Paper Piecing: Drawing a Patchy Heart

19 Replies

patchy heartPatchy Heart Pattern

One of the most constant requests I’ve had over the years is for a video tutorial showing how I design paper pieced patterns.

Putting together a pattern is a step by step process, but designing is not. It’s artistic and intuitive.  Even so, there are some basic techniques that stay the same every time you start a new pattern.

The absolute best advice I can give you is practice, practice, practice!

This is how I do it. In the next two videos, I’ll walk you through, step-by-step, my own process. Both videos are real time.

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

If you make any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

Happy crafting!

19 thoughts on “Paper Piecing: Drawing a Patchy Heart”

  2. Ana Lopes

    Excellent instruction’s,Thank you so much for taking the time to show us all how do design patterns. I have been waiting for this for a long time. Thank you.
    Ana

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    1. ofenjen Post author

      It’s my pleasure! I know that there are things others would like to see in a block that I would never think of. If I can be of any help, that makes the effort worth while!

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      1. Ana Lopes

        I don’t know if you thought of this one.
        I have seen arrows on some other patterns to indicate where to join the pieces to match in the right area’s. That helps the pattern to be as straight as possible. Have you ever put arrows in your patterns before you separate them when your designing them?
        Ana

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        1. ofenjen Post author

          I did use registration marks when I first started, but then I discovered that if I use a straight pin to align the corners, I didn’t need to. Here’s a photo to show you how I line up my patterns.

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  4. Wulfae

    Thank you for the tutorial! This was exactly what I was looking for, it’s the only thing I’ve found about actually designing your own patterns.

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  6. Julie B.

    Thank you so much for the tutorial! I enjoy paper piecing – now I would love to try and design one myself! I am on a mac computer. I’m wondering if you would recommend a different program to use on a mac.

    Thanks for all your help and great paper pieced blocks!

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  8. Melanie

    I am having a hard time numbering my designs, do you have a specific method you use? I see with the simple heart how you did it, but what about more complicated designs? Thanks

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    1. Jennifer Ofenstein Post author

      The best advice I can give you is practice. It became intuitive for me the longer I did it. Also, look at other patterns to see how they’re numbered, that can help a lot, too!

      Reply ↓

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