What do you like in a quilt pattern?
#21
I'll second Knitette's frustration with the listings she showed. If the pattern has to have listings like this, I'm helped by having a little drawing beside or underneath each that shows me the shape.
I love having the quilt shown in different colorways, because colors and how they go together is not my strong suit.
I love having the quilt shown in different colorways, because colors and how they go together is not my strong suit.
#22
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: altus oklahoma
Posts: 339
i like multiple size directions and directions that are easy with photos showing techniques maybe im just a visual learner but that always makes it clearer for me and easier to follow ive made alot of different patterns over the few years ive been quilting and some of them were hard cause they hardly had any photos or diagrams to show how it should look when you get to that part.
carla
carla
#23
Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 122
Thanks for starting this thread! I've designed and completed several quilts as prototypes to be sold, but have not yet finished the pattern-making process. It's not that easy! I'm of 2 minds in many aspects: clear, short and simple for the experienced quilter? or clear and complex/detailed for the beginner? The more I think about it, the more I want to make a pattern that is magazine-style, with lots of color pictures, glossary, tips, alternatives, and instructions, plus some interspersed personal ramblings, and quilt-related links or ads.
I guess the most important would be to lay it out in easy to follow steps of construction with proper spelling and sentence structure, no acronyms or abbreviations, and clear diagrams/drawings/photos.
OH!! and large print =)
I guess the most important would be to lay it out in easy to follow steps of construction with proper spelling and sentence structure, no acronyms or abbreviations, and clear diagrams/drawings/photos.
OH!! and large print =)
Last edited by StrayCat; 08-10-2012 at 06:49 AM.
#24
Directions that make sense. If you can't write a sentence that makes sense, find a proofreader. Don't over complicate the design just for the sake of making it complicated. I have one pattern that has you make a jillion strip sets, cut them into blocks and then sew them back together exactly the same as if they weren't cut. The corner blocks for that pattern had a whole bunch of unnecessary pieces too. I ended up redrafting the whole pattern.
#25
Want it to look complex but be simple.
several different color photos of finished quilts
Very very clear accurate instrustions. I do agree with you haveing all levels of sewers test the pattern.
Welcome feedback, and include on your insturction sheets your 'business email address'...so a quilter can
contact you if they run into a problem during construction.
Yardage for all sizes from lap to king.
several different color photos of finished quilts
Very very clear accurate instrustions. I do agree with you haveing all levels of sewers test the pattern.
Welcome feedback, and include on your insturction sheets your 'business email address'...so a quilter can
contact you if they run into a problem during construction.
Yardage for all sizes from lap to king.
#26
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Small town in Northeast Oregon close to Washington and Idaho
Posts: 2,795
Clear spacing between instructions, particularly on the cutting, so I can check them off as I do them without losing my place - or my sanity.
I have Dyscalculia which is a specific disability in learning or comprehending arithmetic, difficulty in understanding numbers and how to manipulate numbers. Calculating yardage is great fun.......... lol.
Below is an example of the kind of instructions which give me a headache! (This was actually pre-cutting for a class I was going to attend and ended up NOT going to as I made so many mistakes in the cutting I gave up, exhausted and disheartened ).
From your main fabric cut:
8 x 2½” squares2 x 3¼” squares
3 x 5½” squares*
4 x 3¼” squares
2 x 3¼” squares
2 x 2½” squares
12 x 2⅞” squares
From the contrast, cut:
2 x 3¼” squares
2 x 2½” squares
12 x 2⅞” squares
and so it went on.
I have Dyscalculia which is a specific disability in learning or comprehending arithmetic, difficulty in understanding numbers and how to manipulate numbers. Calculating yardage is great fun.......... lol.
Below is an example of the kind of instructions which give me a headache! (This was actually pre-cutting for a class I was going to attend and ended up NOT going to as I made so many mistakes in the cutting I gave up, exhausted and disheartened ).
From your main fabric cut:
8 x 2½” squares2 x 3¼” squares
3 x 5½” squares*
4 x 3¼” squares
2 x 3¼” squares
2 x 2½” squares
12 x 2⅞” squares
From the contrast, cut:
2 x 3¼” squares
2 x 2½” squares
12 x 2⅞” squares
and so it went on.
#28
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Holmen, WI
Posts: 6,459
#29
I'm with you there! I don't understand this at all. I am not a person who can do math at all. It has to say how many I have to cut. Were you suppose to cut one of each of these? Or multiple? I am totally confused. I have some bad math brain. Even adding and subtracting is hard for me. But give me a book and I can read it in a day. I can do almost anything but math. And I worked as a cashier in my little town for a while and people would give me a $10 bill and at the last minute they would throw out a nickel and a penny and expect me to figure out what to give them for change. I had to get out the calculator. They would make me feel bad and tell me how much I was suppose to give them back, but they didn't realize that I didn't know that. They weren't my only customers. Everyone did that and I hated it. I finally was able to stay home and not work there anymore. It was just a part time job for a while anyway. Boy, I felt like crying after the customers got through with me doing that.
I hate when people try to make others feel stupid, which clearly you are not .
I retired early from my job as a lecturer, but before that I was involved with adult literacy. I used to say that I taught clever people to read and write - it was just a skill they hadn't yet mastered.
#30
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Illinois
Posts: 9,312
I could not agree more! Bought a pattern .. and it was just words .. no illistrations .. what a huge dissapointment. A good step by step format !
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