Did you know that the patterns in magazines are often not written by the designers themselves?
I can only speak from my experience with three of my designs, whose patterns were published in three different magazines. However, in each of these cases, I sent my finished quilt to be studied by a pattern writer, who then sat down and wrote a pattern to make the quilt top. I can understand that this is done to make sure the pattern fits the standard format that particular magazine uses to present patterns. However, once a quilt is pieced and quilted, measurements aren’t always what they used to be and it must be very difficult to figure out the original patch sizes, especially when there are triangles involved!
Both Christmas Candy and Treasure Chest appeared in quilt magazines before I had ventured into pattern writing. However, I had actually written the pattern for Dandelion Wine before finding out it would be picked up by Quilters’ Home Magazine. There are some tricky measurements to ensure that those octagons match up just right, so I was very careful to check and re-check my patch sizes. Unfortunately the pattern writer for the magazine didn’t have access to my notes and didn’t get a few of those measurments quite right. I was not given the opportunity to proof the pattern before it went to print so I couldn’t catch any errors either. My fault for not checking the magzine against my own pattern when the magazine came out. (Admittedly I was too excited to see Dandelion Wine in print!)
I found out that there were discrepancies when a Connie (a quilter from NJ) contacted me a week ago to say she was having some issues with the magazine pattern. Connie seems to be a very patient person and I am so glad that she contacted me so that I could give her the corrections. (Better than having her curse me out for trying to figure out why the !&$?!!! quilt blocks would’nt go together right!) If you are trying to make Dandelion Wine from the magazine pattern and are having difficulty, please contact me at hm@HelleMayDesigns.com before you throw up your hands in frustration!
Also just a reminder – if you’d rather, my pattern for Dandelion Wine is now available for sale at www.QuiltWoman.com.
Another lesson learned! We are all human and capable of mistakes! As much as I check (and have others check) my patterns there is bound to be a mistake or typo. Please let me know if you have questions regarding any of my patterns! I’m more than happy to help!
Thanks Connie! Can’t wait to see your finished quilt!
Helle-May