Here are some cool quilt patterns that you can download for free. Fabric manufacturers release these patterns to promote specific fabric lines, but of course you can use them with any fabric you like. Those marked with * seem to me like excellent beginner projects.
Free Spirit Fabrics has the mother lode (patterns are all pdf files linked from that page): my favorites are …
A Cat’s Life
Bohemian
Color Connectors
Flea Market Fancy* (aka A Hop, Skip, and a Jump from the Denyse Schmidt Quilts book)
Ginger Bliss* (which would look great with some more subtle prints or solids to balance out the louder patterns)
Prism Seasonal* and Prism (by Whip Up’s own Weeks Ringle and her husband Bill Kerr)
Seasonal Magic
And here are highlights from Robert Kaufman’s free patterns page:
Color Beat
Kasuri Gesiki*
Nature Collection
Solid Sampler
And finally, two random findings from around the internet:
A Fine Toothed Comb* from Claudia’s Quilt Shoppe
Aunt Minnie’s Tile Floor* from easymade.com
There is of course the classic Log Cabin pattern, which deserves at least a whole post to itself (Lisa posted a while back about Log Cabin pillows) and will get one from me in short order.
If you know of any great free quilt pattern sources on the internet, let it be known in the comments!
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Any knitters, crocheters, stain glassers, mosaicers…etc (yes I know you probably don’t say them that way…but work with me here!) out there. These patterns are easily adapted to all these endeavors!!! I especially like the tile floor one above. It would make a much more interesting aphgan then the more traditional patterns!
These are great, thank you. Amy Butler has one on her pages.
http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/pdfs/Spring05Quilt.pdf
I had no idea Weeks Ringle is a whipup member! I wanted to say here that I just received the wonderful book on modern quilting from amazon and I just love it.
Not really a quilt pattern itself, but http://www.quilterscache.com has TONS of patterns for individual blocks. The site itself is a little hokey, but I think there’s some really good ideas floating around in there.
Dawn – you can also quilt with paper! Just wanted to post a link to a log cabin quilt that I’m working on, made out of security envelopes. (Get it, security blanket? har har) The palette is limited to blacks and blues (and green which only Citizen’s Bank makes) but I’ve seen so many different patterns.
Ami Simms has lots of free patterns on her website.
about.com also has a lot of free patterns and links to free patterns.
Thanks for these great links! The patterns are gorgeous and inspiring. I may have to learn to quilt! And thanks to Dawn who commented above about adapting them to knitting, crochet or whatever you love.
Thanks for posting these! They are great.
Thanks for all the links. I’d forgotten freespirit had the patterns on there.
Thanks, these are great!
thanks Kim :)
Supercool! Thanks Kim! This has inspired me to set up my freshly-serviced machine.
The Four Twin Sisters site has a large collection of free quilt patterns.
http://www.fourtwinsisters.com/quiltpatterns/alphabeticalpatterns.php
I just wanted to add a few words about the free patterns as one of the designers whose patterns were mentioned. The designers of many fabric lines are expected to “donate” for public use via the fabric company a free pattern to promote their fabric line. In addition the designer is expected to make without reimbursement a sample quilt of the design using the fabrics in his or her line for use by fabric company sales people and possibly for advertising. These are the images that were featured in the original post.
The pattern has to be designed to use only the fabrics in the line and certainly none by other manufacturers. Furthermore, these same people also have publishers who will not agree to publish any designs that have been given away in this manner. It’s a challenge. As a designer it’s painful to see days and days of work coming up with the design, doing the calculations, making the quilt and then giving it away so others can use it for free. Were we to sell the same pattern to a magazine or as part of a book it would cover our monthly mortgage. But if you want to have a line of fabric, this is part of the deal. So as you enjoy the free patterns I also hope you’ll find a way to support through the purchase of their fabrics or books the designers who did all of the work to get these free patterns into your hands.
I’m one of the twins of FourTwinSisters.com. I’m glad to see you are enjoying our patterns! If you have any pattern requests feel free to visit our site and let us know on our pattern request tab. We are having a great time developing these patterns for appreciative users.
Sincerely,
Margaret Huynh (Twin #2 of 4)