More thoughts on EQ8
A 6-Month update
REVIEWSDESIGN
I’ve been using Electric Quilt 8 for a little over 6 months now. I did an initial review here and promised an update in a few months.
Fabric: What I originally wanted EQ8 for, was to help create mock-ups with fabrics. I am easily able to add fabrics to the library or use existing fabrics to create the quilt. I can then download the mock-up, in the selected fabric. This has come in very handy! This is one thing that EQ8 excels at, over other software and apps that I’ve used.
Fabric Library: Now, on the other hand, some of the fabrics built into the EQ8 library are discontinued and are no longer available. I recently made a mock-up with Hoffman Batiks, and I fell in love with one of the shades I found in the EQ8 Library. When I went online to purchase it, it was no longer available. Sure there were some similar shades, but it wasn’t quite the same. I have not yet found a way to remove these discontinued fabrics from the EQ8 Library.
Block Worktable: The block worktable is easy to use to create new blocks. You can create snapping points and grid lines so when you draw your lines, you know they snap in place exactly where you need them. The way you create blocks in EQ8 is different than some other programs you might use where you draw draw the shape in, like in Adobe Illustrator or PreQuilt. In EQ8, you draw the lines. (This is a bit hard to explain if you haven't used each one). This is only important later, when it comes to cutting the fabric. In a program like Illustrator, you can simply click on the block and it will tell you it's 3" but in EQ8, you have to look at the ruler and count the lines. Not hard to do, just an extra step and might take some getting used to, depending on what program you're coming from. I usually draw my blocks out on graph paper before I open EQ8, however, sometimes I just start drawing and seeing how the blocks fit together. At one point, I realized that I needed to add a border around the existing 10" block I already made. When I went into the block editor and resized it to 12", the entire block enlarged to fit that new space. That's fine, but I wanted to select it all and shrink it back to it's 10" size, and add extra around it. There's several times when I want to select/move existing lines on a block, and it just never works out as well as I'd like.
Block Library: Like the Fabric Library, there is a massive Block Library. There are also additional block packages you can download from EQ8. I have not purchased any of these, so I cannot give you a review on those. The included blocks are great. There are hundreds of them. However, on some of the more intricate blocks, I have no idea how to make them, and without cutting or assembly instructions, many of those blocks are useless to me. Like the Fabric Library, I wish there were a way to delete (or move/organize) blocks in the block library.
Yardage: One big reason to use a quilt-specific software instead of simply a graphic design software, is to get the total yardage used. I find this feature quite lacking. I recently made a Carpenter's Wheel pattern using 6" finished blocks. When I make HST's I use the 2-at-a-time method. For a 6" finished block, I tend to cut my pieces at least 7.25" or 7.5" as I'd rather trim a little and not have to worry about perfection as much. In my Carpenter's Wheel pattern, I needed 6 squares of one particular color. EQ8 told me I needed 1/4 yard of that fabric. I bought 1/4 yard, and started cutting. I still have no idea how I was supposed to get 6 squares (even 6.5" squares) out of a piece of fabric 9"x42" I don't know how Eq8 is programmed to calculate this, and it's very frustrating when I'm trying to make a quilt and find the yardage given and the yardage I need to create the quilt is different. There was another instance where I re-created a design from another app. That app said my backing fabric needed was 6.5 yards. EQ8 told me that same design needed 6 yards of backing. I bought 7 just to be sure, but I was still half a yard short, and used every last inch of that fabric; it wasn't just that I was inaccurate in cutting. I was even sewing pieces together by the end to re-cut to see if I could get enough. EQ8 had calculated 1.5 yards too few! What good is a quilt design software if it can't even accurately tell me how much fabric to get?
Rotary Cutting/Templates: I don't even bother with these features anymore. You'd think with a name like "rotary cutting" it would tell you cutting instructions (like cut 2 strips 3" x WOF and subcut into 4 squares) or even that it might tell you how many total pieces of what color you might need for the entire quilt? Nope. Rotary Cutting only works on individual blocks, and it only tells you how many pieces of which colors you need for that block. Also, it doesn't always show you ALL the pieces you'll need. I remember one block I created, and I looked at it, and things were labeled with letters. However, there was no rotary guide for the piece labeled L. I couldn't find it anywhere. I did ask customer service on this, and she told me it was because EQ8 wasn't programmed to calculate that type of block, and that it thinks it's not possible to rotary cut. The unit in question was a square with the top left corner snowballed with a 2" square, and the top right snowballed with a 1" square.
The templates feature also is for individual blocks only, and unlike rotary cutting, it doesn't even tell you dimensions of anything. There's not even a 1" square on the page when you print it out, to be sure you've printed at the right scale! I wish it would label how big the pieces are supposed to be.
Foundation Paper Piecing: With my limited knowledge of Foundation Paper Piecing, I do find the Foundation feature to be useful. I don't design much intended for Paper Piecing, for for my limited needs, it's actually very good.
Pattern Writing: As a pattern writer, I do design quilts with the intention of making the pattern out of it. I'd love if EQ8 had more features to help supplement that. It is nice that I can download the graphics for the individual blocks, but I'd also like an easy way to download each component of the block to show the assembly diagrams. I read somewhere that you could download the images as a certain type of format and use Adobe Illustrator or another vector program to separate those layers, but I don't use a vector program. I feel like having this done in EQ8 would be helpful so you wouldn't have to use yet another program.
Navigation: When trying to navigate through many fabrics or blocks, the slider bar at the bottom isn't really that precise. You can push the arrows, but instead of going to the next block/fabric to the left, it goes down. so if I have 18 blocks showing, I have to click the left button 18 times to go to the next page, instead of 3 (in my 3x6 grid). I know you can adjust the size of many side panels, and it's nothing major, just something I wish would be different. A simple "next page" button or something, since i can't scroll using the mouse scroll wheel.
Versatility: (Layout) While EQ8 might be great for a lot of things, it's not great for blocks of different sizes. Sure there's the "custom layout" option, but what if I want most of the blocks to be 12" blocks, but occasionally, I want a set of 4 6" blocks instead? I have to combine the blocks using the block worktable, or just draw a new block consisting of the 4 smaller ones. What if, while i'm designing my quilt, that I decide I need to add a new row above the ones already created? The only way I've figured out how to do this is to change the layout and then manually move all the blocks down. I wish there was an "insert row" button. What if in my 12" block grid, I decide that I really need one block to span 12"x24"? There's no way to merge them together. You just have to add the new block on layer 2, or re-create the entire thing in a custom layout.
Cost/Pricing: I know Electric Quilt is a business, and since they don't have a subscription fee, once you buy the program, there's no more income for them. I just don't see why I'd need to purchase fabric collections or block collections? Those seem very unnecessary. I'm in a few Facebook groups relating to EQ8, and one question I see often is about fabric. It feels like most people don't know what you can get free fabric files from the manufacturers to upload into EQ8. You don't need to buy them! I did take one class from EQ8, and it was helpful! I imagine the other classes might also be helpful too.
Overall: EQ8 is heralded as being the best of the best, the ultimate quilting software. For something claiming to be the best, I find it lacking. It can't even do fairly simple things, like change how it calculates total yardage, or give me proper cutting instructions. The one thing it does do very well is fabric mock-ups. Is it worth the cost? In my opinion, probably not, but that depends on your financial situation and what you want to use EQ8 for. I just feel like for being "the leading quilting software in the world" I shouldn't have to use other apps or programs to supplement where it's lacking.
And EQ8, if you're reading this, Please take some of these suggestions and try to implement them in EQ9! I'd be more than happy to help consult on these, or even be a beta tester for the next version. I want to LOVE EQ8, instead of just tolerate.
Contact
tiffany@tialynndesign.com
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