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A friend created a wonderful quilt from the middle out. She did it in phases. She started the quilt with only the idea of what she wanted in the middle. When that was done, she then designed what she would be the next phase. I loved the way her quilt looked after she was done.
I wanted to add that I like to make quilts both ways. I love to use traditional patterns. My neighbor (quilting buddy) and I are making a couple of quilts from the blocks in the Farmer's Wife book. It gives us a chance to try blocks that we have never made before. I don't enjoy working with small blocks so we decided to enlarge our blocks and not put all of the blocks in the quilts. I'm making a quilt for my husband with a buffalo panel in it. My husband and I will design it as we go along. I'm making a quilt for my 7 year old niece that is a combination of a traditional pattern but with changes that she wanted made. I had to draw out the blocks so that I could see the best way to combine the material and not waste too much fabric. I made myself a quilt from a design similar to the "Turning Twenty" system. I love the way it came out. I made a traditional quilt of stars for my daughter. I made an Irish Chain quilt for my son. My neighbor and I each made the Underground Railroad for fun. There are times that I will be making something from a traditional pattern and I find that I don't like something about it so I make changes. I think quilting is about enjoying what you are doing and making the quilt your own way. |
Kpross, the quilt for your brother is asolutely gorgeous. You did a great design. I too like using patterns. Teresa
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I'm a dedicated pattern follower. The only 'breakout' design I do is to change the size. Try an attic windows to get a lot of practice making a Y seam.
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I use patterns all of the time. Sometimes I change thing and sometime I don't.. I usually pick my own fabrics . I do design every once in a while, but not much. My creativity doesnt go that way.
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Originally Posted by kpross
(Post 5190940)
With only one exception, I have always used a pattern. There is nothing wrong with that. The one exception was a quilt for my brother. He wanted a king size and picked a fabric collection but gave no other direction. Since it was nautical I knew I wanted the center to be a star (compass-like) medallion (I wasn't quite up to a compass yet), and since there were novelty fabrics in the collection, I knew I wanted to highlight them. So I just went for it. I started with the star and built on from there, working around the center. I used graph paper to some extent to plan the outer borders to reach a certain desired size. Since he is a boat and flag lover, I also knew I wanted to incorporate nautical signal flags so I designed them to spell out "Dan Loves Bev" along the outer border. (pics attached - please try to ignore the carpet it is lying on! You can see that I used some blocks, like the center star and the sailboats in the corners, that I found in books, but otherwise, it was just improvised.) It was fun, but all my quilts since have been from patterns. I just don't always have the spark of creativity until I see what I want in a pattern. So, if you are anxious to try something on your own, just do it by picking something you love and are passionate about and dive in. You don't have to use equilter or anything else. Otherwise, there is no reason to change what you are doing.
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I use some patterns and some of my on variations on them. I am not a great quilter so I do the simple and easy ones. I enjoy it so much and all the ones I have made and given away seemed to be greatly received. That's the beauty of it for me, to see someone happy for the thought.
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How wonderful, I have a BIL in Seattle that would love your quilt...Great design thank you for sharing
Judy in Phx, AZ |
I work full time, so I always use a pattern too. Some day I will be able to experiment with making my own pattern. So just do what is comfortable for you and be happy.
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I have only been quilting for two years and have always used a pattern. I do often make my quilt larger than the pattern; but have never designed a quilt. So far, I am very comfortable using a pattern.
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I have been using patterns since I started. There are such beautiful and amazing quilt patterns available. I also love to follow block patterns. Usually using whatever fabrics I have available for all of my quilts and blocks. I recently stepped out of my comfort zone and began learning free motion machine embroidery and free motion quilting. Wow is it ever fun...but even for that I find patterns from comic book pages and online freebies.
I just want to add that I have enjoyed reading each and every response. Just make sure you are enjoying what ever you do in quilting. That is what makes it so special and wonderful! |
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