Alternate Blocks for Sampler Quilts: Plain or Pieced?
Plain alternate blocks give a busy sampler room to breathe; a simple repeated block adds rhythm. See how each changes your block count and quilt size.
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Design TipsTutorial
Choosing Quilt Block Size: Which Size Fits Your Quilt?
Compare three Nine Patch scales for one quilt footprint, count the joining work for a stated method, and audition prints at patch size.
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Getting StartedDesign TipsTutorial
Courthouse Steps Color Placement: Where Do Lights and Darks Go?
Put light fabric on one pair of opposite sides and dark on the other, or color by rounds for framed squares. Two 10-inch maps show how each one repeats.
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Color TheoryDesign TipsQuilt Styles
English vs Foundation Paper Piecing: Which Should You Try?
Compare what the paper does, where stitching happens and which project brief suits EPP or sew-through FPP before choosing a pattern.
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TutorialDesign TipsQuilt Styles
How Long Does It Take to Make a Quilt? Work Out Your Own Time
A simple throw often takes two to four weeks of spare-time sewing. Here's how to time one batch of blocks and turn it into hours and a finish date.
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Getting StartedTutorialDesign Tips
How to Make a Quilt Pattern Smaller Without Losing the Center
Drop whole rows and columns first. Here's how we'd shrink a 48 x 60-inch throw to a 26 x 38-inch wall quilt and keep its 12-inch center.
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Getting StartedTutorialDesign Tips
Log Cabin Strip Width: How Wide Should Logs Be?
Most Log Cabin strips are cut 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches wide. See how each width changes block size, the center's weight and the number of seams.
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Design TipsTutorial
How Wide Should a Narrow Inner Quilt Border Be?
Most stop borders finish 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide. See one busy quilt with 1/2, 1 and 1 1/2 inch inner borders, then pick the width and value that separate your prints.
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Design TipsColor Theory
Planning a Bed Quilt That Fits Your Bed
Build a measured bed worksheet with unequal drops, pillow allowance, floor clearance and orientation checks before choosing a quilt pattern.
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Getting StartedDesign TipsTutorial
How to Write a One-Page Quilt Design Brief
Put the quilt's job, size, layout, fabric roles and finish on one page. Includes a worksheet to copy and a worked 45 x 60-inch throw.
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Getting StartedDesign TipsTutorial
How to Keep a Quilt Materials Record Before the Labels Are Gone
Record each fabric, batting and thread with its exact product name, label photo and care directions, so anyone can see how to look after the quilt.
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TutorialDesign Tips
What to Write in a Quilt Project Reflection
Write down what you planned, what you measured, what worked and one change to try. A four-column finish log turns this quilt into a better next one.
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TutorialDesign Tips
Quilt Sashing with Cornerstones: Count Every Square
Map the intersections inside a block field and around an outer sashing frame, then check cornerstone counts, strip segments and finished size.
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Design TipsTutorial
Build a Quilt Scrap Cutting System You Will Use
Choose recurring scrap cuts from the shapes you use, preserve useful exceptions, and compare three future policies on one measured example.
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TutorialDesign Tips
Sawtooth Star Color Placement: Which Part Should Be Dark?
Most Sawtooth Stars use one fabric for the center and points on a contrasting background. See three placements on one 12-inch star and what each changes.
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Color TheoryDesign TipsQuilt Styles
How Secondary Patterns in Quilts Form
Compare two alternating-block studies and trace the corner pieces that create a larger motif across four block boundaries.
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Design TipsColor TheoryQuilt Styles
Batting Quilting Distance Planning: Gap Check
Check your batting's exact spacing limit against the largest gap in your quilting plan, with a measured example and a simple revision.
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TutorialDesign Tips
How to Make a Quilt Pattern Bigger: Three Plans
Compare extra blocks, larger blocks and borders on one original layout, with checked dimensions and fresh seam allowances.
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Getting StartedTutorialDesign Tips
How to Read a Quilt Pattern Before Cutting
Audit sizes, fabric roles, cutting counts and assembly checkpoints on an original sample page before shopping or making your first cut.
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Getting StartedTutorialDesign Tips
Improv Quilt Design Constraints: Three Limits
Start an improv study with a shape vocabulary, three fabric roles and a finished envelope, then explore several original compositions.
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Design TipsColor TheoryQuilt Styles
Quilt Sashing Width: Compare Block Scale
Compare three sashing widths around the same blocks, check finished-size growth, and separate the visible strip from its seam allowances.
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Design TipsQuilt Styles
Quilting Tension Troubleshooting: Top and Back
Label both sides of a sample, check threading before the dial, and use a one-change log to narrow quilting stitch-balance problems.
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TutorialSewing Machines
Fat Quarter Cutting Layout: Plan Mixed Rectangles
Compare two cutting maps for the same five rectangles, check usable cloth and rotation limits, and see why leftover shape matters as much as area.
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Design TipsTutorial
How to Prevent Wavy Quilt Borders: Measure Before Cutting
Use three interior measurements to set border-strip lengths, keep raw and finished sizes separate, and remeasure after attaching the first pair.
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Design TipsTutorial
How to Sell Quilt Patterns: Package and Delivery
Prepare a clear pattern listing, a versioned download package and a delivery check, with a plan for access, support and corrections.
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TutorialQuiltlabDesign Tips
QuiltLab API and MCP: Choose a Route for Your Task
Choose REST, MCP or the QuiltLab editor for a task, with a verified anonymous supply read and a practical handoff record for later design work.
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Product UpdatesQuiltlab
Sorting Quilt Scraps by Size: A Usable Inventory
Measure clean scrap dimensions, check which units fit, and allocate a sample inventory without counting the same fabric twice.
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Design TipsTutorial
Walking Foot vs Free Motion: Choose a Method
Compare fabric feeding, direction changes and stitch control, using the same measured path to choose a quilting method for your top.
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Sewing MachinesBuying Guides
AI Quilt Design: Describe, Review and Edit in QuiltLab
Follow a real QuiltLab assistant prompt through proposal review, saved editing and SVG export, then independently check the square-patch construction math.
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Product UpdatesQuiltlabTutorial
Best Free Quilt Design Software: A Practical Check
Compare browser quilt tools by what you can draw, keep, export and use for construction, with dated public checks and a common Four-Patch task.
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Buying GuidesQuiltlabGetting Started
Group Quilt Ideas: Choose a Format That Fits
Compare contribution quilts, bees, round robins and shared challenges, then plan a 30-block group quilt with six makers and clear sharing boundaries.
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QuiltlabDesign Tips
Kona Cotton Color Match: From Screen to Swatch
Shortlist Kona, Bella and Pure Solids digitally, then check physical cards, neighboring fabrics and color identity before buying.
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Color TheoryBuying Guides
Quilt Size Chart: Baby, Throw, Twin, Queen and King
Compare suggested finished quilt sizes, measure the drop on a real bed, and check how many blocks fit your target before choosing a pattern.
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Getting StartedDesign Tips
T-Shirt Quilt Layout: Plan Mixed-Size Panels
Plan ten mixed-size shirt panels in a checked 36 x 48 inch layout, keep usable fabric separate from finished size, and choose a clear assembly order.
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Design TipsTutorial
Easy Quilt Blocks for Beginners: A Four-Block Practice Path
Choose your first quilt blocks by the skills they add: straight strips, one seam crossing, a nine-patch grid, then Churn Dash units.
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Getting StartedDesign Tips
How to Set Quilt Blocks on Point: Triangles and a 13-Block Example
Plan an on-point quilt with 13 blocks, check side and corner triangle cuts, and keep straight grain and a quarter-inch allowance at the edges.
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TutorialDesign Tips
How to Choose Background Fabric for a Quilt
Compare contrast, undertones and print density, then test your background in the right proportion with a checked nine-patch example.
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Color TheoryDesign Tips
Quilt Color Combinations: 20 Palette Plans
Twenty quilt palettes with background, support and accent roles, checked area proportions and placement notes to help you choose fabrics.
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Color TheoryDesign Tips
Quilting Supplies for Beginners: Buy First, Add Later
Build a first-project kit by task: what to borrow, what to check, and what to buy, with a measured six-patch practice example.
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Buying GuidesGetting Started
How to Make a Scrappy Quilt Look Planned
Give mixed scraps a clear job, repeat them across the top, and check the counts with an original 36 x 45 inch nine-patch plan.
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Design TipsColor Theory
Eight at a Time Half Square Triangles: Batch Math
Plan eight-at-a-time half-square triangles with an oversized starting-square rule, a clear cutting sequence, and a 54-unit color-pair example.
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TutorialDesign Tips
Looking for an EQ8 Alternative? Compare Before You Switch
Compare desktop and browser workflows, cutting output and project migration before choosing an alternative to Electric Quilt 8.
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Buying GuidesQuiltlab
Fussy Cutting: Plan the Motif Before You Cut
Frame the print, protect the seam allowance and count usable repeats. A four-inch square example, plus a QuiltLab preview before you cut.
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Design TipsTutorial
Fussy Cutting Hexagons: Plan Repeats for a Rosette
Count six matching motifs, record their orientation and preview a hexagon rosette before cutting the fabric.
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TutorialDesign TipsQuilt Styles
How Much Fabric for Quilt Backing and Binding?
Work out quilt backing and binding yardage from your finished size, with the arithmetic shown for five example quilts on 42-inch fabric and 108-inch wideback.
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Buying GuidesGetting Started
How to Design a Quilt: Size, Layout, Blocks and Fabric
Plan a quilt you can actually make: choose its finished size, compare block counts, assign fabric roles and check the design before cutting.
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Getting StartedDesign TipsTutorial
How to Design a Quilt Block: Grids, Units and Measurements
Draw an original block on a grid, check its assembly order, and turn finished measurements into a manual cutting plan with an 8-inch example.
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Getting StartedTutorialDesign Tips
How to Write a Quilt Pattern: Pages, Diagrams and Testing
Turn a quilt design into a clear pattern with a page plan, checked quantities, useful diagrams and a testing process.
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TutorialQuiltlabDesign Tips
Log Cabin Quilt Layouts: Four Rotation Plans
Compare Barn Raising, Straight Furrows, pinwheels and chevron rows using the same sixteen blocks and an original dark-corner orientation key.
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Design TipsQuilt Styles
Matching Prints Across Quilt Seams: Plan the Visible Join
Align the printed image at the seam line, account for hidden allowances and check a small sample before cutting the main pieces.
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TutorialDesign Tips
Quilt Border Ideas: Widths, Corners and Multiple Borders
Compare border widths on one quilt center, calculate what they add, and choose corners and multiple borders with a clear purpose.
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Design TipsTutorial
Draw Quilt Pattern Sewing Diagrams That Show the Next Action
Make sewing steps easier to follow with clear fabric orientation, distinct line styles, stable labels and measurable checkpoints.
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TutorialQuiltlabDesign Tips
Sampler Quilt Layouts: Plan Before Block One
Compare three settings for twelve sampler blocks, check their finished dimensions, and record the decisions that make the blocks work together.
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Design TipsQuilt Styles
Two-at-a-Time HSTs: Plan the Starting Square
Choose starting squares for two-at-a-time half-square triangles, allow room to trim, and check a complete 48-unit cutting example.
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TutorialDesign Tips
Half-Square Triangle Quilt Layouts: One Block, Many Quilts
One half-square triangle, seven named layouts. How to orient each unit, plus a 48-inch 8 × 8 you can try in QuiltLab before you sew.
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Design TipsQuilt Styles
Modern vs. Traditional Quilts: What Actually Separates Them
Fabric choice isn't what makes a quilt modern. Layout, scale, negative space and quilting do. Here's how to tell the two styles apart, and how to borrow from both on purpose.
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Quilt StylesDesign Tips
Color Theory for Quilters: Value, Hue and Choosing Fabrics That Work
Most quilt color problems are value problems. This guide covers the four properties of fabric color, the classic schemes, and a fabric-pull process you can use on your next project.
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Color TheoryDesign Tips
How to Make a Photo Quilt with Pieced Squares
Choose a clear photo, check your mosaic and color key in QuiltLab, calculate square cuts and fabric, then sew one measured section at a time.
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Photo QuiltsTutorialQuiltlab
Getting Started with QuiltLab: What Each Tool Does and Where to Begin
QuiltLab is a browser-based studio for designing quilts. Here's what each tool does, how they fit together, and where to start depending on what you want to make.
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QuiltlabGetting Started
QuiltLab Update: What the Editors Can Do Today (and a Correction)
A correction to an earlier feature announcement, with verified editor capabilities, measurement limits and the difference between saving and sharing.
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QuiltlabProduct Updates
Photo Quilt Ideas: Seven Projects, From Printed Panels to Pieced Mosaics
There are three ways to put a photo in a quilt, and each suits different pictures. Here are seven project ideas matched to the right technique, with layout sizes you can use.
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Photo QuiltsDesign Tips
Design Your First Quilt in QuiltLab: A Nine Patch Chain Throw, Step by Step
Plan a 68 x 80-inch nine-patch chain throw in QuiltLab, then check the separate cutting sizes, border lengths and fabric quantities.
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QuiltlabTutorialGetting Started
The Best Sewing Machines for Quilting in 2026: Five Picks for Every Budget
Compare five quilting machines by workspace, included accessories and the jobs you sew, with a practical dealer test and a total-cost worksheet.
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Sewing MachinesBuying Guides