There is so much information available in cyberspace for the quilter, but where do you find it? And how do you find the really good stuff? For every really good site, there are a few dozen crappy ones. The kind that are overloaded with advertising, have only one or two actual projects, or have poor instructions. I’ve accumulated a list of links to sites with useful information. I hope this list can help beginners get started and will give some good tools to the more experienced quilters.
Block Instructions
Quilter’s Cache
Quilter’s Cache is the best block site available, bar none. Marcia Hohn has provided over 1500 blocks with detailed, illustrated instructions. She includes an illustration of what a finished quilt might look like, and the instructions are broken down into printable pages. There’s always at least one photo of a finished block, and sometimes even finished projects. Some of the blocks are traditional, while others are original designs.
Alex Anderson’s Block Party
This is a smaller collection of blocks, although many are simple line drawings. A few have simplified cutting and piecing instructions.
World Wide Quilting Page – Blocks
WWQP claims to be the oldest and largest quilting site on the web. They have some good block patterns, along with a whole lot of other useful information. It isn’t as pretty, but
McCall’s Free Quilt Block Patterns
About 200 block patterns, clearly presented. It has a nice combination of traditional block that you may recognize and variations that are little less familiar. There are a few appliqué patterns as well. The blocks are clearly labeled with their name, size, and experience level.
Full Patterns
The best place to go for full pattern instructions is to the fabric companies’ websites. It makes sense – they want you to buy their fabric, so they hire a professional to design a beautiful quilt using their fabrics. They give away the pattern, and you buy the fabric. The great thing about these patterns is that there is no advertising. The only thing they want to sell is their fabric. Some of these are PDF files, so you’ll need the current Adobe Reader. If you don’t have it, you can download it at the Adobe site. Other patterns are in HTML (regular web pages) or even Word documents. The PDF’s are great because you can save them to your computer, and look at them whenever you want. I have a folder set up for my patterns, so they’re all in one place.
Fabric Companies
Andover Fabrics Patterns
Benartex Patterns
Blank Quilting Patterns
Clothworks Textiles
Cranston Village
Fabric Freedom
Free Spirit Fabrics
Henry Glass Fabrics
Kona Bay Fabrics
Marcus Fabrics
Maywood Studio
Michael Miller Fabrics
Moda/United Notions
P&B Textiles
Quilter’s Cache
RJR Fabrics
Robert Kaufman Fabrics
South Sea Imports
Timeless Treasures
Magazines
Fons & Porter Sew Easy Lessons
Fons & Porter Free Designs
Requires subscription, but you can choose a free option. These are techniques rather than complete projects. It includes everything from half square triangles to binding to paper piecing.
Quilts With Style
Requires subscription, but you can choose a free option. Small selection of projects.
McCall’s Quilting
This site has a fantastic collection of quilting info, including blocks, full patterns, techniques, lessons – unfortunately, it’s such an unassuming looking page that it’s easy to miss the vast quantity of links. Here’s a hint – look at the tiny italics on the left side of the page. Those are all links to additional pages!
Other Resources
The Quilter Community
This site bills itself as an online magazine, and it has a nice selection of both blocks and full projects.
Connecting Threads free patterns
Connecting Threads free 9″ quilt blocks
Connecting Threads is one of my favorite quilting book resources. They sell books, patterns, and their own line of threads and fabrics.
EZ Quilting
There are many projects here – unfortunately it’s simply a page of links to their projects without any pictures for reference. You have to click into each project to see what it is. If you have the time, you may find something you love.
Debbie Mumm Projects
This link takes you to the current projects page, but be sure to click on the Project Archives link at the bottom. This site isn’t just about quilting – she has all sorts of creative projects, including scrapbooking, home decor, and other crafts. The Archives page doesn’t have photos, so you have to click into them to see the project. However, the are well organized and the titles are fairly descriptive.
