Cow Close-up

This pattern is designed for people who are already familiar with paper piecing techniques, but seeing as how this is only the second thing I’ve made with paper piecing, I wouldn’t say you have to be an expert to get it done.

The finished pattern is 10″ x 7.25″. Click to download.

Click to download

After I made one myself I found a few places where I had to tweak the pattern a little for accuracy. I’m sure you’ll be able to spot my errors. It’s entirely possible that there are more that I’ve missed, so if you find any errors, please let me know and I’ll adjust the pattern.

I’ve tried to make the pattern as understandable and easy to follow as possible, but please feel free to ask as questions or offer suggestions on how to make the pattern or instructions clearer.

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Update: I used my cow to make a trivet.

To quilt it, I made a fence pattern because I thought it would cute with the cow. I used a clear nylon thread in the needle, and then a thread to match the backing in the bobbin. It’s easier to see from the back.

I used the method where you make the backing an inch longer on all sides and then fold it over for the binding. As you will probably notice, the edges of the quilting don’t line up nicely with the binding line. You can either be more careful than I was and line things up properly, or you can use a separate binding strip instead of using the backing. If I had it to do over, I’d probably just use a binding strip, as it would have covered a multitude of sins.

Here is the fence pattern. I just printed it out, lined it up, and sewed on the solid lines. The grey edge around the pattern is where the binding will be, and the dotted lines are just there to help center the fence on your project.

Click to download