I bought a quilt book, am piecing together a laptop quilt with birds, bird houses, etc. I found many mistakes and had to figure out how to splice other fabric in to make the blocks fit. (one mistake was not indicating the size of the finished blocks or sections.)

My question, or suggestion, is: I think people that author and sell quilt books should have a neutral third party make the quilt. This would help to see if it is user friendly, or if it has mistakes.

Do you agree?

Surely there is a photo of the finished quilt. How did they make that if the directions are wrong?

i totally agree i can't tell you how frustrating it is when there are no finished sizes on a block or quilt top that you are making. as well as many errors in explaining how to do it. many times those technical writers are not quilter but the ghost behind the book that make it hard to understand there sometimes things lost in translation especially if the "writer" is an "old" pro at quilting.

have you cntacted the publisher and author.

I agree 100%. I really get aggravated when I have to redesign something I've already paid for. Your suggestion is right on target.

99% of the time patterns are tested and tested before publication- there are alot of variables that can make our blocks not come out the same as in the book. printers even print different- we all sew a little different- seldom could 4 of us make the same block and have it come out the exact same size

Well, if you are professional you make the quilt (or whatever) yourself or have someone else do it for you. I write knitting directions and sometimes will stop, cast on, and do the knitting to make sure my directions are correct.

However, that said, sometimes it is at the publishing end that directions go wonky.

Yes, I agree with that. Sorry for your troubles with it :(
Bummer!

There is a beautiful picture of the finished quilt. I think my point is that the author could make it, but assumed some directions were apparent. Many of them are not. So I repeat .. I think someone else should try making the quilt with the given directions.

Then sell the book.

Meant to say, sell the book after corrections are made.