Sorry I haven’t been around for a bit. This is what happens when I get a chest cold and refuse to go to the doctor. I get bronchitis, and I’m useless for a week or so. I’m on my way back now, though, and to celebrate, I’m giving away a FabGrab Board.
Have you heard of the FabGrab Board yet? It is described as a “3 in 1 Quilter’s Sandboard”. Maureen from FabGrab Board reached out to me about getting information in front of my Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild members. I offered to do a review post in return for a sample to give out at a guild meeting. She also sent me one to try out and keep in return for a blog review. Here it is!
I’ve heard of sandpaper boards for tracing appliqué before. Despite the simplicity – glue some sandpaper to a board, I’ve never made one for myself. Probably because I don’t do much appliqué, certainly nothing that requires a lot of precision. I was intrigued by the 3 in 1 description of the FabGrab board. My studio is pretty crowded, and each notion is just more clutter. So, something that is multi-purpose is promising.
The FabGrab board is 9 1/2″ x 12″. It is a nice size for working on individual blocks. They are working on a larger board, but it hasn’t been released yet.
I’ve been doing lots of flying geese lately, and I’ve found the board to be pretty useful.
1. Sandpaper Board
When making my geese, I use the 4 at a time method, which has me cutting 1 large square and 4 small squares. (You can find more information on the Quilter’s Planner* website.) I like to draw a line from corner to corner of the small squares, then stitch 1/4″ from the drawn line. I’ve noticed that my geese get wonky sometimes, because my fabric will scoot around and make my line crooked when I mark on a smooth surface. This isn’t a problem with the sandpaper side of the board. The fabric sticks a little bit, so the lines stay nice and straight, and my geese are never too small.
[This blog uses affiliate links, marked with an *. If you make a purchase with this link, I will make a small commission. Thanks!]
2. Felt Board
The felt board is good for stacking up pieces of blocks for transport from my cutting table to my sewing machine, or from my cutting table to the sofa for marking and pinning sessions. I find it a little bit small for laying out blocks larger than 8″, but I don’t think a larger board would be as practical.
I love that the felt sheet covers up the sandpaper when I’m finished, and that the sandpaper secures the felt from sliding around.
3. Smooth Surface
The back of the FabGrab board is a nice smooth surface – perfect for sketching on graph paper, or doodling (which I should be doing more often.) It comes with a cardboard stand that you can stick on to make the felt board into an easel. I haven’t used it on mine – I like the smooth surface instead.
I shot a short video demonstrating the board last month.
If you are interested in purchasing your own board, you can find them here. You can use the code “guild” to get $3 off the regular price of $19.99.
Also, because I really do like mine, I will be giving one away to a lucky reader. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter the drawing. Winner will be announced on 3/25.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I’ve never heard of a sandpaper board before. I can see how this one could be useful and helpful. Thanks for a chance to win one.
I’ve never use one, or heard of one. But looks very interesting, very handy. Fingers crossed to win one 🤞 💕
It looks like a good idea. I think I would like a bigger one also.
I never heard of this. What a good idea for markings that don’t move. I’m not an applique person so don’t really grasp the concept fully, but definitely see how it could be useful. Thanks for sharing
I have used one of these! It surprised me how useful it really is. I haven’t used the smooth side yet, but the sandpaper does help keep fabric from sliding while marking, and I liked using the felt to move pieces from the cutting table to my sewing machine to the ironing table.
I make a lot of flying geese and I have never thought about the fabric shifting – this notion sounds useful for that. Thanks for sharing
I’ve not had the opportunity to try the sandpaper or this board. Looks cool though! Have a great day! angielovesgary2 atgmail dotcom
I have not used or heard of this board before – something every quilter can use! Thank you!
I had never heard of a sandpaper board…looks like a useful tool to have!
Haven’t used one. The Felt looks extremely useful. I love the sandpaper board idea, when I try to draw on fabric it almost always shifts. Funny how the fabric you selected didn’t move on the cutting board in the video, but I know the feeling.
Right? I guess the cutting board has a bit of texture, too. Usually I do it on my kitchen table, and that is smooth.
Interesting. Thanks for the review; now I’m thinking about when I might use a sandpaper board.
I love sandpaper boards! There have been many versions over the year and this one has a multitude of things I like – the sandpaper, the smooth surface (for doodling so cool) and the felt to cover and/or use as a felt board. Hooray and good luck to her with her product!
I haven’t used a sandpaper board, altho I have heard of them.
How clever! You’re right, you could make one but it’s a lot more convenient to have all ready to use. I’d love to give it a try. sjvonfumetti at yahoo dot com
Very cool item!
I made a sandpaper board out of a file folder and it works but the 3- in-1 sounds great! I’d love to give this a try. Thanks. Beth
This is very cool–and useful! I assume it’s very fine sandpaper? If I’m not lucky enough to win, I might try to make one!
It is very fine. Still sands my fingernails a bit, but not bad.
I do not have one, but it makes sense…very interested!
I used (and still have) a small sandpaper board purchased at a quilt show over 35 years ago. This was when I was still drawing my pieces on fabric and cutting with scissors before piecing. It was too small to use for anything large and thankfully rotary cutting came along soon thereafter.
I have never used a sandpaper board but I do just use a piece of sandpaper. Thanks for the giveaway.
I have made my own sandpaper board, and I find it very helpful.
I used a sheet of loose sanpaper on a clip board. Worked good for drwing lines on blocks.
Never heard or knew of such a board, but it does seem very helpful☺
Would love this.
I used to have several sandpaper boards of varying sizes. They were the tops of boxes that held appliqué materials, and the board slid into a slot to become the top of the box. I found it very useful when I was appliquéing many small pieces. Thanks for the review of this one. It does look versatile, and not terribly expensive. Thanks, also, for the chance to win one!
Looks like a good idea
Looks interesting
I have used one before. Such a wonderful tool, no slip. You can’t beat that.
Hi Jennifer,
I have never heard of one of these boards. It does look like it would be helpful – I do need to doodle more for sure! ~smile~ Roseanne
I have not used the sandpaper board. It does look like it would help in arranging your blocks.
I haven’t heard about this board before but would love to hear more about it Jen! It sounds interesting, I’m always having trouble keeping my lines straight and have the same trouble with flying geese, and hst’s also.
So clever – thanks for the chance to win one!
Looks like an interesting product.