Hard to Pierce Resize Commercial Pattern?

[Sandy F.]

There are so many wonderful commercial patterns that I like. I want to make as many as I can, however, I do not have so many beds or enough wall to hang all the quilts. So I am thinking to resize the patterns, from queen size to crib size? crib size to table placement? If so, is it hard to piercing etc.?

[Sandy F.]

I am always tinkering with my patterns... you have to decide:

Do you want to resize the blocks or the over all pattern keeping the block sise the same.

Resizing the blocks and making them smaller takes drafting talent or you can use EQ6 or similar software to resize block sizes... Many of the crib or baby quilts look better with smaller blocks that fit the over all theme of babies....

That will be your decision..

Drafting can be done by just reducing the size of the part of each block... but you have to reduce all of the elements.

Some patterns will be easier to reduce the size of than others, but you will find it is a lot of fun... and you will also be designing your own quilt.... MUCH MORE SATIFYING THEN SLAVISHLY FOLLOWING SOMEONE ELSES DESIGN... regardless of how good.


Another option would be to reduce then number of blocks in a quilt length wise and cross wise... When I do that I still keep it rectangular to maintain the integrity of the pattern.

I also like to take a group of blocks ( depending on the pattern of the blocks you have chosen) and make only four to nine of them. I then float them on the background fabric in the middle of a crib size quilt. It forms a medallion in the center of the quilt. I use border fabric going around the medallion to set it off....

This lets me experiment with lots of pattern without investing in a large quilt.... I also helps I have a new grandson to sew for. I have since decided I need to make a bunch of baby quilts for the future generation.

[Sandy F.]

Thanks for the response.

[Judy M.]

Allison, You can resize a quilt by adding or subtracting the number of blocks in your project. For instance, a table runner would use about three blocks. You would then adjust your borders accordingly. There are books that even give cutting directions for different sizes of blocks. A couple of good books are "Around the Block" and "Around the Block Again" BY Judy Hopkins. I learned to draft blocks on graph paper and I still like that method even though I have EQ5. Jinny Beyer wrote a couple of books that taught drafting. I don't know if they are still in print. Do you belong to a quilt guild? You could probably find quilters that would teach you how to draft a block to the size you would like. Hope this helps. Judy in Torrance

[Judy M.]

Thanks Judy. I was thinking maybe I can also reduced the size by copy machine. I am not sure if it is easy to pierce a smaller pattern. Or is it possible to do a smaller pattern, such as Baltimore style quilt. I guess it may be hard to do the applique if the pattern got reduced from queen size to crib size?

[Judy M.]

Just changing the number of blocks may not suit - depends on the proportions
for example if you had a crib quilt made of sweet little 4inch blocks adding more blocks to make it a king sized quilt may not quite suit

[Judy M.]

If you reduce by copy machine you have to re-adjust the seam allowances. No problem if it's an applique design, but if it's something that involved triangles, you're setting yourself up for a BIG job... not impossible, but not for the math-challenged. Paper-piecing would work.

A great book is "Make any Block Any Size" by Joen Wolfrom.
Florence