Anyone have any advice or able to point me in the direction of somewhere to figure out how to put a quilting pattern on fondant. Do I do it before I put the fondant on the cake or would it be better to do it once on the cake? I have tried about a dozen times and for something i thought would be so simple it is driving me NUTS!
Thanks so much guys, all your help is making me a better decorator CC is better that 100 wilton classes! 
I use this item featured in SugarShack's DVD's, a diamond impression mat.
http://www.sugaredproductions.com/Fondant_DVD.html
It works both on butter cream and fondant...just have to press a bit harder on fondant or use a tool to deepen the lines.
Global Sugar Art also carries them and they are available in different sizes, if you want different size squares for different cakes. GSA also had different textures like dots, bricks and lines. HTH!
Sandi 
Duh!!!! I never even thought it would be a mat, I have been trying to do it by hand!!! Thanks for the light bulb flowermom!
What is so funny about that for me, is that on Sunday I did a wedding cake with the "diamond impression mat." I delivered it and set it up and someone commented on the quilt look on the side. It never occurred to me to think of it as quilting either! That was my light bulb moment! Sandi
I know about the mats, but I have seen cakes on here that the quilted design is just on the sides of the cake. How do you get just the sides and not the top? Do you press the design in after the fondant is on the cake?
I learned the technique from SugarShack's DVD "Flawless Fondant". She covered her cake with the fondant, then after she got it all smooth, then she used the mat. Use a little cornstarch so it doesn't stick and start pressing it in on the sides. If it doesn't make the line deep enough she uses something like a sewing transfer roller (sorry can't think of a better way to describe it), it's blunt so it doesn't cut the fondant, and rolls over the lines. You can then do the top if you want to at that point if you wanted to. I hope that Helps! Sandi
They make the wheels with teeth ( which I showed) and they make them without as well. If you press the mat on the fondant as soon as you get it on the cake, it will ususallly make the impression deep enough not to need the wheel. If you want it deeper, or more puffy, or quilted, you can use the wheels.
If I wait too long and the fondant sets up a bit, I need the wheel.
HTH!
here is a cake done with the mat and no tracing wheel:
http://hometown.aol.com/szcakes2/page59.html
(top one)
and the one below used the wheel:
Oh, what a great cake Sharon! I love the flowers on the quilting! I am so glad you showed how to do the mat in your video, it's one of my favorite techniques! And everyone is so impression with the fancy design!
I also love to wow people with my smooth buttercream, all thanks to Sharon's DVD'S. When I was doing my first wedding cake I had to set it up at church, so I took my laptop and my DVD so I could stack my cake properly! Several people we laughing at me and even one person said "oh is that someone from the Food Network?" (I don't have cable so if you are on the Food Network, I wouldn't know!) I just explained Cake Central and how I found this person and her DVD's, etc. They just gave me one of those weak smiles and said, Oh Ok. Yeah, they don't get it, and that's ok, they need to need to know where I get all ideas!
Sandi
What exactly did you look for at Wal-Mart? I thought it would be a simple thing too and I have a wedding cake next Saturday. I did a practice cake tonight and found that it isn't as easy as it looks. I don't have time to order anything so I was wondering what you got a t Wal-Mart. Any help would be great!
I'm 99.9% sure they're talking about a tracing wheel. It's in the sewing section. Some have a blunt edge like a dull pizza cutter and some have "teeth" that would leave an imprint like "stitching" as you roll in on the fondant. HTH
Bev
Yep, that is it. Here is a link, sorry I am too lazy to figure out the HTML stuff...
http://www.sewingandcraftclub.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2303&category_id=34
Yes, do practice, you will get the hang of it! Best of luck on your wedding cake!
Sandi
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