> ~ Insights by SewCalGal ~

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Fonts for Quilting, Sewing & Embroidery Enthusiasts

Fonts are something that many quilting, sewing & embroidery enthusiasts like to have a variety to choose from, but we don't tend to talk about our favorite fonts or favorite sources for free fonts.  Thus, today, I want to share some insights about Fonts and I hope others will also comment and share their insights too!

What inspired me for this post was a recent "pin" on Pinterest, with a source to Signature Scrapbooks Blog that shared a interesting post with links to download a variety of Fonts:

I enjoy using fonts to create clipart, greeting cards, applique', machine embroidery designs, blogging, etc..


While I love having a variety of Fonts, this made me think about how to quilting, sewing & embroidery enthusiasts use Fonts, as well as bloggers?  I haven't researched this, yet I'd really like to hear your perspective on this topic.

I  believe quilting, sewing & embroidery enthusiasts use Fonts when creating various applique' letters or words, redwork, embroidery (hand and machine embroidery), along with creating stencils for free-motion quilting, painting on fabric, etc..

For bloggers, fonts can be fun to use to create WordArt, text on images, and "sometimes" even in our blog posts.  But, for those that use various non-default fonts in blog posts there is a risk that a font that may work fine on your computer, may not be visible on another.  To clarify, non-default fonts in blogger require fonts to be resident on computers of readers.  When a font is used in a blog post and is not resident, HTML webcode selects a font that can frequently be very difficult to read by the viewer.  I see this with a variety of blogs where I can not read the text and have also had it happen when I've used the non-default font on Blogger.  I suspect this applies to all blogs, if the text relies on "resident" fonts that may not be common on reader's computers vs the blogger. E.G. what a blogger may view on their computer may not be what a follower viewers on their computer, when non-default fonts are used.

My favorite use of fonts is for creating text on images with PhotoShop, MyMemories software,  and other digital editing software.  But, I also enjoy using a variety of fonts when I digitize for machine embroidery.

Here are a few sources of where I find some fun Fonts:

In My Own Style
Free Fonts

Kevin&Amanda
Over the Big Moon
DaFont
Scrapbooking Fonts
Scrap Village
fontfiles.com
fontfree.com
abstractfonts.com
fontfreak.com
fontgarden.com
acidfonts.com
WebpagePublicity.com
http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/



I enjoy creating with fonts. Yet, some fonts are perfect for digital images, not all are easy to work with for machine applique' or machine embroidery.    And, like art, every font offers a design that may be visually interesting to one person, but not to another person. Thus, I hope, if you haven't already, take time to play with fonts and see how much fun you can have creating with them. 

For me, Fonts are a big part of my creativity and certain fonts are easy to incorporate into our sewing projects!





Do you have a favorite Font? 

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13 comments:

Jacquelin said...

En alguno de mis quilts he utilizado fuentes no habituales en las comunicacionaciones diarias y que sí quedaban bien. A menudo juego con las fuentes y como bien dices cuando no son TT pueden dar problemas. Sorteo un MyMemories en mi blog ¿quieres pasarte por ahí? Un beso

Marjorie said...

This inspires me - I have just done my first labels on the embroidery machine. Had not thought about matching font to the sentiment on the label - great idea. Also didn't realize that fonts would be unreadable if not resident on the machine. Guess that's why there are font families in html. Good information.

Linda said...

My favorite font is Lucinda Calligraphy. I use a non-standard Stippling font a lot because it makes big block letters I can use for applique...but for the most part I find the standard fonts aren't fat enough for that. My question is...how would you know if you are using an unreadable font?

Linda and Michelle said...

I agree with the Linda right before me - I need some fatter fonts that are easier to blow up and use for fill. I can do free motion writing on my quilts, but I lust for an embroidery machine for those little extras.....

Snoodles said...

With an IT/software guru in the house, I'm constantly amazed at the wealth of fonts that one can choose from....it does make me sad, tho, that many of them would not work in blogger. It would be fun to use them. I'm just getting into labels, so I enjoyed this very much. Also, I'm going to be creating an alphabet quilt soon, so I think I will look around for just the right font for that!

IHaveANotion ~ Kelly Jackson said...

I feel like an idiot....I don't even know how to do the font thing. This girl needs to get her groove on and learn how to do the font thing.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Smiles,
Kelly

The Quilted Dog said...

I've used different fonts on my computer to print out custom quilt labels on printable fabric sheets. It works very well and is super easy, and I can include any specific text that I want.

Marguerita McManus said...

I really like Batang and I have no idea why! I love this post :)

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

I use a large variety of fonts for digital scrap booking and other things!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jocelyn said...

I'm standing with Kelly. I don't know how to do the font thing either. But then again, I am not very computer savvy :-(

Terje said...

I have a question regarding embroidered text on a quilt. I have a rather large text area in one particular quilt and am at a loss as to how to quilt that area. It's a modern quilt with lots of straight line quilting in most areas. But this text area has me stumped. Thoughts?

SewCalGal said...

Tere - your settings are at a no-reply level, so I couldn't send you an email to reply to your question.

There are an endless number of possibilities to do what you are asking about, thus it is a bit difficult to recommend without seeing a picture or knowing how large the text area really is. You can always do a practice quilt to test out an idea. But, as you are doing a modern style quilting with straight lines, think about what effect you personally like. Many like the letters to puff out, even making them puffier with trapunto, and will not quilt inside the letters. others might do a more dense cross hatch inside of the letters, or more straight lines at a different angle. I've even seen circles.

SewCalGal