Favorite Thing About a Quilt Pattern?

Quilter’s Community Friday Discussion

The very first quilt pattern I ever wrote was WAY above my skill level. Of course, I had no idea of that at the time. I had drawn up a fun design, applied fabric to it and showed it to my students.

They loved it so much they wanted me to teach it. GREAT! But… how do I write it out so others can follow along? I did what I always do when faced with a problem. I googled it.

Until that point the only patterns I’d ever followed were the ones JoAnn Fabrics gave me to teach. And most of those I really didn’t follow that closely anyway. So, to write my own, I needed more varied references. So, I bought them.

I bought a lot of them. I bought quilt patterns that I liked. Some I didn’t. And all from different designers so that I could see how they wrote their patterns. That way, I could take the things I liked the best about them and make them my own.

One thing I loved about some of the patterns is that they used actual photos. Even I use digital drawings for many of my patterns. However, when there are great real life photos, it makes things a bit easier to see what the pieces should look like as you work.

Another thing I like about ‘good’ patterns is when they take the time to really elaborate on the steps involved. Some of the patterns, I thought, didn’t go into enough detail. If a beginner quilter picked up my patterns, I wanted to make sure they knew EXACTLY what to do. Step. By. Detailed. Step.

What are some of your favorite things about a ‘well written’ pattern?

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