Buy a pattern, use it over and over (and over and over) again. That’s my motto! In that spirit, I’m building a list of 100 things you can do with an applique pattern. If you’ve used one of my patterns in a unique way – tell me about it! Or better yet, send me a photo and I’ll include it here!
You’ll get a lot more use out of a pattern if you’re not afraid to resize it to suit different purposes. You can always print it out and take it to a copy shop to have them enlarge or reduce it, but digital patterns are easy to resize at home. Here’s how.
And now – on to the list!
One-Block Quilt
Make the same block over and over again and join them together into an Andy-Warhol-ish quilt.
That’s what I did to make this Peekaboo Bear quilt, but you could do it with any applique pattern!
Simple Grid Quilt
Assemble all the applique blocks into a simple grid. That’s how the Cuddly Cats are designed – but you can do that with any collection of square block patterns.
Irregular Grid Quilt (with double size blocks)
This Safari quilt pattern has regular square blocks – but also some double-size blocks.
If you want to make a simpler grid with one of these patterns, you can just leave out the double-size blocks.
Irregular Grid (with half size blocks)
The Noisy Farm quilt pattern also breaks up the simple grid – this time with half-size blocks. You can use this free alphabet pattern to add word blocks to any quilt pattern to create this more complex (and fun) layout.
Pillow Cover
Make just one block and sew it up into a pillow cover. You can either enlarge the pattern to fit the pillow, or add some strips around the edges to frame it and make it the size you need. That’s what I did with this pillow, using just one block from the Scary Squares quilt. There’s a tutorial here showing how.
Greeting Card
Forget about the fabric! Reduce the size of your pattern and use it as a template to cut and paste colorful paper onto a card. For this card for my daughter I used one of the blocks from the Puppy quilt, shrunk way down.
Checkerboard Quilt
Maybe you don’t want to applique every single block in a quilt? Applique half of them! In this version of the Puppies quilt I alternated applique blocks with plain blocks.
Receiving Blanket
Dress up this free receiving blanket pattern with a simple applique peeking over the edge. I used the fox block from the Woodland Critters applique pattern on this one.
Tablet Cover
Dress up a tablet cover with a single applique pattern. This one uses one block from the Playful Puppies pattern and this free tutorial for making the tablet cover.
Small Tote Bag
Make a small tote bag with this free pattern. You don’t even need to resize the applique pattern for this one.
Placemats
Shrink down a block pattern just a bit and make a placemat with this easy free pattern.
Christmas Stocking
Use any qpplique pattern with this free stocking pattern to make a personalized stocking.
Mini Tote Bag
Use this free pattern with any applique pattern (shrunk down just a bit) to make a mini tote bag – great for carrying small toys around.
Bibs
Bibs make terrific baby shower gifts! Here’s the basic bib pattern – fancy it up with any applique pattern.
Coasters
It’s really fun to make felt coasters.
They’re all hand sewn and quick to stitch up – and they make great gifts. Get the instructions here.
Wall Hanging with Wonky Churn Dash Frame
An easy and fun way to make a single block really special.
You can also use this pattern to make a fancier pillow cover.
More ideas to come! I’m hoping to really get all the way to 100. 🙂
Best,
Wendi
