How can you patent a quilt or a pattern? Patents are for inventions. Copyrights refer to artistic work. If she said she has applied for a patent on a quilt I'd doubt it

had to verify my understanding of "patent" - this refers to inventions, not pattern designs. She would need to copyright it.

I was told by a quilting teacher that if you change the pattern 30% from the original, you are the "new" owner of the pattern. So, if you make enough changes, there's no problem. Examples -- block size bigger or smaller, sashing size different, borders different, etc.

hope this eases your concerns.

Patent? She doesn't know what she is saying, and has no intention of "patenting" her design. The cost to patent a product or process via manufacturing is extremely high..... $100,000 plus.....sometimes much more.....she was threatening. I would give her credit if you make a copy...as long as you are not selling the printed instructions, you are fine. If she patents her quilting process, we are all in trouble. Actually, she would have to prove no one else before her had ever used the quilt making process.

This idea of there being a certain amount of alteration that makes it 'yours' is incorrect. It's one of the big myths about copyright law and one of the most often repeated by quilters (#6 in the link below).

If the design is still recognizedable as someone else's, it's a derivative work and is in copyright violation. The courts intentionally set no limit of how much change makes it 'safe', leaving it as a case by case decision.
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

ETA: Techniques, how one does something, cannot be copyrighted or patented. The tools, yes, the instructions, yes, but not the actual actions.