pattern question

I'm not sure I 100% understand about patterns for quilt blocks. ...
Are they really necessary or just a nice tool? Couldn't a person just
figure out the measurements on their own?

(Make sense?)

Thanks a bundle!
NS

Sure does make sense and I agree with you. I've never used a paper pattern
for a quilt block or for a quilt (not sure I've seen them, come to think of
it)--I just look at blocks and figure out the sizes myself. If you did paper
piecing (which I don't) a pattern might be more useful.

Hope this helps!

Dogmom
"Natalie" wrote in message
om...
I'm not sure I 100% understand about patterns for quilt blocks. ...
Are they really necessary or just a nice tool? Couldn't a person just
figure out the measurements on their own?

(Make sense?)

Thanks a bundle!
NS

Patterns for quilt blocks are for all kinds of things: nice tools, guidance,
inspiration, just plain fun to look at. Sometimes they are totally necessary
unless you don't mind if you wind up with a five-cornered quilt. That's been
done too. You may want your quilts to be totally original and you may want
to have all the help you can get. Polly

"Natalie" wrote in message
om...
I'm not sure I 100% understand about patterns for quilt blocks. ...
Are they really necessary or just a nice tool? Couldn't a person just
figure out the measurements on their own?

(Make sense?)

Thanks a bundle!
NS

Natalie wrote:
I'm not sure I 100% understand about patterns for quilt blocks.
Are they really necessary or just a nice tool? Couldn't a person just
figure out the measurements on their own?


Yes.

Everyone finds something different useful in a pattern.

Some will look at the picture and ignore everything else.

Some will find it impossible without some part of the math done for
them. Perhaps they need to know how much fabric of each color to buy,
or they have trouble adding the seam allowance.

Some need instructions on the order of the piecing.

Some like the same quilt block picture presented with different fabrics
so they can visualize the way it looks different depending on where the
lights and darks are placed and choose their fabrics on that basis.
(This one's me!)

Sometimes the pattern instructions give a clever new way of piecing a
unit such as a way to make flying geese or half square triangles.

I find this question endlessly interesting. I pride myself on giving
good clear instructions and explaining things well, but I know that
while I'm a great teacher for some people, I'm a bad teacher for others.
I'll skip over as obvious those things that are easy for me and those
that are so hard I can't explain them.

If we knew what people liked and didn't like in pattern instructions,
pattern writers could do a better job.

The "pattern" book that I like the most is Jinny Beyer's book of block
designs. (I put pattern in quotes since it isn't really a pattern book
at all.) The book leaves it up to me to enlarge the block design and do
all the math. I wonder how many people on this list are able to do this
and find it routine, how many would find their quilting easier if they
could do that and how many shrug because they're convinced they'll never
get it.

And I bet we all have different ways of doing the same things. I'll
often ask my boyfriend to check my math before I start cutting if the
problem was complicated and I'm afraid I'll screw up. I'll show him the
general problem and then watch as he approaches it in a totally
different way. Very interesting how we take different approaches.

--Lia

Natalie,

The answers to your questions are no, yes. Yes.

No block patterns are not necessary for the more simple blocks, they are
a nice tool if you can't figure it out on your own, or you just want to
do something without figuring it out first.

Yes, I figure out and draw out all of my own blocks, patterns, designs,
and sets from my own ideas. I figure out my own measurements and
sometimes I will even make up my own directions and piecing diagrams. Of
course I am not afraid of geometric math as I have an unprofessional
background in drafting. Acutally the drafting and designing and figuring
out of quilts is my "favoritetist" step.

BUT, I will not (in the near future) draw out a complicated block like a
Mariner's Star or Compass block. There are books on doing that;
eventually I might get to making one and then try my hand at it.

So grab some graph paper, pencil (big eraser), calculator, and colored
pencils. If you have any questions as you go- just ask here.

Good luck,

Julie
Back in Richmond, VA

said...
I'm not sure I 100% understand about patterns for quilt blocks. ...
Are they really necessary or just a nice tool? Couldn't a person just
figure out the measurements on their own?

(Make sense?)

Thanks a bundle!
NS