Working with Cheater Quilt Fabric

February 5, 2026

I love to quilt.

I hope that’s obvious 🙂 but sometimes it’s good to be explicit.

I also love cheater quilts!

I’ve been adding a lot of new cheater quilt fabric to my shop lately, and I’ve received a couple of emails from people asking if I have any posts about working with this kind of fabric.

That made me realize I don’t!

I’ve posted works-in-progress on social media, and written about it in newsletters, but I didn’t have a single comprehensive post here.

Time to fix that!

What Is Cheater Quilt Fabric?

When you make a cheater quilt, you aren’t piecing the quilt top. (That’s the “cheat.”) You’re using fabric that has a quilt already printed on it, like this.

You layer that fabric with batting and backing and then quilt it and – boom! – you have a cheater quilt.

So a cheater quilt is basically a very specific kind of whole cloth quilt.

Why Cheater Quilts?

In addition to being fast – cheater prints are also the least expensive way to make a quilt. No waste! Nothing lost to seam allowance!

As an example – here’s the fabric for a cheater quilt I made a few years ago. It’s 2 yards of the Monster Monster Cheater Quilt print on organic cotton sateen, so the printed size (not including the strips of white along the selvedge) is 56 inches wide and 72 inches tall.  

A comparable size quilt top made with any of my patterns would use about 6 yards of 42-inch wide fabric. Even factoring in the different fabric widths – that’s still more than twice as much fabric!

So cheaters are faster and less expensive.

Different Kinds of Cheater Fabrics

If you look at those two prints I’ve shown, you’ll see they’re a little different.

The Woodland Critters print you see in the first photo is a classic cheater quilt fabric. It’s laid out in squares just like a real quilt. I took mine a step further and actually photographed real quilt blocks, so you can see all my quilting and outline stitches too. Here’s a close-up of the Farm Animals cheater fabric so you can see.

Most cheater fabric doesn’t take it that far. 😂 But I kind of love the tiny imperfections that get included this way. If you look closely at the curve of quilting right next to the pig’s cheek you can see that I went a little off the darker blue line when I quilted that block. It still has a made-by-human-hands feel. 🥰

Not all of my cheater fabrics are made with my quilt actual blocks, but I’m adding more all the time and the description will always make it clear.

The Monster Monster print you see in the video snippet is quilt-ish. It’s not laid out in a grid of square blocks, but they’re square-ish and they’re in a grid layout – but it’s a wonky grid. This has quilt vibes without actually looking like a “proper” quilt.

I also have some fabrics in the Cheater Quilts section of my shop that aren’t cheater quilts in the strictest sense, because their layout isn’t like a quilt. They’re just large-scale prints that work really well for whole-cloth quilts, so I group them in with the cheaters because it’s the same concept. You’ll see an example of this in the next section.

How to Finish a Cheater Quilt

When you make a cheater quilt, the “cheating” is in how you make the top. You still have to quilt the layers together. I like to hand quilt my cheaters using Big Stitch Quilting – but you can also machine quilt, or tie, or finish it any way you like.

Some people say it’s a “waste of time and effort” to hand quilt a cheater quilt. To them I say, “Pfui! It’s my fabric, my thread, my hands, my time. I can do whatever I want.”

Here’s an example of a quilt in progress using my Meadow print in blue and yellow…

And here’s that finished quilt after washing so it has all the awesome crinkle.

When I hand-quilt my cheaters, I just pin-baste the layers together and then do big stitch quilting around each shape. This, to me, is as relaxing as coloring. In fact, I think of it as coloring in slow motion. With a needle and thread, of course. 😁

I don’t need to make any decisions so there’s zero pressure. I just choose a thread color that kind of matches the shape I’m outlining, and then it’s endless running stitches – the easiest stitch there is. I love the little sound the eye of the needle makes when it pops through the fabric, followed by the soft hiss of the thread as I pull it through. I love the feel of the fabric and thread in my hands, and the play of light on the surface. No thinking, just enjoying the moment and the repetition of thousands of stitches, filling the surface of the fabric with texture. It’s as close as I get to meditation.

Here’s an example of one of the “blocks” of the Monster Monster print.

hand-quilted caterpillar monster

You can see that I also quilted some of the purple block behind him, and every other white stripe in the gray background.

One thing I learned from this particular project is that minky and hand-quilting don’t go well together. 🙁 If you look closely you can see lots of dark purple specks in those white stripes. That was the pile of the minky getting pulled through to the front of the quilt. 🙁 I’ve machine quilted lots of minky- and cuddle-backed quilts with no problem, so I think it was just the hand-stitching that caused the problem.

How to Make a Cheater Quilt

Here are links to all the tutorials you’ll need.

  • Order your fabric. You can find all my cheater prints here. I recommend printing on organic cotton sateen. That’s the fabric base I’ve used for all my cheaters and I love how vibrant the colors print – and how vibrant they remain after lots and lots of washes. Two yards makes a nice couch-sized quilt. If you want to make a big bed-sized quilt, Spoonflower now has extra-wide cotton sateen.
  • Don’t forget to order backing and binding, too! Most of my cheater fabrics have links to coordinating prints to make that easy.
  • Layer and baste your quilt sandwich. My favorite batting is Warm & Natural. I wrote a review of it here.
  • Here’s a list (with links to sources) of all my favorite tools and supplies, including my favorite batting, and thread and that square Q-snap frame you see in a lot of photos.
  • Quilt your quilt.
    • There’s a video here showing how I do Big Stitch Quilting. I really like using Sulky Petites 12 wt. thread for this kind of stitching. It comes in loads of great colors, doesn’t need separating, and comes on neat and tidy little spools. I review the thread here.
    • If you want to machine quilt your layers together, there’s a video here showing how to machine quilt. This post has extra tips for machine quilting a big quilt on a standard sewing machine. And this post has one of my favorite tips for machine quilting without swearing. 😂
    • If you want to do traditional hand quilting, there’s a tutorial here.
    • You can also tie your quilt, but I don’t have a tutorial for that.
  • After you stitch the entire surface, you just need to bind your quilt. There’s a video showing my favorite method here.

Happy stitching!

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Snowflakes – free applique pattern

January 26, 2026

These little snowflakes come in two different sizes.

The larger size fits well in a full-sized square block. Add some big snowflakes to any pattern!

The smaller size fits in half-blocks, perfect for adding complexity to a simple grid pattern. (There’s a PDF here with all the info you need for that layout.)

You can also add small snowflakes to any regular block patterns, for a little extra fun. 😁

Obviously, they’ll work great with the Arctic Chill pattern. But they’d also be fun added to the Chirp, Backyard Birds, and Bunches of Bears patterns!

Here’s a little mock-up with some arctic animals.

Some (but not all) of these animals are in the Arctic Chill pattern. I’m still working on updating that collection. Look for new versions of these blocks coming soon…

  • narwhal
  • walrus
  • lemming

And these totally new blocks…

  • reindeer/caribou/moose
  • beluga whale

Download the free Snowflakes pattern here.

Have fun!

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Topsy Turvy Grid Quilt Layout Guide

October 27, 2025

Want to add visual interest to your quilt, but keep the grid layout as simple as possible?

Try spinning some of the blocks to create a topsy turvy layout!

That example above uses just one block – the silly Skyler Sloth – but you could use any single or multi-block pattern. I think Brette Bunny would be especially cute, but you could also make a swarm of mosquitos or bees, tumbling jellyfish, somersaulting bears – anything you can imagine!

None of my single-block patterns include specific instructions for full quilts.

That’s where my handy-dandy layout guides come in.

Each guide contains a materials list and cutting instructions for six different quilt sizes – from Itty Bitty Baby to King Size.

Download the Topsy Turvy Grid Layout Guide here.

I’m working on similar guides for other layouts too! That way no matter what layout your pattern shows, you can easily use the blocks in a different design. Here’s what I have so far and what’s coming. . .

If you’re just getting started, you’ll find a very simple How to Make a Quilt guide here.

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How to Window Cut Fusible Adhesive

October 19, 2025
Photo showing a bird quilt block appliqued with fusible adhesive, with the remains of the paper backing sitting on top of the block. text reads: How to Window Cut Fusible Adhesive

I use fusible adhesive to applique almost all of my quilt blocks, and I get a lot of questions about the stiffness.

I use Heat & Bond Lite. Yes – it is somewhat stiff when you’re making the block. I find that stiffness VERY helpful when I’m doing all my outline stitching. Basically, it acts as a wonderful stabilizer.

The first time you wash the quilt, it softens up a LOT. After a second wash I find it doesn’t feel stiff at all.

But maybe you like using a different brand that doesn’t soften as much in the wash. Or maybe you’re making a wall-hanging that you never plan to wash. Or maybe you like to layer on lots and lots of pieces and don’t want the added thickness of lots of layers of adhesive. Or maybe you’re in the middle of a project and you’re almost out of fusible and it’s raining and you don’t want to leave the house to get more so you’re trying to conserve every last bit.

It doesn’t matter why. 🙂 I’ve had several people ask if I can show how to do window cutting with fusible adhesive, so here it is!

Step 1

Print or trace your pattern just like normal. If you want, you can trace smaller pieces inside larger ones – just leave at least 1/2 inch between any lines.

Step 2

Rough cut around each piece just like normal. Leave a little extra all the way around the outside of each piece.

Step 3

Cut away the inside of each piece, leaving at least 1/4 inch of fusible. You can use scissors, but I think it’s much easier to use an X-Acto knife.

Step 4

Fuse the pieces to the wrong side of your fabric.

Photos showing window-cut fusible adhesive on the back of applique bird pieces.

On the left side of the photo you can see the window-cut pieces fused to the back of the fabric. On the right you can see the bits that I cut out of the inside. You can use those cut-out bits for smaller applique pieces.

Step 5

Clean cut around the pieces on the solid lines, just like normal.

Bird applique pieces with window-cut fusible adhesive applied to the back.

Step 6

Trace any placement or stitching lines.

Bird applique pieces with placement and stitching lines traced onto the fabric.

Normally any placement and stitching lines (here the wing and eye placement and the eyelashes) are on the paper side of the fusible adhesive, but you cut that away. You’ll need to lay the pieces over the placement guide of your pattern and trace those lines.

Step 7

Layer the pieces together, fuse them in place, and do all the outline stitching, just like normal.

Finished!

So there you go – the ease of applique with fusible adhesive with the softness of needle-turn applique.

Happy stitching!

Vibrant handmade crochet toys and patterns from Shiny Happy World.

Here are links to all the posts showing how to applique with fusible adhesive – my favorite method. It’s fast and easy and (with the right materials) it holds up beautifully to rough use and repeated washing.

Here are links to special posts about eyes.

Here are links to some extra fun things you can do with your applique.

Other Applique Methods

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about outline stitching.

Mushrooms – Free Applique Pattern

July 7, 2025
Yellow mushroom applique pattern, digital illustration, bright colorful mushroom design for crafts and quilting.

These little mushrooms used to be available only as part of the Woodland Critters pattern, but now they’re a free pattern that you can combine with any of your animal patterns.

Obviously, they’ll work great with the Woodland Critters bundles (Woodland Bundle #1 and Woodland Bundle #2), but they’d also be fun to add to the Chirp pattern or the Wild Flowers pattern.

Or just use them on their own! I’ve always thought they’d make fun placemats. (There’s a free pattern here.)

You could add more than one mushroom to a single square or to a double-size block. The samples you see above are made on blocks that finish at 5 x 10 inches – perfect for adding half-blocks to any of my patterns.

There’s a PDF here for Added Half-Block Layouts. I’ve done all the math for you – calculating yardage, providing cutting instructions and layout guides for six different quilt sizes, from Itty Bitty Baby to King Size. Here’s what that layout looks like.

And, of course, you could make an entire quilt full of nothing but mushrooms!

For this pattern I don’t provide as detailed instructions as usual. It’s just too simple a pattern!

If this is your first time doing applique with fusible adhesive, you’ll find detailed instructions here.

Here’s the nutshell version.

  • Print or trace the templates onto the paper side of paper-backed fusible adhesive. (I use Heat & Bond Lite for all my quilts.)
  • Roughly cut around each piece.
  • Fuse to the back of your fabric.
  • Cut the piece out neatly on the solid lines.
  • Peel off the paper backing.
  • Position a stem onto your block.
  • Position a mushroom cap on your stem.
  • Fuse in place.
  • Outline stitch around each piece.

Done!

Here’s a video showing me assembling both of my sample blocks.

You can use any stem with any cap. And feel free to get playful with your colors. Mushrooms come in every color of the rainbow! I saw a shiny purple mushroom once that looked like it was made of glass!

Download the templates here.

Have fun!

Simple Trees – Free Applique Pattern

July 7, 2025
Green applique tree pattern for quilting and sewing projects, free downloadable design.

These simple trees used to be available only as part of the Woodland Critters pattern, but now they’re a free pattern that you can combine with any of your animal patterns.

Obviously, they’ll work great with the Woodland Critters bundles (Woodland Bundle #1 and Woodland Bundle #2), but they’d also be fun to add to the Shiny Happy Houses pattern, or the Bunches of Bears pattern, or the Backyard Birds pattern.

Or just use them on their own! I’ve always thought they’d make pretty placemats. (There’s a free pattern here.) And I’d love to see a four seasons set! Just change out the fabrics!

You could add more than one tree to a single square or to a double-size block. The samples you see above are made on blocks that finish at 5 x 10 inches – perfect for adding half-blocks to any of my patterns.

There’s a PDF here for Added Half-Block Layouts. I’ve done all the math for you – calculating yardage, providing cutting instructions and layout guides for six different quilt sizes, from Itty Bitty Baby to King Size. Here’s what that layout looks like.

And, of course, you could make an entire forest quilt full of trees and nothing but trees!

For this pattern I don’t provide as detailed instructions as usual. It’s just too simple a pattern!

If this is your first time doing applique with fusible adhesive, you’ll find detailed instructions here.

Here’s the nutshell version.

  • Print or trace the templates onto the paper side of paper-backed fusible adhesive. (I use Heat & Bond Lite for all my quilts.)
  • Roughly cut around each piece.
  • Fuse to the back of your fabric.
  • Cut the piece out neatly on the solid lines.
  • Peel off the paper backing.
  • Position a tree top onto your block.
  • Position a set of branches on your tree top.
  • Fuse in place.
  • Outline stitch around each piece.

Done!

Here’s a video showing me assembling all four of my sample blocks.

You can use any tree top with any set of branches. You can even cut most of the branches off and just use the trunk. (If you do this, position the trunk piece behind the tree top piece.)

Download the templates here.

Have fun!

How to Transfer and Mark Detail Stitching Lines – video tutorial

June 19, 2025

On most of my applique patterns, the little stitched details – things like eyelashes and eyebrows and smiles – fall inside the applique pieces.

Colorful lion face rug for kids' playroom, plush and textured for safe, fun decor.

That makes it really easy to transfer those detail lines to fabric. They’re right on the pattern pieces!

Sometimes I have detail lines that fall outside of the applique pieces, but until now those have just been whiskers, and they’re a continuation of lines that start inside the pieces, so they’ve been easy to transfer too.

Winking cat illustration sewing pattern for kids' crafts and quilting projects.

But what about something like these creepy, dangly mosquito legs?

How the heck do you transfer those lines to the background block? Especially since the way I work means the background block is already quilted to a layer of batting, making it impossible to see through?

Well – I came up with an answer!

All you need is a sharp pokey thing and a black pen. 🙂

Here’s what those lines look like after you mark them with the marker

And if you scroll back up, you can see them stitched.

Want that mosquito pattern? You can get it here.

Vibrant handmade crochet toys and patterns from Shiny Happy World.

Here are links to all my posts about outline stitching.

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about how to trim and assemble your blocks.

Hand Quilting on the Couch

June 13, 2025

I’ve had a few people ask me recently about how (exactly) I sit on the couch to do hand quilting.

Where do I rest the frame?

How do I position my hands?

What do I do with all the excess quilt?

I made this video several years ago for a class on hand-stitching, and I decided to make it public because it answers all those questions. 🙂

In the video I’m doing Big Stitch Quilting, but it’s mostly about how I sit on the couch. 🙂

If you’re looking for detailed instructions about how to actually do Big Stitch Quilting, there’s a video here.

If you’re looking for a video showing how to do traditional hand quilting, you can find that here.

If you’re looking for more info about that square frame you see me using, there’s a list of all my favorite tools and supplies here.

Happy stitching!

Colorwork Cuff Club – August

May 29, 2025
Purple and orange patterned knitting socks, tattoo on ankle, cozy fiber art, colorful handmade footwear, vibrant knitting design.

Socks are one of my very favorite things to knit. They’re almost instant gratification. I can make a pair of socks in a weekend if I have enough Star Trek, X-Files, or Secret Lives of Mormon Wives to watch.

(One of those things is not like the other.)

When one of my knitting friends showed me the Colorwork Cuff Club pattern by Summer Lee, I knew what my next project was going to be. 

Like the title suggests, this is a sock club. You buy the base pattern once, and you get a new colorwork cuff every month. (You also get all the previous month’s patterns when you buy the base pattern.) The cuff changes, but the foot pattern is the same every time, which makes these socks knit up super quick. 

I’m not planning to knit the cuffs in order, but I did happen to start that way. The first cuff pattern released was also the first one I knit—August. 

Patterned cozy knit socks in purple and teal for kids, perfect for handmade clothing and winter wear.

This pattern was so nice, I made it twice. One set, the blue, is for my mother. The other set is for me. 

For the blue socks, I used Fiona Kay’s Stampede Sock in the color Nevermore as the main color. She doesn’t seem to be running her Poe collection anymore, but she always has new stuff on her website and her Instagram. I was also able to find her yarns at Northwest Wools. 

For the accent color I used a mini skein from Lamb Good Fibers. It was part of a whole set of minis, so I have no idea what the color name was. 

For the purple socks, I used Knitted Wit Sock in the color Galaxy Flower. This was part of Knitted Wit’s Herstory collection, which are monthly colors each representing and highlighting a famous woman. Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good, so you may have a hard time finding this exact color.

I really like Knitted Wit’s yarn for socks. They’re durable, soft, and are perfect for colorwork. 

For the accent color I used a Teal Torch Knits mini in the color Neon Melon. I love neons, and I think this was the perfect accent color to go with the dark purple. 

I had a blast making these socks, and I’m already working on my next pair from the Colorwork Cuff Club—this time September. 

(I swear I’m not doing them in order.)

For those who like to track their knitting in Ravelry, here’s my post about this project.

Best,
Jo

Felt Demon Goat

May 20, 2025
Felt demon goat craft made from black felt with googly eyes and curved horns.

“Wouldst thou like the taste of butter? Wouldst thou like to live…deliciously?”

For those who don’t know, those are lines from Black Phillip, the demonic goat from the movie The VVitch. My friend and I both like that movie, and love to quote Black Phillip to each other. When my friend’s birthday came around this year, I knew what I had to make. 

Black felt goat figurine against yellow background.

There weren’t any patterns that I could find that were specifically Black Phillip, so I had to improvise a bit. I used the Felt Billy Goat Stuffie pattern by Lia Griffith as my base. The felt I used was from Benzie Design. I used black for the body, and graphite for the horns. 

The pattern didn’t call for it, but I added pipe-cleaner armature in the legs and in the horns. I don’t think they were necessary for him to stand, but they did help me keep his legs from splaying, which I know can happen with this shape. The only adjustment I made to the pattern pieces themselves was lengthening the horns so they would be more like the goat in the movie. 

The other big change that I made was the eyes. The pattern calls for itty-bitty 5mm safety eyes. I had those, but only in black. In the movie, Black Phillip has yellow eyes.

(Don’t believe all the fanart with red eyes. They are wrong.)

Normally I wouldn’t mind just subbing in black safety eyes instead of a color, but the black eyes just weren’t showing up on the black felt. I went through a couple different options. I thought about doing sequins, but then I didn’t have any in yellow or gold. My next thought was small buttons, and those ended up being a strong contender. 

In the end, I went with gold rhinestones. I’m so glad I did, because I think they look awesome. They catch the light beautifully, and they give him a supernatural look. I added eyelids because the rhinestones were twice the size of the eyes the pattern called for—without the eyelids they looked a bit ridiculous. 

Felt Goat - Black Phillip from the movie The Witch, made with black felt and gold rhinestone eyes.

I’m not one to believe in this sort of thing, but I think my Black Phillip was cursed.

I’ve never stabbed myself so many times, and I’ve never had so many seams bust open. To be fair, this pattern has some pretty thin gussets on the legs. They give the goat some sharp-looking shaping, but they’re also liable to tear–especially since you want to stuff the legs firmly so he’ll stand well.

The stabbing thing is a whole different story though. It only started after I put his eyes on him. I think the eyes gave him sentience and he went after me. 

The goat pattern said it would take an hour or more to make this pattern. For me it was definitely more.

The first big seam where you sew one side of the body to the legs and belly piece was especially time consuming. It took me a whole episode of M*A*S*H just to clip the pieces into place.

Even though it took me a lot longer than the pattern said it would (I think it took me two episodes of X-Files just to stuff the body) he turned out beautifully.

Felt Goat - Black Phillip from the movie The Witch, made with black felt and gold rhinestone eyes.

I was sad to see him go when I shipped him off. I might have to make myself a Black Phillip soon. Hopefully he won’t be out for blood this time.

Best,
Jo