OMG! I saw this tutorial and absolutely flipped out over this quilting technique! I’m a huge animal lover and I think it’s so cool that I can actually put pictures of my pets on a quilt! And, to make this even more interesting, you can actually trace your children and do the same thing!

I’m an Artist and am commissioned to paint pet portraits, but I never dreamed that I could actually put them on a quilt! I’ve already gotten started doing this, even though it’s taking me longer than most quilters, it’s looking pretty great!

Susan Carlson is a blogger and she does fabulous quilts and here’s what she says: Tracing vellum is nice and transparent, if you can find some, but regular old tracing paper will do if that’s what you have. Using a nice, sharp pencil (I like mechanical pencils for this), start outlining the larger shapes based not on, say, parts of a face—nose, mouth, eyes—but in terms of value.

Resist the urge to be extremely detailed. It will simply be too confusing. Also, as you will see in the example of “Dixie Dingo” (below), the pattern will get covered up quite quickly, making all those details a waste of time. If it starts looking like a crazy paint-by-number drawing, then you probably have too much detail. Look for lightest areas and darkest areas to draw around. The middle values get filled in as the piecing process progresses.

When in doubt, go big. How big? One rule of thumb: a face should generally be at least 10 to 12 inches top to bottom. Even bigger is better. Imagine trying to create an eye the size of your pinkie nail. Now imagine it the size of a golfball. Make it easy on yourself and go bigger.”

Watch how this lady with Interweave Craft makes this spectacular quilt so you can make one too!

How to Make A Custom Portrait Quilt