Pre-Fab Patterns for Fabric Collage

I hope people don’t find fabric collage intimidating. I worry that novices might view my own quilts or the Finish Line quilts I post of student work and be scared off by their complexity. The reaction I’m going for is “Hey, I could do that, too!” Not “Wow, that’s way more than I could ever do!”

You don’t need to start with quilts as complex and time-consuming as mine or even those of my students. Why not start with something simple, yet fun, and work your way up to something more involved?

Patterns for Sale

Maybe you know I sell patterns to be used for fabric collage. Most of my patterns are of fish, bugs, or butterflies, with a few exceptions like a gecko, a turtle, and sun and moon faces. These simple images are intended to be stress-free ways to play with fabric collage.

By the way, they aren’t patterns as quilters typically use them. These aren’t for making templates. You don’t cut out the shapes and transfer them to freezer paper and then adhere them to fabric to cut out. I also call them “designs” and that may be closer to the truth, but “patterns” is what quilters are used to, so it’s the term I most often use to describe them.

I used to sell paper patterns through the mail. This proved too expensive and time consuming on my part. Instead I’ve made them instantly downloadable—all you need to do is print them out and have them enlarged. Now people from all around the world, most who will never make it to one of my in-person classes, have access to them.

Experience tells me it can be very helpful in a class to start with a pre-drawn design, especially in short two-day classes. When there’s a need to get started quickly, using one of my patterns removes all the design angst from the equation. (Unless of course one can’t choose between the many fish designs available. ;))

However, unless the class is specifically a two-day Fish, Bug, and Butterfly or maybe a turtle class, most students don’t use these patterns, though some do. It all depends on the motivation for taking a longer four or five-day class—is it to learn the fabric collage process as thoroughly as possible, or is it to create a portrait of a loved one or a large animal piece? And let me tell ya, design angst is palpable when you’re dealing with a subject you love.

Sometimes—especially during day two or three of a week’s class, in the middle of what I call the “messy scary stage”—I suspect students wish they had chosen one of my simpler designs to work from. Of course, most successfully push through that stage and are happy with their results. In class, I’m right there to help students through the difficult parts. But what if I’m not there? Why not learn the technique on something that is low-stress? Again, once you’ve mastered the technique, then you can move on to something more involved.

Which is pretty much what I did when I started playing with fabric collage back in the 90’s.

Some fish quilts I used to create patterns, from upper left: Winged Butterfish, Gulf Stream Traveler, Solstice Serranid, and Carpe Carpem.

Patterns Included

In my first book, Free-Style Quilts (now out of print but available through Amazon.com) the how-to section demonstrated making a fish quilt. The pattern for that fish, Fanfin, and two others, Aqua Wrasse and Leaf Peeper, were included in the book. I started out teaching fish classes and even though I encouraged students to draw their own, they liked mine and wanted more choices.

At that time I had made literally (literally) hundreds of fish quilts, so I actually took a few of the finished quilts and traced them to create patterns. (See the fish above.) This is the reverse way that most people use patterns. Typically they draw the pattern first then make the quilt. Anyway, it worked. Students had more choices and were happy.

In my second book, Serendipity Quilts, just recently brought back into print by my publisher C&T, I provide patterns for projects that increase in complexity, starting with a spiral (no pattern needed) and progressing through a sun or moon face, a pair of Betta fish within a yin yang symbol, and on to a mandala (a circular repeated pattern) of a pond with frogs and dragonflies.

When people purchase the Fabric Collage Online Master Class, I give them a coupon for a free pattern from my website. This is my way of encouraging them to start simpler, with more fun and less stress. While the Master Class teaches how to create a pattern from any image you choose, I suggest that beginners skip over that part and start with either a spiral, a pre-made design, or both. Making a pattern isn’t nearly as fun as playing with fabric, so why not skip that part to start?

Patterns NOT for Sale

I regularly receive emails from quilters asking for patterns of a quilt of mine they like. They ask for patterns for “Tickled Pink,” “Polka Dodo,” “Dixie Dingo Dreaming,” or even “Crocodylus Smylus.”

You know the old saying, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” I truly believe that’s where these requests come from. Besides, quilting is a culture built on creating and sharing (and re-sharing) patterns. This is a lovely tradition.

Quilting, however, is undergoing a transition. What was once considered “only” a utilitarian craft is now also being recognized as art. Quilts are now both craft and art and it isn’t always obvious which is which. In fact, sometimes it’s a matter of opinion.

Most of the quilts I make, including the ones listed above, are not to be reproduced. I’ve made them for myself or for commission as a piece of art. Part of their value as art lies in their uniqueness. And by value I mean their aesthetic “value” primarily, but also, yes, their monetary value. If I allowed folks to make a thousand “Polka Dodos” the original would lose some or even most of its “value.”

So, while I am happy to share patterns of some smaller quilts—fish, bugs, butterflies, and so on—I won’t ever be offering patterns of my one-of-a-kind quilts. I’m sure you understand.