I quilted off and on during my life, mostly off these last 10 years or so, and have recently come back to it. What I'm wondering is, how many people actually purchase and follow a pattern for a quilt? I have never used a pattern. Some times I look through books or mags for some design ideas, but most quilts are simple enough to do without patterns (squares, rectangles, triangles, etc...) so except for the most intricate ones, are patterns even really necessary? How often do you use them?

I have posted a quilt or two here and the first question that always pops up is: Where did you get that pattern? Do most people piece from patterns?

If I did not use some type of pattern I'm not sure what I would have when I finished. I can make almost anything by reading the directions and following them. However, I have a friend that quilts that never actually reads the pattern, just looks at it. We work well together. I read, she looks at the picture then we both sew our items.

mltquilt

I agree with you...I really do not need a pattern for most of my quilts. I have bought a few but have not used them. I have bought a lot of books...love looking at them but no...haven't made any yet.

While I don't normally buy patterns, I do a bit of drafting ... so I really make my own.

I like to just look at the blocks and do it! I read it but alter it to my specs.

I can't seem to follow a pattern - even the one time I started off with a pattern in hand, it kinda developed a life of it's own. So far it's worked out ok but I'm still a newbie. I've got a couple kits that were passed down to me so I hope to get there at some point.

I'm famous for buying patterns, but hardly ever use them...lol. I could sell those for weeks on end and still have lots...but I won't even start on those.

I'm almost down to the end of my grandma's fabric stash...and once that's gone I've got to rest for a while.

As a new quilter, I do use patterns and like them. They tell me how much fabic I need for one thing. Although, I have adjusted some to fit what I wanted to do and also made one quilt that I alternated pattern blocks with those that I just figured out what I needed. I love looking at the magazines and find inspiration from them, also.

pattern? I thought they where suggestions. I will take a class and fallow the teachers directions on a method but patterns just lead one down a path. I sometimes get a wild hair and let her fly the way it wants. My quilts talk and start shaping the way they want. It is kind of scary really. 8-)

Me too. But for PP blocks I do need the foundation pattern. I may not make the quilt that the blocks were intended for or set them different or just use them for accent. I have followed some patterns but often end up tweaking it by either making the quilt a different size or altering the piece work for less seams etc. I do like patterns for the yardage requirements IF I don't plan on altering the size.