Tag Archives: free patterns

paper piecing: The sewhooked Sampler

Occasionally, when testing patterns I’ve designed, and whenever it’sappropriate, I piece sets of blocks in the same fabrics. My intention in this is to eventually have not only tested the patterns, but to have samples to scan and eventually a set of blocks that can be pieced together and donated to The Linus Connection.

Earlier this year, I did have enough blocks for a 3×3 quilt, but decided that wasn’t quite what I wanted. I love Cat Magraith’s chicken patterns, available through the sewhooked Guest Designer page, so I decided to make a few of those, too.

Not all the blocks were exactly the same size, so I added borders in coordinating colors, then squared them all up to, if memory serves, 10 1/2″.

If you like trying out paper pieced blocks, or are maybe just learning, and don’t have a project in mind, consider piecing together a sampler and donating it to a local blanket-making charity. There are charities all over the world that take handmade quilts and yarn blankets and usually finding the one near you is one Google search away!

Included in the sewhooked sampler:

Row 1: Sasha’s Tree, Jar v.2, and Star of My Heart (available only in my etsy store)

Row 2: Scrappy Heart, Scrappy Heart II, and Wonky Log Cabin #1

Row 3: Wonky Log Cabin #2, unposted heart pattern (from a Demo I did for Linus), Jar v.3

Row 4: Hen with Chick, Rooster, and Chicks (all by Cat Magraith)

Like Star of My Heart, listed above, I’ve recently started posting new patterns for sale in my etsy store. Part of the purpose of this is to help fund sewhooked. I don’t currently have advertising or sponsors and I pay all the fees for the website and blog out of my own pocket. Now, I do love sharing free patterns and doing so has given me the ability to hone my skills to the point where designing is becoming my work-from-home career. I briefly considered a paypal donation button, but what would you get from that? I’m not a charity, I’m just one woman who loves to share, teach and inspire and I have done my best to do just that, for free, for many years now.

If you enjoy sewhooked and all it has to offer, consider purchasing a pattern or other item from the etsy store now or in the future. If not from etsy, I also have a number of items available through zazzle. All proceeds go right back into sewhooked and keeping all it’s free content online.

What you’d be supporting: sewhooked dot org – Free patterns, crochet & crafts by Jennifer Ofenstein
Etsy – ofenjen is sewhooked – handcrafts and original designs by Jennifer Ofenstein
Zazzle – Sewhooked – made to share – t-shirts, totes and buttons, designed by Jennifer Ofenstein

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

Paper Piecing: Eggsactly

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Combine the joy of spring with the joy of quilting and you have one of my all time favorite combinations!

How about Three Eggs (pictured above) made in happy spring colors or prints? Three Eggs was created for my friend Cat, who loves chickens and is putting together a wonderful chicken/barnyard themed quilt!

Once you’ve scrambled your eggs, why stop there? There are loads of great paper pieced patterns that would translate to a happy spring quilt or wall hanging!

Spring & Easter Themed Patterns:

lamb, snail and lily patterns from sewhooked

Patchpieces – find a basket, an easter egg, butterflies and a chick
Winnowing by Christine Thresh – scroll to the bottom of the page for Posy Pots, morning glory and Baby Chick with Easter Eggs
Paper Panache Guest Patterns – Spring Nosegays and Little Rabbit
Quilt Designs Northwest – Poppy & Calla Lily
Piece by Number – various flowers
AZ Patch – baskets and eggs
Compuquilt – flowers and flower pots

There are so many great free patterns out there and a slew of wonderful quilting books, too. Whatever inspires you, grab it with both hands and enjoy!

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

Happy crafting

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Guest Designer Spotlight: Julie Pyka

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Patterns designed by Julie Pyka

click on photo for pattern

This week in the Guest Designer Spotlight is Julie Pkya. Julie is a quilting gem I met through hp_paperpiecing. The first block Julie shared with me was her Dobby, which remains one of my favorites she’s designed. Her wonderful Howler block was the winner of the hp_paperpiecing Design A Harry Potter Paper Pieced Block Challenge.

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First name and where you’re from: Julie- San Diego, California

Website/blog/online store or other place where your patterns or photos of your work can be found? – patterns/pictures on sewhooked and just photos on yahoogroup, PCPiecers.

How long have you been paper piecing and/or quilting? – I can’t remember when I first started quilting, but really the last two years I have become a more serious sewer. I started paper piecing this last summer. I made my first paper piece quilt called Crazy Birds. (http://quiltmaker.com/currentissue/qatf13/project1/) and of course the Harry Potter blocks.

What do you use your own blocks for? – I make quilts that are usually lap size.

When did you start designing? – This past summer I started designing portraits of presidents.

Was there a particular inspiration to draw your first pattern? – I was making a quilt top with my mom and grandmother were you take fat quarters and stack them together and for the number of fabrics the number of cuts you make. Then you shuffle and piece them back together. That’s when it dawned on me that this is exactly how paper piecing works.

Do you remember what your first design was? – My first pattern I designed was President Benjamin Harrison. I am planning on designing all of the United States presidents, but it will be awhile before I get them all drawn out.

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Do you have a favorite among your own designs? My favorite pattern is the Howler I designed for the September challenge.

How has the online community changed the way you craft/quilt/design, etc.? – A few Yahoo groups and Sewhooked is really helping me grow. It wasn’t before joining and being active within these online communities that I have tried new techniques and expanded the level of difficulity. Now instead of whiping together straight sewing that takes a weekend I am putting a lot of work and have a lot more pride in my finished pieces.

What do you use to design your patterns? Paper and pencil, a specific software, etc. – I start with pencil in paper and scan them into Adobe Photoshop CS. The online tutorial that you created really helped me figure out how to make it clean and perfessional. THANX!

find more of Julie’s patterns on the sewhooked Guest Designer Page

Happy Crafting!

Guest Designer Spotlight: Sonja Callahan

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Patterns Designed by Sonja Callahan
click on image for pattern

This week in the Guest Designer Spotlight is Sonja Callahan. I first became aware of Sonja’s work when we both participated in the Tiny Quilt Challenge over on craftster. Her entry, The Red Fairy, caught my attention immediately, because magic, fantasy and whimsy are my favorite subjects. Neither of us won that challenge, but I never did forget that block!

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First name and where you’re from: Sonja, British Columbia, Canada

Website/blog/online store or other place where your patterns or photos of your work can be found? Blog; Etsy store; Flickr

How long have you been paper piecing and/or quilting? Oh boy. The first quilt I made was for my daughter when I was pregnant with her back in 2001. I saw a simple pattern in a Martha Stewart magazine that got me thinking. I first tried paper piecing around 2003, I think the first block I tried was a little frog. Well no, that’s not exactly right. That was the first block that actually looked like it was supposed to. It took me literally 4 separate attempts at a beginners pattern to actually do it right!

What do you use own your blocks for? Oh all sorts of various projects from zippered bags, to coasters, pillows and of course quilts! One of my favorite pieces now adorns the outside pocket of my daughter’s backpack.

When did you start designing? In the summer of 2006.

Was there a particular inspiration to draw your first pattern? I wasn’t really finding the sort of patterns that I was looking for and really wanted to sew a detailed fairy.

Do you remember what your first design was? The Red Fairy

Do you have a favorite among your own designs? Can’t I choose them all? Ok ok, since I have to choose…. It would be a tie between Mister Gnome, The Red Fairy, and the little gnome offspring, Gnomeling and Gnomlette.

What do you use to design your patterns? Paper and pencil, a specific software, etc. I use Corel Draw 4x and Corel Photo Pro 2x.

How has the online community changed the way you craft/quilt/design, etc.? Oh wow, what an amazing source of inspiration! I tell you, there is no way I would have ever even tried paper piecing if it wasn’t for all the free patterns that can be found online. Back when I was first starting up, I found http://www.Craftster.org. while looking for a zippered pocket tutorial. Oh wow, I didn’t even know I wanted to sew purses until I saw that website. I’ve been inspired to sew, design, paint, knit, crochet, quilt, swap etc. from all the great websites and blogs that I’ve been finding over the years. I feel so lucky to have this incredible wealth of information and inspiration (don’t even get me started on http://www.art.com!), and all the support to be found right at my fingertips! I’m blown away sometimes by the friendships that form between people who have never met, but share a common creative pastime. Knowing just how isolating it can be when you’re a stay at home mom to a tiny little baby, I’ve found this to be a great comfort, and it has gotten me through many lonely, insomnia-filled nights, and blurry, exhausting days.

Anything else you’d like to add? What I find just so awe-inspiring and wonderful, is how a simple little blog of a talented crafty mother, can introduce opportunities into her life that would have never been possible without the internet. I’m seeing women being invited to display their work halfway around the world because a buyer from Japan happened across her blog. http://oneredrobin.com . Or how a young, and very talented knitter/designer who was simply posting about her hobby while she pursued other methods of creative employment, ended up suddenly being offered the editors job at Interweave press! http://www.eunnyjang.com/knit

I find this so amazing! I often think about how hard it must have been, before the internet, to get anywhere as an artist. Never mind a stay at home mom who longs do something with her seemingly hidden talent. It was only 15 or so years ago when women fought hard to get their music played as often as male musicians on the radio. *go Sarah Maclaughlan go* I feel like it’s free reign here on the internet. It really has opened the doors of opportunity wide open, especially for women and mothers. If you’re passionate about something, you’ll either find yourself a nice group of like-minded people, or you will attract them. It’s beautiful, and I’m so thankful!
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find more of Sonja’s free patterns on the Guest Designer page at sewhooked

Happy Crafting!

Paper Piecing: Free Patterns Around the Web

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free patterns available here

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!

Support Sewhooked, visit my Shop!

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!

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

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updated February 2012

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!

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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