Free Tutorials
Park Stamper Instructions
There are 2 ways to make your park stamper pattern. For both, you must scan your stamps into your computer. I have found that the easiest method uses a free Canva account, the other method uses PowerPoint or Canva with Spoonflower. You can use Adobe Illustrator if you have it, but it’s not necessary. (I have included instructions for using Spoonflower prints as well).
Start by scanning in your park stamps as a .jpg in the highest resolution. I have tested saving as a pdf, and it doesn’t work. It had to be a .png or jpg.
Create a free Canva account. I tested the paid version to remove the background, and it wasn’t worth it.
Choose whether you are going to use iron on printable, or are going to upload your design to Spoonflower.
IRON ON PRINTABLE INSTRUCTIONS
Download the iron on file. You’ll see that there are 6 blank boxes; you will fill these boxes with your park stamper scans.
Open or create a Canva account. Click “Create a Design” (currently, it’s in the upper right hand of the screen, and a purple button). First select inches (on the right), then enter the dimensions for a letter paper (8.5 x 11″). Then click “create new design”.
Upload the iron on file. Make the image the same size as the paper.
Upload your first set of park stamper images.
Drag the first image to the document. Don’t worry about there being multiple stamps on one page, you’ll repeat this process. Click crop, and crop the image so there is very little of the outside of the ring showing. This will be the outer limits of the image. The pattern is designed to fit the park stamp, so you don’t want too much extra showing, and you don’t want to cut off too much of the ring. Click done, then drag to a box. Resize if needed. The stamp should fit inside the box, and not go over. Any part that is outside the box, will be outside your pattern. Err on the side of SLIGHTLY smaller, and not larger. Some stamps are not perfect circles.
You can change the brightness a bit, but I would not be concerned about entirely removing the background. It is futile, and you’ll be frustrated. For best future practices, use the whitest paper you can find, rather than the Passport book. As you increase the brightness, the rest of the image becomes lighter, and you might not get a good transfer.
You may need to reverse the image so it’s mirror, depending on the transfer paper you use. To do this, click “flip”.
Once you finish uploading the 6 stamps, and arranging them on the sheet, be sure to click on the background, and delete it. This will remove the black lines so they don’t print.
To download the file to your computer, click “share”, then “download”, then “PDF Print”, then download. Print your stamper page out.
Repeat these steps (starting from making the iron on file the same size as the paper) as many times as needed.
For the iron on product I used, I cut the stamp iron on in a circle, then pressed according to the directions.
When you press after each segment of sewing, make sure that you cover the iron on with parchment paper, so it doesn’t stick to your iron. This is the only downfall to this method, but it still turns out beautifully!
SPOONFLOWER INSTRUCTIONS
Pay close attention to which file you download. There is one for Petal Signature Cotton, and another for Organic Cotton Sateen. I prefer the weight of the sateen, and find the print is nicer. I used the sateen in my testing.
For Spoonflower, you can use either PowerPoint, or Canva.
You can also use Adobe Illustrator, or something similar.
Be sure to use these settings: Petal Signature Cotton: create a design that is 21″ x 18″ . Organic Cotton Sateen: 28″ x 18″.
Download Petal Cotton template.
Download Organic Cotton Sateen template.
Rachael,
I’m slowly beginning to accumulate park blocks. I’m planning to make shams for the pillows in my teardrop trailer. My question is how do you quilt your blocks? I don’t want my quilting to detract from my piecing. Thanks!
Great question! I have done a few things: I have used a grid pattern, I have free motion quilted wispy clouds, and I have done walking foot stitching ‘in the ditch’. My preference is the simple grid pattern because it fades into the background, and the blocks stand out. I like the look of the wispy clouds, but for the amount of time and thread it took, it didn’t make the blocks stand out anymore. Another thing you can do is just a simple all over edge to edge pattern. I think a fan motif would look great. I bought an outdoor theme, but I ended up not using it (I don’t even remember where I bought it), but I think that would also look nice. Hope this helps, and I can’t wait to see what you choose!
What are the best fabric sheets to print on? Preferably that are long lasting and machine washable.
Oh boy! That’s a really good question and I don’t know the best one. You can ask this question in the Fiona Sandwich group, but you might also ask in a large sewing and quilting group with folks who use them more than I do.
Where do you download the file “Iron On” from? The directions are not clear.
You will need to create the file in Canva with scanned images of your park cancellations. If you are looking for the Park Stamper pattern, click here: https://fionasandwich.com/product/park-stamper-pattern/ If you need further assistance, please send us an email 🙂