I’ve been working on some Gatefold Cards projects and I have a couple of posts coming up about them soon. I discovered something that I want to share because it makes the placement of double fold lines so easy.
No more squinting at the computer screen trying to nudge those dotted lines into place with a congested grid in the background! No more guessing where that 1/16 of an inch spot is between the grid lines.
Making a non standard size Gate Fold or Tri Fold card is easy and accurate with this method in Silhouette Studio!
Here’s the Scenario
My Goal: To make a Tri Fold Card that will utilize most of the width of a 12 inch piece of Cardstock.
- Draw out a rectangle that is 11 inches wide by 5 inches tall. This method works for any size.
- Draw a vertical dotted fold line just a smidge under 5 inches tall -I don’t like my fold lines right to the edge as they’re easy to rip accidentally! Hold down shift as you make the line to get a nice straight line. Now duplicate the line.
- Select both lines and > Align Tools >Align Middle
- With both aligned lines selected > Right Click > Group
- Get a calculator out. Punch in the width of the card (11 inches) and Divide by 3 – (because you want 3 equal sections of card.) The magic number is 3.66666667 LOL!
- With the two grouped lines selected > Scale Tool > Uncheck “Lock aspect” > enter the magic number in the “Width” Box
- The lines will jump apart to the correct width.
- Now select the grouped lines and the card base > Align Tools >Center
- All done – you have placed the fold lines in the correct location for 3 equal sections of card – Select everything > Right Click and Group it all together. (This is very important if you wish to resize – see below)
And there you have it – an easy, accurate method without turning on the guidelines or grid.
What about an envelope?
At the moment, my card is a non standard size but I’d like it to fit in a standard envelope. I have an A2 envelope which is 4.375 x 5.75 inches.
- Draw out a shape the size of my envelope. I use the Scale tools and enter the measurements. I find this quicker than trying to drag out to the correct size.
- Position the “envelope” over one section of the card and drag the Grouped card design outwards or inwards so that one section of the card fits within the envelope shape with a little bit of clearance all round so the card will slip easily in and out of the envelope.
- My card ended up a totally random size but it fits a standard size envelope – Win!
What about a 4 section card?
Want more fold lines on a card? Easy! First draw a dotted line and duplicate it for a total of three lines. Calculate the card width divided by 4. Then multiply the result by 2. Align > Middle > Group two of the lines > Scale Tool >uncheck ” Lock Aspect ” > Width > insert your calculation total here.
Select the grouped lines and the card base and Align > Center. Finally Select the Card Base and the last remaining line and >Align “Center” Group it all together.
Hope this makes your Card making life easier.
Hi Pam – For my day job I work for a commercial printer and we always make the last panel of any folded card 1/16 less than the rest of the panels so it folds under nicely. Just thought I’d let you know – even panels may work, but the thicker the stock the more likely you see going to want that extra little bit of helpmm
Susan, Thanks so much for that tip. That’s so helpful 🙂
Another excellent tutorial Pam – and thank you once again!
I’ve just made a template gatefold card exactly to your instructions and saved it in my library with my base cards.
I can’t say how much I appreciate that you take the trouble to do all the hard work for us and compose such wonderfully clear, foolproof tutorials.
Thanks so much Jan for your lovely comment. It makes me so pleased to hear that my instructions make sense too. I have to admit, I do wonder LOL, so that’s very reassuring 🙂
What a wonderfully presented tutorial. Thank you so much for making these cards so easy to create. 🙂
Pleased that it may be useful for you Virginia 🙂
thanks for this. It will be very useful. Its easy when you know how!