Almost as soon as I started quilting, I got interested in patterns. Seeing something I like and figuring out how to put it together in quilt form? Mixing and matching different elements I’ve seen elsewhere to produce something new? Making mockups and doing quilt math? All of these things are really, really fun!
I’ve talked before about how I’m working on patterns of my own, or testing out ideas, but I’ve never turned them into anything concrete. Thus far, any thought of actually producing and perhaps even selling quilt patterns has remained a pipe dream. I don’t have a ton of time to pour into meticulously drafting patterns, testing them extensively, publishing them, etc.
It’s also been just over a year since I earned my digital media master’s degree, and I don’t ever get to put any of those skills to work in my day job. I used to do a bit of freelance work on the side, but gave that up when Emma was still a baby, and lately I’ve been thinking about ways to put those skills and my degree to use again, even if in small ways.
A few weeks ago while I was driving home, it suddenly occurred to me that I could very easily combine these two things by using my design skills to make (and share) some quilt patterns! And hey, note to self — I don’t have to do everything totally perfect right away. Maybe I can start small and just see how it goes. Which leads me to this:
On August 1, I’ll be starting a new little personal project to design one quilt pattern each month and make it available to anybody who wants to try it out. I have several goals in doing this — getting some ideas out of my head and into the real world, building my own collection of self-produced patterns, getting feedback from others, indulging my love of quilt math, having fun…and yes, seeing if it could potentially lead me anywhere else down the road.
My goal is to post one pattern on the 1st of each month for at least 6 months (6 patterns), and then reassess to see how it’s going. I already know that I won’t have the time to test every single pattern I make, so there may be mistakes, there may be miscalculations, or something may just totally not work at all! But I will do my very best, and update the patterns as needed if/when I discover errors.
And did I mention that they will all be FREE? Yep! I figure if I’m not going to be able to test them like a professional designer would, it’s not really fair to expect anyone to pay for them. I plan to post them here, but I’ll also be looking into online shop options like Craftsy to give them a bit more visibility (though still for free).
So that’s that! I’ll post my first monthly pattern on Saturday and spoiler alert — it’ll be a full set of instructions for the offset stripe quilt I made for a friend’s baby last year. It’s crazy simple and crazy fast to put together, which makes it the perfect thing for me to tackle as a first attempt, and a nice first offering in my series.
I hope some of you are excited to join me for this new little project. Whether you’re a quilter or not, please don’t hesitate to give me your thoughts along the way, and maybe even give one of my patterns a try!
I’m excited to get started!
