How I used Electric Quilt 8 to Design my Next Quilt Pattern #EQ8

**This post is sponsored by The Electric Quilt Company**

For the past several years I’ve used Electric Quilt 7 (EQ7) to design not only quilt patterns, but also rounds for the Round Robin Quilt Bee I participated in, for foundation paper pieced blocks I wanted to make, pillows, even bags and pouches. Although most of those things never made it into quilt patterns, having the ability to try out a block before I ever cut fabric has been invaluable.

So, I wanted to share with you some screenshots of how I designed my latest (coming next week!) quilt pattern with EQ8, in case you were curious how I actually use it. I started with an idea of a combination of an Irish Chain and a star block, so I opened a new quilt and chose a star and an Irish Chain from the default EQ8 library (yes, it’s full of traditional blocks just waiting to be used!)

I used just a standard quilt layout, but EQ8 has many options before you even start adding blocks to a quilt, including options that were not available in EQ7, such as variable block sizes (maybe my Quattro Mini Quilt will became a pattern someday!). But back to my current quilt. Since part of the fun of EQ8 is making the blocks your own, I decided to tweak the large star first.

I opened up the large star block in the Block Worktable and added a smaller square to the block, clicked over to the coloring and made it my own:

I showed this block previously on Instagram, because when I colored it and added to my quilt, I felt like square in the star was too small, so I went back to the block and adjusted the square, I loved how easy it was to change (much quicker than than in EQ7, where each block change felt a bit like starting over).

Once the star was looking the way I wanted it to, I also imported some fabric swatches (yes! there’s a tutorial to add any fabric to EQ!) because I’m planning to make this quilt out of Vintage Holiday by Bonnie & Camille for Moda. So, here you can see I colored my blocks with the fabric:

Then, I went back to the Quilt Worktable and pulled up the Block Sketchbook, where I’d saved my edited and recolored blocks:

And then, with a few clicks, I was able to add them to my quilt to create an updated look! I did add the blocks to the quilt several times throughout the course of creating the perfect block, both to adjust size and scale, and it is so helpful to see how the different blocks look together without having to sew them. Here’s the almost-finished quilt design:

There are a few more design tweaks I’m still working on, as well as drawing diagrams and writing out the instructions, but this quilt is well on its way to becoming the next C&V quilt pattern.

When EQ8 came out I really debated whether the upgrade was worth it. I loved EQ7, but at times the user interface was a little difficult and I spent a lot of time looking at tutorials every single time I used it because I couldn’t remember where things were, even though I used it often. I wondered if EQ8 be that much better? Well, let me tell you, it is! I’m so excited to be able to more easily translate my ideas into fabric.

Do you have any questions I can answer about EQ8?

Sponsored Post: I was provided a free upgrade to EQ8 by The Electric Quilt Company with the agreement to share my use of the software. I had previously purchased EQ7 myself. As always, all opinions are my own.