Friday, January 30, 2009

Fabric shopping with iPodTouch

Found out the coolest and greenest thing (no printing) to do with my iPod Touch. My method works with EQ6, but you might find other uses.

When I design a quilt in EQ6 and print out the Fabric Yardage to take with me to the store, I find the printout is “not exactly” what I viewed on my computer monitor in the design process. BUT if I view an exported image of the fabric, it looks “exactly” like what I saw on my computer. AND when I put that image in my iPod Touch, it gives me a much better idea of what fabrics I need to get. Can zoom in and out of the pic, too.

The fabrics I used to design the quilt might not be available when I go shopping. Why do fabric manufactures have to change their lines so often? I have some wonderful fabric in my stash that was purchased years ago and it is just as “current” as fabrics of today. And is sometimes just “exactly” what I need. I hate using up a favorite fabric, cuz I know I won’t be able to replace it.

So, if those desired fabrics are not available when I go shopping, when I view the fabric images on my iPod, I get a pretty close representation of what I need and can buy something that is “close enough”.

I found that creating 3 images covers all bases.

1) An exported pic of the quilt (a faraway look)

2) A “print screen” of the fabrics from the sketchbook (a close-up of fabrics)
3) A “print screen” of the fabric yardage page (yardage requirements)

2 & 3 were manipulated in PaintShopPro with some text added on 3. Actually, all you’d have to do is crop them and maybe add some text to 3 – like the date. And with the “zoom in” feature on the iPodTouch, you can view all of what you want to see.

If you have the current edition of “Stash” and used fabrics from there, you could probably find those fabrics still at your Local Quilt Shop. Then you might want to go the extra step and take a “print screen” of each fabric and its notecard. That way you would have the Manufacturer, the line and the numbers needed to purchase that fabric. No paper needed! Is this green or what!
I’m thinking that shopping at online shops would be easier by matching the iPod Touch image of fabric to an online image of fabric.

7 comments:

Sherry V said...

Oh, wow, you are way green! Also lightyears ahead of me gadgetwise. LOL. I do love the sneak peeks at what I'll be using/doing in 20 years or so. It's a good thing that everyone is not as techno-challenged as I am.

Sunnie said...

I bet it is easier to read the fabric amounts, too...my EQ doesn't zoom in on the fabric requirements page, and I usually have to print it out!
How un-green is that!

Pat said...

Sunnie,

Try this in EQ6 --
Click the Zoom In button at the top of the Print Preview.

Click and hold the left mouse button and drag a box around the area you want to zoom.

Release the mouse to see the zoomed view.

Anonymous said...

Interesting idea! How do you export the EQ images to the iPod? I have an iPhone that can use like an iPod.
Thank you,
Susan

Pat said...

SusanT,

I have detailed what I did on Friday Jan. 30 entry on my blog -- the entry before this one.

I export the quilt from EQ as a JPG file. Put the JPG in the directory that I store all my iPod photos that are to be synced. I created a subdirectory for "quilting" JPGs.

I take a screenshot (Print Screen) of the fabrics in the EQ Sketchbook and paste it to PaintShopPro. You could paste it to MSPaint. Or PhotoShop. Or any other graphics program.

From there you would save it as a JPG. Put it in the same directory as the quilt JPG.

Do a screenshot from EQ of the "Print Preview" of Yardage Requirements. Can type text on it in a graphics program. And make a JPG of it.

When I have these JPGs on my iPod Touch, I can zoom in on them so I can view the text very easily.

Let me know if this helps.

Sunnie said...

Thanks, Pat!
So...once again...it's not an EQ (or computer)problem. It's the dreaded "operator error"!
I have now added zoom-ability. Will wonders never end?

Unknown said...

I have an iTouch...but you opened my eyes to more things that little bugger can do!!! Thank You.....
Linda
http://www.lmpoole.blogspot.com