Paper Piecing: Free Patterns Around the Web

Oh, paper piecing, how do I love thee, let me count the ways…

Paper piecing (or foundation piecing) is the medium that has set my art free. It has only happened once or twice (so far!) that I have been defeated my efforts to create a new pattern. For the most part, I can look at an image and see the pattern inside it. It’s something that makes me giddy, connected to myself in a way I never knew before, gloriously happy, excited and (occasionally) frustrated all at once.

It’s what I do most, both making and designing blocks. I regularly post free patterns on Sewhooked and Fandom In Stitches. Even so, I am far from being the only free resource online.

I have lots of paper piecing books in my crafty library as well as inexpensive patterns by independent designers much like myself.

If you’re just starting or maybe a little pinched in the pocket, free patterns can get you sewing and keep you sewing!

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Here are some great free pattern resources. If I’ve missed one of your favorites or you find a broken link, please leave a comment below.

Fandom In Stitches – Multi-Fandom quilt patterns designed by fans, for fans

Artisania – Gnomes and mushrooms and Halloween, oh my! (many of Sonja’s patterns are available on the Free Quilt Pattern page here at Sewhooked).

Liljabs – free patterns from friend and fellow designer Lilja, many of which are also available on Fandom In Stitches.

Free Patterns from Carol Doak – geometrical beauties by the Queen of Paper Piecing.

Block Central – lots of cute patterns, including books to make a bookcase quilt.

Quiltmaker has a number of free paper pieced patterns in their directory. Search “paper pieced.”

Equilters has a number of paper pieced patterns that are spread throughout the site’s pages

Ulas Free Patterns – lovely patterns including a variety of New York Beauty Blocks, various animals, Coat of Arms and more

Paper Panache

free patterns

Winnowing by Christine Thresh (free patterns are at the bottom) – Support A Cause Ribbons, flags, chicks and more

Ginger’s Paper Pieced Patterns – Cats, Christmas and more

PC Piecers Free Patterns – great patterns from Nautical to Holiday themed

Quilter’s Cache, the motherload for free quilt patterns, has a number of free paper pieced patterns for whole quilts and individual blocks. You’ll need to do a little seek and find through the directory to find the whole-quilt patterns.

Quilt design’s BOM – some free patterns, including a lovely log cabin project

The Quilted Snail – a nice sized collection with a large variety of blocks

Free Paper Pieced Patterns from Patchpieces – paper pieced patterns and projects

Quilt dot com – a nice collection of beginner blocks

Four Twin Sisters has a number of free paper pieced patterns, but they do not have their own directory. Look for the patterns marked “paper pieced”

Piece By Number – Geometrics, plants and animals and more

Regina Grewe – a wonderful site with an ever changing collection of free patterns.

Victoriana Quilt Designs, specifically the Ocean Waves quilt pattern.

Quiltiger – a variety of free paper pieced patterns

Compuquilt – a variety of free patterns, many of them paper pieced.

Kitten’s Mittens – a variety of patterns, including a complete Kanji alphabet

Charise Creates – check the sidebar under “Complimentary Patterns”

Whims and Fancies – fun fandom patterns, British themed and more

Ruthie Quilts – free wonky houses

If you’re just starting and would like to learn paper piecing, check out my

Step by Step Tutorial!

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updated February 2012

Crafts: Cullen Crest Stenciled Tee

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I made this little gem of a shirt over the summer while waiting for Breaking Dawn to arrive. It’s based on the Cullen Family Crest, as shown by MTV over the summer.

I did take some artistic license to make this a stencil. It’s a complicated bit of cutting, but well worth the patience!

Note: Cutting with an Exacto Knife is dangerous. Please be very careful!

Supplies:

A t-shirt (or other item to be stenciled)
Freezer Paper with Cullen Crest Stencil
Foam Brush
Fabric Paint (I like Lumiere)
Exacto Cutting Tool
Cardboard or newspaper
Cutting Mat

In lieu of individual photos of the process, take a look at my how-to video for stenciling, which you may remember from this post. There are lots of ways to create a stencil. This is how I do it. I did not include glitter on the Cullen Crest T-shirt.

Text Directions:

Pre-wash t-shirt without fabric softener.
Print stencil onto freezer paper (matte side).
Carefully cut out with an exact-o knife. There are loads of fiddly bits, so take your time and be careful.
Set iron to medium.
Place cardboard or newspaper inside t-shirt.
Place stencil on t-shirt with a piece of blank paper on top (that keeps the tiny pieces in place) then carefully press with the iron.
Use the foam brush to gently paint on the fabric paint.
Allow a few minutes to dry, then carefully remove the stencil. For the tiny pieces, use a straight pin to help get them started for easier removal.
Finish drying according to manufacturer’s directions.

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also posted on craftster and cut out + keep

Guest Designer Spotlight: Connie Tessier

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Patterns designed by Connie Tessier
click on the image for the pattern

This week in the Guest Designer Spotlight is Connie Tessier. I met Connie through the Livejournal group hp_paperpiecing. Connie started out as member of the group and pattern tester. It wasn’t long before she was sharing photos of her own block designs. It’s my great pleasure that she agreed to be included on the Guest Designer page of sewhooked.

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Connie and her husband, Paul, at a Cape Cod beach

First name and where you’re from: Connie, Manchester, NH

Website/blog/online store or other place where your patterns or photos of your work can be found? Website is not set up yet. Another work in progress…….

How long have you been paper piecing and/or quilting? Sewing since childhood, Quilting since the late 70s, I’m 54 now, so it’s been a LONG time.

I tried paper-piecing in the early 90s once for a bunch of log cabin blocks for a quilt and I didn’t care for it, too much repetition. I tried paper-piecing again last year for a quilt for a friend.

What do you use own your blocks for? I’m hoping to make a quilt. I’m more into a “less fancy, more useful” type of quilt. My stuff is more for comfort than show. I’ve only make one wallhanging, everything else is quilts of various sizes including king-size.

When did you start designing? I designed some gelato cups for a quilt for my best friend in October 2006 to remind us our favorite dessert place (which is now unfortunately gone…). The quilt design got put on hold, and I didn’t sew the quilt until December 2007.

The second foundation block I designed was in February 2008. It was my Philosopher’s Stone, using the cover from the Adult book cover.

Was there a particular inspiration to draw your first pattern? I found some teacup, teapot, and spoon blocks that were foundation pieced and wanted to use them in a quilt I making for my best friend. She used to collect teddy bears, we usually go out to lunch and both have tea, and then we used to go out for gelato. So I wanted to make a quilt with those elements in it. I hadn’t liked my first experience with paper-piecing but decided to give it another try to make this quilt. I couldn’t find a design for a cup of gelato with 2 flavors, so I decided to try to design one in Quilt Pro since that’s what I was using to make the quilt design. I struggled to learn how to get the teapot and cups into Quilt Pro and then worked on designing the gelato cups.

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Gelato Blocks designed by Connie

Do you remember what your first design was? My first design of a paper-piece pattern was in Quilt Pro of the gelato cup for my friend’s quilt. That was the only foundation pattern I had designed before I found your site.

When I found your site with Harry Potter patterns, I decided to try paper-piecing with smaller pieces and blocks. I was really leary of trying such small blocks with such tiny pieces, but I had to have a Hedwig. I have a thing for owls, and when I saw your quilt it really inspired me.

After finding your site and making a few blocks, I wanted to try my hand at it and make my own Harry Potter blocks. I decided to try making a block from each book and started with the Philosopher’s Stone for Book 1. This was my 2nd paper-pieced design and 1st Harry Potter design. Then I did the Whomping Willow for Book 2.

I also wanted to try my hand at some of the ones you had already done to practice designing from scratch.

I figured I could see what kind of pattern I ended up with compared to one that was “piece-able”. I learned that my patterns of the same subject have a tendency to be too complex for 5″ blocks! I have lots of trouble simplifying the designs for piecing. I tried the House Crests (I used the illustration in the books), and Bertie Botts (I froze a frame from the movie).

I had a really hard time with Quilt Pro, and then I found Quilt Assistant which made it much easier to trace designs and break them up into pieces.

It really amazes me that you can come up with so many designs so quickly.

Do you have a favorite among your own designs? The Whomping Willow from Book 2. I used the Chapter art.

How has the online community changed the way you craft/quilt/design, etc.? I’ve learned a lot from using the designs on your website. The most important thing is to let go of some details or the pieces end up too teeny-tiny and too difficult to sew. That’s hardest thing for me.

What do you use to design your patterns? Paper and pencil, a specific software, etc. First I get an idea or a picture. I can’t draw to save my life. I don’t have Photoshop, so I used Quilt Assistant to trace the design. Quilt Assistant will save the pattern to an Electric Quilt project. Then I export it as an EQ project. Then in EQ I export it to a metafile. (I wish Quilt Assistant could export to a metafile!) The metafile is imported into Quilt Pro where I touch it up, and check that the sections are correct and numbered. Then I add text to the print preview screen, after mirroring it for the pattern, and save it as a JPG. Needless to say I’m looking for an easier way. Quilt Pro shows me what doesn’t line up or make proper sections, so I can fix the lines to make it right. I also like the precision of the pattern in Quilt Pro, but I’ve had a hard time tracing designs directly into Quilt Pro. I really like Quilt Assistant for tracing, but I don’t like the way it makes templates instead of a foundation.

I’ve used Quilt Pro to layout quilts for years, since version 2. I also own Electric Quilt but haven’t really put it through its paces yet. Their interfaces are completely different and it’s tough to get used to one when you’re used to the other.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I haven’t had any time to paper-piece lately. Mom moved in with us after dad passed this year and she had to sell her house after breaking her hip. I really love the creative process, then seeing a completed block in fabric. I’m hoping for more creative time soon, I’ve got lots of blocks to catch up on, and I’d like to design some new ones as well. I’m really impressed by all the blocks you and the other guest designers have come up with, it’s just amazing!

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find more of Connie’s free patterns on the sewhooked Guest Designer page

Happy Crafting!

Crafty Goodness for the Holidays

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x-posted from my personal journal…these are stores that belong to my friends and my friends’ friends!

Please comment on this post if you’d like your online shop listed. Please remember that I want your shop. Referrals are great, but please have the person that owns the shop comment. This makes it easier for me to know who to contact if a question arises.

Thanks! and Happy Shopping!

Marissa Charlotte Creations

Sells: Embellished Envelopes, Upcycled Bulleting Boards
Price Range: $8 – $25 for current listings

Witch & Wizard Quilt Patterns by Cat Magraith

Sells: Original Paper Pieced Patterns
Price Range: $3 each

Caitirin Critters

Sells: Custom Ordered Crochet Critters
Price Range: Varies by order

Handcrafts & Original Designs by ofenjen

Sells: Hand Crafted Odds & Ends as well as custom buttons
Price Range: $1.50+

kristen paulsen photography
Sells: photographs, prints, calendars, mugs, mousepads, cards, etc
Price range: $5-$50

Turn around, Granny!

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add this pattern to your ravelry queue

Printable Pattern

An, granny square! For years I loved to hate you. When I would try to make you, you were wonky, crooked and twisted. How could something so simple, so classic and so seemingly straight forward be so frustratingly difficult?

One day, a little bird whispered in my ear to turn the granny square after each row. Aha! That was the answer.

By turning on every row, the twisting disappeared. An added bonus is that the granny square does not have a “right” and a “wrong” side when it’s worked this way.

So turn, turn, turn and stay square, square, square!

Note: Yarn weight and hook size are up to you. Change colors at any row and make the square as small or large as you like.

With this method, you can make a Granny-ghan by continuing to crochet until you reach the desired size.

Chain 4, sl st to form loop

turn, sl stitch to the corner

Round 1 – ch 3 (ch 3 = dc throughout), 2dc, [ch 2, 3 dc], rep [ to ] 2 times, ch 2, join to the top of ch 3 with a sl st. TURN, sl st to ch 3 corner.

ch 3

Round 2 – Ch 3, 2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in ch2 space. [ch 1, 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in ch 3 space], repeat [ to ] 2 times, ch 1, join to top of ch 3 with sl st. TURN, sl st in ch 1 space.

Round 3 – Ch 3, 2 dc, [ch 1, 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in ch 2 space; ch 1, 3 dc in ch space], repeat [ to ] 2 times. Ch 1, 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in ch 2 space, ch 1, join to top of ch 3 with sl st.

Finish as desired.

Granny Square close up

Granny-ghan for a baby, donated to The Linus Connection

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Guest Designer Spotlight: Cat Magraith

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blocks designed by Cat Magraith
click on image for pattern

This week in the Guest Designer Spotlight is Catherine (Cat) Magraith.

I met Cat through the Harry Potter Crafts Yahoo group and then we briefly volunteered together for The Leaky Cauldron in the craft department.

We’ve known each other for over two years now and have become fast friends. Her amazing engineer’s brain is a natural for dissecting images and creating (and editing!) paper pieced patterns.

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First name and where you’re from:
Cat from Adelaide, South Australia

Website/blog/online store or other place where your patterns or photos of your work can be found?
I have my ETSY store and then there’s my LJ.

How long have you been paper piecing and/or quilting?
How long have i known you?* I’m trying to think. Is it 2 years or longer? I have been doing other quilting though since primary school so about 25 years.

*Note from Jennifer: it’s been two years!

What do you use own your blocks for?
Cushion covers, totes and never quite finished quilts (lets just say quilt tops).

When did you start designing?
Pretty well much almost straight away after i started Paper Piecing.

Was there a particular inspiration to draw your first pattern?
I was inspired by hp_paperpiecing and your patterns and a desire to create my own custom patterns.

Do you remember what your first design was?
First design was my Dumbledore pattern.

Do you have a favorite among your own designs?
Dumbledore is my favourite still.

How has the online community changed the way you craft/quilt/design, etc.?
I had never seen the US style of PP method before i joined the online quilting community. It is not very common in Australia with most references to PP being the paper hexagons used in a lot of British quilting books and are all hand stitched. US PP has changed the way i design my patterns and has given it a new edge.

Find more of Cat’s free patterns on the Guest Designer Page on sewhooked

Happy Crafting!

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart

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Linus Heart, My Scrappy Heart,
My Scrappy Heart II, Broken Heart
click on image for pattern

What is it about hearts?

I doodle them on the edges of notes and the back of envelopes and just as often as not, they show up in my artwork and my quilts.

When I sign my name, I sign with a heart. It’s “with love, from Jennifer.”

For a not-very-girly-girl, it’s certainly a very girly thing to do. I don’t care, I like it. It shares a little of me, a little of my heart.

My paper piecing adventure began some years ago with Carol Doak’s Show Me How To Paper Piece. I read through the book, then tried the heart pattern. It took several tries and several more reads through the instructions before I got the hang of the technique.

That light bulb moment was the brightest I’ve ever had.

I decided that first effort would end in being a gift for my friend Alison. I searched out other blocks that represented our friendship. That was my first experience of not being able to find exactly what I wanted, but I used what I could find and my very next project, I started designing my own patterns.

Alison’s Wall Hanging

It was not long after this that The Linus Connection was looking to give thank you gifts to the sponsors of our first Annual Challenge. I was on the Board of Directors at the time and was closely involved with organizing that first challenge. Being the webmistress for Linus, as well as for Sewhooked, I see the Linus heart regularly. It’s on every page of the website and every paper label we attach to the quilts before giving them to the children.

It occurred to me then what a wonderful gift the Linus Heart in fabric would be, and what better than to use my new favorite technique, paper piecing? While it was not my very first pattern, it was one of the first, designed within a couple of months of my learning to paper piece. It’s still one of my favorites.

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The Linus Connection Heart & it’s doppelganger in fabric
click on image for pattern

That same pattern eventually became part of my design for The Linus Connection banner, a project that I designed and organized in early 2006 with the blessing of the Board of Directors and help from many Linus volunteers.

The Linus Connection banner can be seen hanging by the sign-in table at every monthly meeting.
alphabet blocks from Carol Doak’s 300 Paper Pieced Quilt Blocks

In 2007, I was asked to demonstrate paper piecing for The Linus Connection’s volunteers during one of the monthly demos. This was my second paper piecing demonstration for Linus and I was really excited to have another opportunity to share my favorite quilting technique and some of the short cuts I’ve discovered.

I had not yet written my own paper piecing tutorial but I did have many patterns available on Sewhooked. What I did not have were many beginner’s patterns. A friend suggested the Hearts For Linus pattern as a starting place. It was a good suggestion and I designed two new hearts, each of increased difficulty, based on the original.

The demo was a success and from that came the writing of my paper piecing tutorial.

Heart Block Demo Quilt – November 2007
donated to The Linus Connection, January 2008

Where there are hearts, there will also be hearts that are broken. Though I am not sure why I decided to draw a broken heart, I do believe it had something to do with my love of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, my favorite of which is New Moon. I’d previously designed a wolf and a lamb, both inspired by Twilight, for my friend Alison to use in a wall hanging, which you can see here.

The broken heart represents the state that the main character, Bella, finds herself in for the majority of New Moon.

sample Lamb block pieced by Shae
click on image for pattern

Whatever the block is that I have designed, it’s part of my story. They remind me of where I was and what I was thinking when I made the original sketch. I know what prompted the design of every single one, and I think that is a very special gift.

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post.

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Crafts: Buy handmade for the holidays

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Shopping for handmade items can be daunting and if you’ve been to etsy recently, you know there are about a zillion people selling there, which can make it very hard to know where to start.

In a continuing effort to make, buy and give handmade, I’m collecting a list of my friends that sell handcrafted items.

In a few days, I will take all the collected names and post a big ole list of online shops with the hopes that my all friends will benefit.

If you make items to sell and would like to be in the “My Friends Sell Handmade Stuff” post, please comment with the following information:

Link to where items are for sale
Example List of items available
Price range (example $5 – $50)
Sample Photo, optional (just one please)
Other pertinent information

Please only share links to your own handmade items for sale. If you have friend that also sell their own handmade items and you think they’d like to participate, please direct them to this post so they can add their own information.

Happy Crafting!

also posted on my personal blog

Crochet Hogwarts Hat & Scarf for a Plushie

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At some time during 2005 or 2006 during a frenzied Harry Potter craft session which happened to coincide with the height of my children’s Build-A-Bear obsession, the thought occurred to me that my daughter’s lion needed to be, no must be, a Gryffindor.

Fun, fast and free crochet at it’s geeky best!

add this pattern to your ravelry queue:

Printable Pattern

Supplies:
2 colors worsted yarns (Red Heart used in example)
N – hook

Hat:
Crocheted with two strands of each yarn throughout.
Row 1 – with burgundy, ch 6. Sl st in first ch to form ring. Ch 3, 11 DC over ring, sl st to join. Finish off.
Row 2 – join gold to in any st, ch 3, DC in same st, 2 DC in each st around. Sl st to join. Finish off.
Row 3 – join burgundy in any st, ch 3, DC in next st and each st around. Finish off.
Row 4 – join gold in any st, ch 3, DC in next st, ch 3, sk 3 dc, dc in next 8 sts, ch 3, sk 3 st, dc in remaining sts. Finish off.
Row 5 – join burgundy in any st, sc in each st around, sc over ch 3s. Finish off, weave in ends.

Attach Pom-Pom (optional)

Scarf:
Crocheted with two strands of each yarn throughout.
ch 5
Row 1 – sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc across. Ch 1 turn.
Row 2 – sc across, ch 1 turn
Row 3 – sc across. Attach new color at top of last st. Ch 1, turn

Repeat 1-3 in alternating colors for a total of 13 blocks of color. Add fringe.

Ravenclaw Kitty

This pattern also available on The Leaky Cauldron

Happy Crafting!

Paper Piecing: Seeing Stars

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click on the image for the pattern, except Rising Sun, bottom right, which has 4 pattern pieces:
1, 2, 3, 4

I have been drawing a lot of stars lately. Some, like the Tone Tone Star and the Chubby Star, were for a quilt block swap I recently participated in. The Arkansas Snowflake, a very common and popular block, was drawn as a replica replacement for a quilt top that was a thrift store find.

After reworking and rearranging some of the patterns over on the sewhooked Paper Pieced Patterns page, I realized my count of star (or, in some cases, star-ish) patterns online was up to six and thought it would be a nice to present them all together.

As for the changes in organization over on sewhooked, you will find the “Miscellaneous” category has been broken up into two new sections: People, Places and Things & Shapes. As I create more varieties of patterns, I try to arrange them as logically as possible to make them easier to find. I hope this will help visitors to sewhooked to find what they’re looking for more easily.

If you make these or any sewhooked crafts, I’d love to see a photo! Email me or add it to the Friends of sewhooked flickr group.

Happy crafting!