Today I’m showing how to write a pattern for a bit
I have made a kaleidoscope quilt and I will just show one of the blocks as the other block is similar but more complicated.
If you select the kaleidoscope block and print the foundation pattern (or preview it)
You’ll see this
Here it looks good, as far as how it splits the sections.
then on the print page/preview page
it’s first on top of each other, but you can just move those out of the way.
I have a program called cutePDFwriter that’s free online, once it’s installed it acts like a printer, so if you click on page setup first
then select printer
then select cutePDFwriter as your printer and click ok and print it
AFTER you have moved the pieces away.
You’ll have a PDF!
If you want to rename the block to something else you have to do that in the sketchbook notecard before printing
Now comes the “tricky” part for FPP patterns- if you actually want to write this part. Some people may just provide the yardage and let the quilter sew it together in order with measurements.
I like to cut out the chunks of fabrics first, so I know I have enough and that they are big enough.
You have to pay attention to the number order that EQ printed and think about the order they get sewn together.
Also of course provide simple directions to use a small stitch length and trim to 1/4” etc- whatever method you use.
Apart from the corner triangle on the block, I would measure and maybe add 1/2”- 3/4” to the measurements to make sure it’s enough.
so the line between A1 and A2 is 1.6” plus 3/4” is about 2 1/4”
and the width is 1.1” so I’d write 2”
The corner triangles show 2 5/8” but I’d write maybe 3” square cut diagonally.
So A1= white 2” x 2 1/4”
A2= red 2” x 2 1/4”
A3= white 2” x 2 1/4”
A4= green 2” x 2 1/4”
B1= green 3” square cut diagonally
B2= light green 3 1/4” x 2 1/4”
B3= red 2” x 2 1/4”
Of course there’s 4 of each of these per block and my quilt has 10 of this block on it.
Now because I made the patches a bit bigger, I’d add 1/4yd to the yardage from what EQ tells me.
AND this is a reason why I have TESTERS! and I test myself, I use a fabric I have plenty of a measure before and after and see if the yardage is right on or not.
I’ll show another pattern tip- templates! at the next tutorial.
I think I need "special" tutorng in this. Maybe a camp where I can get some one on one time. Reading without doing is just plain confusing for me. Thanks for trying! Old dog over here.
For efficient cutting & more accurate yardage requirements, I use a 40" wide custom set quilt layout. Then I create images of each piece I need to cut from each fabric & arrange them on the custom set quilt layout. I would be happy to send you an example.For paper piecing, I print templates with 1/2" seam allowances. That gives me a really good way to get the right size & general shape of the pieces I need for the block.
To make my fabric cuts, I prefer to use the template function for foundation piecing. I set the seam allowance to an eighth inch larger to give me a bit of fudge room. For me, it's easier to see how to place the odd shapes, on the foundations, when they're backward and upside down. I still rotary cut my fabric, I just use the templates to determine how wide to cut the strips, then I lay a couple templates out on the strips to determine repeats and where to cut rectangles into triangles. Once I have one set of fabric shapes cut (I sometimes cut these from a contrasting fabric if there are many to pieces of fabric to cut), I use those to cut the rest because they cling better than the paper does. For me, it's easier than the math method, there are no weird fractions to remember. I've always been good in math, but I've grown forgetful so can't remember the numbers I need.