An EQ8 feature you may not know about is Photo Patchwork quilts. The style of quilts made with this feature is sometimes called pixel quilts.

There are not many steps to create a Photo Patchwork quilt in EQ8 but to get results you like you may need to do some experimenting and try out different options.

The first quilt we are going to create is based on a block I drew in EQ8. You can use any image you would like.

  1. Here are a few options.If you would like to base a pixel quilt on a block…
    Open the block to your Block Worktable
    Click the PRINT & EXPORT tab > Export > Image
    Name and save the file or, you can use my example…
    Right click on the block below

    Choose Save Image As…
    Name and save the file
  2. Click Design a Quilt from scratch
  3. Under NEW QUILT click on Photo Patchwork
  4. Click the LAYOUT tab
  5. Under NUMBER OF UNITS
    Horizontal: 12
    Vertical: 24  Notice that this doesn’t make the quilt 12 x 24 patches. Here’s why.
  6. Under FINISHED SIZE OF UNITS
    Width: 2
    Height : 2
  7. Click the DESIGN tab
  8. Click Import Photo and navigate to your image
  9. Choose Inside Fit, Outside Fit or Distorted Fit, based on your preference.
  10. Click Show Quilt to preview what your quilt will look like.
  11. Click the Layer 1 tab at the bottom of the Quilt Worktable. Then click Fabric Tools and recolor any patches if you wish.
  12. Click Randomize and Map to Colors
    When you first click Show Quilt, EQ8 changes each patch in the quilt to the average color in that patch. When you click Map to Colors, it changes the colors to to colors you have in your Sketchbook. So if it doesn’t find the exact same color in the Sketchbook, it will find the closest match.
  13. I then used the Swap Color tool to put a little more variation in the heart and brighten up the other colors.
  14. Click the BORDERS tab
  15. Click the Delete button
  16. Click Add to Project Sketchbook . If you haven’t named your project yet, EQ8 will prompt you to do so. (To be saved, your item needs to be in the Sketchbook AND your project needs to be named. Here is more information.)
    Here is another example using a drawing of a giraffe.
  17. If you’d like to use the one in the example…
    Right click on the image below
    Choose Save Image As…
    Name and save the file
  18. Click NEW QUILT > Photo Patchwork
  19. Click the LAYOUT tab
  20. Under NUMBER OF UNITS
    Horizontal: 22
    Vertical: 57
  21. Under FINISHED SIZE OF UNITS
    Width: 2
    Height : 2
  22. Click the DESIGN tab, then Import Photo
  23. Click Outside Fit
  24. Click Position & Resize and move your giraffe. Here is some more information on how Position & Resize works.
  25. Click Layer 1
  26. Recolor the rest of the quilt as you would like. I did recolor the legs a little.
    Save time and use the Paintbrush Subtools.
  27. When you are done, click Add to Sketchbook.
    Now, if you really planned on sewing something like this, that’s a lot of squares that are all the same. You could place a plain block on Layer 2 to get the correct sizes, then quilt a grid on top to make it look like you sewed all the squares together.
    One more example!
  28. Click NEW QUILT
  29. Click Photo Patchwork
  30. Click the LAYOUT tab
  31. The photo you use will determine the dimensions of the quilt but here is what I used…
    Under NUMBER OF UNITS
    Horizontal :33
    Vertical: 57
  32. Under FINISHED SIZE OF UNITS
    Width: 2
    Height : 2
  33. Click the DESIGN tab
  34. Click Import Photo and navigate to your image
  35. Click Outside Fit (or whichever you’d prefer)
  36. Click Position & Resize
  37. Click Layer 1
  38. I wanted to get rid of the people’s legs in the background, so I recolored the area using similar colors to the background.
  39. Click Add to Project SketchbookIf you want to post images of your quilt, here is how to export the images.
    
    To post your image click to comment on this post.Fill in your info and then click Browse.
    Go to: Documents\My EQ8\Images
    I can’t wait to see what you’ve done! I hope you enjoyed the lesson!
    If you have questions about the lesson feel free to post them below.
    If you have questions about something else EQ related, please contact techsupport@electricquilt.com.
    If you have suggestions for new Design & Discover lessons feel free to comment below or email Heidi@electricquilt.com.