Quilting Designs Criteria?

[aktbone]

I would like some input on how to choose a quilting pattern (panto/CL) for a quilt.

What criteria do you use?

Thanks!

[newellyn]

Sometimes they speak to me.

You can do a search on this forum. You 'll find amazing ideas from very talented people.

You can also Google and find hundreds of great epics.

Good luck.

[delld]

Not an expert! LOL But I first ask the owner of the quilt what their ideas are.

Next what is the theme of the quilt?

How is the quilt going to be used?

How much I'm i willing to do? LOL

Is it going into competition?

How much are they willing to pay if services are being purchases?

I suppose there are 100 more questions?

I also let the quilt speak to me. Sometimes it takes a while. Taking a photograph will help you sometime to decides and will also help find that creative piecing!!! LOL

I even ask others for ideas! Need all the help I can get. I have even asked my sweet hubby! I have asked the cat but Disco never answers me! Oh well.

Good luck, you will do just fine!!!!!

BTW Lynda is right. Try web shots as well as our forum!!

[ffq-lar]

For overalls, whether panto or CL--you can go matchy-matchy or against type. What I mean is if the quilt is very geometric and modern with big blocks and simple piecing, you can go curvy against type--like a swirls board or curly panto. It will be very effective and textural.

Or you can go full-geometric with straight lines--either horizontal/vertical lines using channel locks or rulers, or even a full crosshatching. It's a choice you and your customer can make together. Texture only will require thin blending thread while an overlay-style can get heavy thread to contrast or even a variegated thread.

For overalls on busy quilts--lots of piecing and lots of different fabrics--I try to find a theme in the fabrics. If there are swirls or scrolls I'll do an overall to match. If there are lots of florals or greens, I'll stitch a leaf and tendril meander. Kids quilts can get hearts or loopies. You can get the feel--romantic or masculine, juvenile or adult, frilly or simple--and build a library of compatible overalls.

And pattern boards can be your best friends--some of them look great on anything!

[CindyT]

Might I just add that I recently accomplished tracing all my pantos onto legal size sheet protectors and was able to audition pantos on a quilt I just loaded. The panto I had in mind was not the one that looked the best after auditioning a few others on the quilt. I think LindaS is the one that posted that idea some time ago. I agree with the other responses, too. Sometimes they "speak" to me, sometimes I see designs in a printed picture of the quilt (even a black and white print), sometimes a design in the fabric provides inspiration, and other times it depends on how the quilt is going to be used. I think trying to figure out what to quilt is one of the hardest aspects of quilting.

[Callie_Grace]

Cindy, I just went out the other day and found legal size page protectors and a notebook. Those suckers were not easy to get around here! I still need to trace my pantos, but right now I only have 3 and a circle lord swirls template on the way!

[Sandra Darlington]

I let my customers pick the panto or pattern long board. To do that, I keep an 11" X 14" binder (special ordered it from Staples office supply). Since my frame is only 11 feet long, I simply cut off the end of my panto and put it in a sheet protector and into the binder. I have the clear plastic sheet protectors in the same size, plus some extras in the back of the binder. If a customer is between two pantos, I just trace the panto right on the plastic with a wet erase marker and remove the sheet of the panto from the plastic and then lay the plastic over the quilt top so she can see how it will look. I then can clean off the sheet protector, or just get a new one from the back of the binder for the piece of the panto.

I took pictures of the CL boards (and the few other brands I also have) and put them into the binder, too. I laid a 6" ruler on the pattern board so customers could guage the scale of the board.

I write the name of the panto/pattern board and also the price per square inch on the panto in the binder (and also on the end of the actual panto) so the customer can see the cost without having to ask about each one.

I have the binder sectioned into categories such as children, holiday, flowers, leaves, geometric, curvy, etc. This system works for me because I meet my customers at the LQS, so this is easily packed in a tote bag ready to go. I also keep batting samples and some thread charts in the bag, along with a clipboard with some intake forms, pens and wet erase markers in several colors.

[Quilting Heidi]

I usually make recomendations to my customers based on what styles they like. I always want to know if they prefer geometric straight lines or prefer curves. Then I go from there. It seems to me that most quilts that are going to get e2e can accomodate either straight lines or swirly, it is more important to me that my customer likes the style of quilting. I also consider the size of the blocks as they compare to the density of the panto. I wouldn't want to put a really tight dense panto onto a quilt that has big blocks, of course there are always exceptions. Most of the time a quilt will talk to me and I can easily pick out a panto.