Testing patterns

 For several years now I have been a tester for various quilt pattern designers.

This is my latest test pattern. I wanted to use the pattern to make it look like a flower. I finished it at 12 inches and it should have been 12.5. I may have lost some pattern by using regular photocopy paper instead of something lighter and thinner.

It's great when I get to use my stash for pattern testing. I spent a lot of time finding the right fabrics for this one. I was surprised that I had enough of the blue water fabric to complete this pattern. This took a while since it was a biggy at 30 inches square.

Both of these were paper pieced patterns.

I will point out here that I don't just test the patterns themselves but I also read the instructions over carefully to make sure there are no grammar, punctuation  or spelling errors or size discrepancies.

Testing, testing - again

I am a pattern tester for a few quilt designers. One of those designers, Aimee Leptick of The Little Bird Designs needed a pattern tested with a quick turnaround. It was a paper pieced pattern and since I had tested another paper pieced pattern for her, a landscape (you can find it here), I thought I would give it a go. I did have other sewing to do but I made the time to this.

This is the first part.

The pattern is 15" X 22.5" and since there are several large pieces in the pattern, I sewed a basting stitch in the seam of those pieces. As a matter of fact, I sewed  basting stitches on several smaller pieces just so things would be easier to sew together.

Here's my take on the finished block. The original pattern shows a pink truck on a background that is all one colour but since I like blue and have quite a bit of it, I made my truck blue. I also wanted it to be travelling down a road and the pattern pieces easily lent to changing the fabric evenly. I'm sure this would look great if I were to use trees as the overall background or maybe a fabric that had houses printed on it. There are loads of possibilities.

There is another version of this block that includes an evergreen tree in the back of the truck which would be perfect as a Christmas wall hanging or included in a Christmas quilt. It's a great pattern and you can find it here as a single truck or as a combination pattern which includes the evergreen tree. 

Both patterns and the bundle are on sale until the end of September.

Have fun with it.

Testing again

This is another quilt pattern I tested. It's called Bluebird Song by Phoebe Moon Designs but I don't know if she has released the pattern yet.

It was a fun block because I just chose fabrics from my scraps. They just had to be dark or light.

Some of the measurements didn't work out as you can see from the point of the ruler.

The point gets cut off but that's about the only thing that didn't work out in the pattern.

As you can see, once you put the blocks together, they make a sort of trellis. It was a fun project and the block didn't take long at all. It finishes at 18.5." I would like to go back and make more blocks but I don't have that much time right now.

Testing a pattern

I am a pattern tester for a few designers. It's interesting and my forte is editing for clarity and comprehension. In November I tested a pattern called Morning Sun by Melanie Traylor of Southern Charm Quilts. She has had a few quilt alongs and I have been working on one on and off for a while now. Morning Sun was released as a pattern on November 20th and Melanie wanted to make sure that there were no errors and that all her calculations worked out. 

This was my starting point. These are actually the outer corners.

I then added the quarter Dresden plates. My colour palette is very much different than the original.

This is the centre of the quilt.

I thought this photo would show the fabrics better. There is no central circle to cover the middle because each petal has been sewn into a point at both ends.

Here's the whole quilt put together with the border. The directions were very good and the measurements all worked out. If you want a different kind of quilt, then check out Morning Sun by Southern Charm Quilts. Check out this link to see Melanie's version. 

New paper piecing pattern

There are some people who don't like paper piecing but I don't mind it. Although it's an old technique, it's not that old a use in modern quilting. I remember the first time I saw it used was in a quilt magazine. It could have been Quilters' Newsletter. I never did try it then but I have done several paper piecing projects since. Some bird patterns come to mind - like a crow. They are fun patterns and there are some quilt pattern designers who specialize in the technique. I am a pattern tester for one such designer. Her name is Aimee Leptick. She designed a cute pattern for last year's Row by Row Experience. It was a bull dog with earphones on his head. If I find the pattern in my files, I'll show you. That's not the pattern that I tested though.

This is the one I tested. It's called Evening Horizon and Aimee designed the pattern for the Stonehenge Fabric Anniversary. She has made it with two different fabric lines.

Pop on over HERE  to read about it and there's a link to the pattern which is half price for one week only. It's a 12" by 18" pattern so it's not that big or difficult to put together if you are at all hesitant to do paper piecing. I had fun with it and it will get quilted and hung on my newly painted walls.