the slower your program will run because of the large files it is being required to read and write. (The fabrics in the EQ7 Fabric Library are all 72 dpi JPG files.)

 

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