Quilting ruler, quilting ruler system, and method of use
Embodiments of the present invention include a quilting ruler to facilitate home embroidery machine user's “quilting-in-the hoop” capabilities. This includes a thin, generally polygonal ruler with apertures for center marking, cross-hair marking, and size marking, as well as perimeters for edge markings to delineate fabric areas for quilting-in-the-hoop. The invention also includes a quilting ruler system with a plurality of such rulers of various dimensions and classes. Finally the invention includes a method of using the quilting rulers to map and extend quilting designs across a fabric area by selecting a quilting ruler, placing it on a fabric at a first fabric location, marking the fabric at the first fabric location through apertures, marking the fabric around the perimeter of the ruler, marking the dimension of the perimeter on the fabric, quilting at the first fabric location, and repeating these steps.
1 . A quilting ruler comprising:
a generally polygonal member with a center and a perimeter with opposite sides, each side having a midpoint;
a first non-elongate aperture located at the center; and
a plurality of elongate apertures disposed at right angles between the center and the perimeter, each elongate aperture generally inline with and between the midpoints of the opposite sides;
wherein an elongate aperture within the plurality of elongate apertures terminates in an arrow shape that points towards a top edge midpoint of the quilting ruler.
2 . The quilting ruler of claim 1 further comprising a second non-elongate aperture located between the center and the perimeter wherein the second non-elongate aperture is larger than the first non-elongate aperture.
3 . The quilting ruler of claim 1 the generally polygonal member formed of a translucent polymer.
4 . The quilting ruler of claim 1 wherein the generally polygonal member is substantially flexible.
5 . The quilting ruler of claim 1 configured to be used outside of an embroidery hoop.
6 . A quilting ruler system comprising:
a plurality of quilting rulers, each quilting ruler having:
a generally polygonal member with a center and a perimeter with opposite sides, each side having a midpoint;
a first non-elongate aperture located at the center; and
a plurality of elongate apertures disposed at right angles between the center and the perimeter, each elongate aperture generally inline with and between the midpoints of the opposite sides;
wherein an elongate aperture within the plurality of elongate apertures terminates in an arrow shape that points towards a top edge midpoint of the quilting ruler; and
wherein the second non-elongate aperture is larger than the first non-elongate aperture.
7 . The quilting ruler system of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of quilting rulers is comprised of quilting rulers having different dimensions.
8 . The quilting ruler system of claim 6 , wherein each quilting ruler within the plurality of quilting rulers has a second non-elongate aperture located between the center and the perimeter.
9 . The quilting ruler system of claim 6 the generally polygonal member formed of a translucent polymer.
10 . The quilting ruler system of claim 6 wherein the generally polygonal member of each quilting ruler within the plurality of quilting rulers is substantially flexible.
11 . The quilting ruler system of claim 6 wherein each quilting ruler within the plurality of quilting rulers is configured to be used outside of an embroidery hoop.
12 . The quilting ruler system of claim 6 , the generally polygonal member being less than 1 mm in thickness.
13 . The quilting ruler system of claim 6 , the generally polygonal member being less than 0.5 mm in thickness.