Pantograph Planner Instructions

The Pantograph Planner Calculator is designed to aid Pantograph Planner users that haven't yet mastered the use of the Pantograph Planner.  Using the Pantograph Planner manually will be faster and require less measuring than this calculator.

Please remember to check the results manually with the Pantograph Planner before proceeding.  This will help to make sure that all the measurements you made are correct and will also help you learn how to use the Pantograph Planner without this calculator.

Before you begin

Before using the calculator you will need to know the following information:

1. The overall length of the quilt
2. The width of the pattern you are planning to use.
3. For patterns that do not interlock, you will need to know the minimum amount of space between each row of quilting.
4. For patterns that interlock you will need to know the maximum amount of overlap between each row.
   

How to Enter the Numbers

All numbers are assumed to be in inches because the Pantograph Planner works in inches.

The Pantograph Planner Calculator will accept decimal numbers or fractional numbers.  All numbers will be reformatted to the fractional format after the compute button is pressed.  This is a good check for you to see that the information you entered was accepted as you intended.  If you see a different value that the one you typed in, then you know that you entered the number in such a fashion that Pantograph Planner Calculator could not understand your entry.  All of the numbers you enter are rounded down to the nearest 1/8 of an inch

Examples of valid decimal numbers are:

5        5.0        5.5        0.5

Examples of valid fractional numbers are:

5        5 1/2        1/8

Instructions for non interlocking patterns

Make sure that the interlocking check box is not checked.

Enter the quilt length, the pattern width, and the minimum amount of space you want between each row.

Click on the Compute button.

Non Interlocking Results

The Pantograph Planner Calculator will tell you which Pantograph Planner template to use and which index mark to use for the information you provided.

Additionally, the Pantograph Planner Calculator will provide the following information:

1. Total number of rows to quilt

2. The distance between row centers

3. The amount of space to leave at the end for pinning the quilt.

4. The amount of space between each row.

Please remember that not all patterns fit well on all quilts.  It is quite possible that the space between each row is too large for your taste of that the space at the ends of the quilt will be too large.  If this is the case you may need to consider a different width pattern.

Instructions for interlocking patterns

Make sure that the interlocking check box is checked.

Enter the quilt length, the pattern width, and the maximum allowable overlap between rows.

Click on the Compute button.

Interlocking Results

The Pantograph Planner Calculator will tell you which Pantograph Planner template to use and which index mark to use for the information you provided.

Additionally, the Pantograph Planner Calculator will provide the following information:

1. Total number of rows to quilt

2. The distance between row centers

3. The amount of space to leave at the end for pinning the quilt.

4. The amount of overlap between each row.

NOTE: If the amount of overlap is negative, then there will be no overlap.

Please remember that not all patterns fit well on all quilts.  It is quite possible that there will be no overlap or that the amount of space at each end of the quilt will be too large.  If this is the case you may need to consider a different width pattern, or one that interlocks by a different amount.