twinkie

I always go by the rule, "It's your quilt, your decision". Everyone's idea of the right way to do things is different. If you like it and it changes the pattern, and still fits together, it's your call.

SueSew

I've done patterns as is, also changed up the innards some, changed borders, and made up a couple simple 9-patch type right out of my head. But I don't think I am cut out to be a pattern designer - I need a clever motif or something similar to get me going.

Tartan, you've got fabric choices influencing your design now also - and I bet it will be adorable, please post!

Sewnoma

I followed a pattern once and I hated every minute of it! I was foolish and cut everything before I started, then once I got going I realized that the way the pattern called to make the blocks was not very good; it added extra seams that were not really necessary and made the block very bulky and fussy and much harder to line up points than it needed to be. I would have put the block together completely differently if I'd thought ahead but the fabric was already all chopped up. I didn't even actually follow the full pattern, just the pattern for the individual blocks and then I put the overall quilt together totally differently. I hated that quilt by the time I was done!

Learned my lesson though! I look at patterns for inspiration and then between EQ7 and good old fashioned graph paper I figure out MY pattern. I still buy a ton of quilt books, but now I treat them as sources of ideas and inspiration rather than sets of instructions. I'm often inspired by things other than quilts though - patterns on carpeting or wallpaper catch my eye, tile mosaics, even patterns of shadows from a fence on a sidewalk will make me stop and snap a picture. People think I'm crazy ("Why are you taking a closeup picture of the ground?") but that's not really something new, LOL.

Texas_Sue

I tend to make it my own. If it's not big enough then I add a row or a column to make it larger. Our donation quilts have to measure a minimum of 120" (adding length to width) to get 8 pts. and 90" to get 4 pts. At the end of the year if you have donated 48 pts. you get a free class. I want the class so I try to make big quilts to get my 48 out of the way early in the year. Then I don't mind the rest of the year.

AZ Jane

I googled and I made that quilt!! It was my first quilt kit! I loved it. As it was the first, I did not change it around, but he loved it!!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]507272[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]507273[/ATTACH]

Tartan

AZJane, that is adorable! For those that wanted a picture of my crayon from the Color me Happy pattern, here it is. Of course I changed the width and the crayon was supposed to have 20 pieces but I wanted a smaller quilt so I duid 14 sections instead. Of course I started with the red one because I had all those fabrics. I am still looking for some of the other colours so that will take some time but I am not in any hurry. It is just laying on my black fabric and with about 2 inch sashing it will be about 38 inches wide before final border.[ATTACH=CONFIG]507293[/ATTACH]

dee1245

On my last my last quilt I increased the size of the blocks. It took four small blocks to make one big pattern block and I wanted it to finish out at 12", so using 5" charms were not going to work. It took a little adjusting the 4 pattern pieces sizes since they were snowballed rectangles. I also used the snowball cut offs for a border which was not called for. It worked out so that I could adjust the pattern to make it my own; after all, I was the quilt maker.

MargeD

I do both, sometimes following a pattern exactly and then other times giving my own spin to the pattern. It's your quilt, you can make it however you like.

zennia

I use a pattern for a general idea the do my own take on it. My quilt teacher gets mad because I dont follow the directions. Oh well i have to live with it not her. She likes everything exact i like it a fun time.

thimblebug6000

Tartan, what was the original size of the quilt on that pattern? I see it was offered as a bonus in American Patchwork. The one I'm considering is 74"x 89" and a lot busier looking. Maybe I should rethink my choice. Here's a link to the one I'm waffling about. http://www.quiltmaker.com/patterns/d...html?idx=15330