I tend not to use patterns. I will look thru magazines then tweek what I see. I can usually look at the design and figure out what I want to do without reading the directions (everybody knows directions are boring lol). I have a friend I quilt with at work on lunch and she is a newbie who always trys to follow patterns, and so many times the directions aren't right, the dimensions on the pictures are wrong (show a rectangle but the printed dimensions are for a square), fabric amounts to buy are way off etc.