An acrylic template and a length of cotton are two smooth surfaces pressed together, and nothing about that arrangement wants to stay still. The template slides at exactly the wrong moment, usually part way around a shape, and the correction costs either a piece of fabric or a shape that no longer matches the others. Most of us respond by pressing down harder, which is how a hand ends up aching after an afternoon of cutting and how the template still moves anyway.
The fix demonstrated here costs nothing and takes a minute. A small square of sandpaper is taped to the underside of the template with two short pieces of painter's tape, rough side facing the fabric. That is the whole modification. The template then sits where it is put, and it takes a deliberate lift with the fingertips to remove it from the cloth.
What makes it worth doing is how little pressure is needed afterwards. The grip comes from the surface rather than from the hand, which frees the other hand to steady the fabric and the eye to follow the blade rather than the template. On a shape with points, where the blade has to change direction close to a corner, that difference is the whole margin between a clean edge and a slipped one.
The same square works on a hexagon, on a narrow triangle and on anything else in the drawer. Painter's tape lifts away later without marking the acrylic, so a template borrowed for one project can go back to plain when the project ends.
Points worth holding on to:
- Rough side down, always. The sandpaper faces the fabric, not the palm. The grip belongs between template and cloth.
- Two small pieces of tape are enough. A square in the centre holds better than strips at the edges, and keeps the printed lines readable.
- Use painter's tape, not general purpose tape. It releases cleanly from acrylic later and leaves no residue behind on the template.
- Let the surface do the holding. Once the grip is underneath, the downward pressure can come off entirely, which is easier on the hand across a long cutting session.
- Keep one square for the awkward shapes. Narrow points and long slender pieces are where a slipped template costs the most, and they are the shapes most worth preparing for.
A template that stays put is only half the equation. The other half is a blade sharp enough to cut without dragging the fabric sideways, and our titanium coated blades are available here.
Happy quilting.
