Quilt Creator

Review by eFreeware

Planning a quilt usually starts with graph paper, colored pencils and a lot of second-guessing. Quilt Creator is an Android app from Crochet Designs that moves that process onto a phone or tablet, letting you lay out blocks, recolor them and see the result before any fabric is cut.

The premise is straightforward. You pick from a library of more than 200 quilt blocks, arrange them into a layout of whatever size you need, and change the colors until the design looks right. The app is free to download, with a one-time activation fee if you want to use the creation tools.

It has been on Google Play since January 2018 and sits in the Art & Design category. The install base is modest at over 10,000, and the average rating is 1.4 from 164 ratings, which is low enough that it deserves a mention up front even though I can't speak to what sits behind it.

Quilters who plan before they cut

This is a tool for people who already quilt and want to work out a design before committing to fabric. If you like auditioning color combinations, testing whether a layout feels balanced, or working out how many blocks a given quilt size needs, the app is built around exactly that loop.

It also suits quilters who want to move beyond the built-in library. The ability to draw your own blocks and drop them into a quilt means you can design something that isn't in the catalog, which matters if you keep returning to the same few traditional patterns and want to branch out.

Because everything happens on a screen, it's a reasonable fit for anyone who plans while traveling, at a guild meeting or in the evening when the sewing machine is put away. The app includes three free quilt patterns to start from, so there is something to open before you build anything of your own.

Laying out a quilt from the block library

Creating a quilt starts by setting its width and height in blocks, which defines the grid you'll be working on. From there you open the block picker and choose from the library of over 200 designs, placing them onto the grid until the layout is complete.

Coloring is where the app does most of its work. You select a color, then use the fill-all tool on any block to change every instance of that block to the new color at once, which is the fast way to test a palette across a whole quilt. A single-block paint tool handles the cases where you only want to change one fabric in one block, and a dropper lets you pull a color you've already used so you can repeat it elsewhere.

The editing toolbar covers the usual corrections: cut removes a block, copy duplicates one into another position, and rotate turns a block in place. Sashing can be added around each block, either vertically, horizontally or both, which is useful for judging how a layout reads once the borders are in. Undo and redo are there for experimentation, and zoom controls let you look closely at a section or step back for the whole design.

Drawing your own blocks

The second half of the app is block creation. You start by choosing a block size between 5 and 16 inches, then build the block from shapes. Three shape types are available: triangles, four-sided shapes and pentagons, and you can place as many as the design needs.

Shapes can be dragged into position and snap into place, and green corner handles let you reshape them by pulling a corner to where you want it. There are also buttons for flipping a shape horizontally or vertically, rotating it, and making it one size larger or smaller, so you don't have to redraw a shape to adjust it.

Coloring works much like it does on the quilt side. You pick a color and apply it to the fabric shapes in the block, with a dropper for reusing a color and a paint bucket for filling. Cut and copy handle individual shapes, and undo, redo and zoom are available here too. Finished blocks can be saved and added to your quilts, which is what makes the two halves of the app work together.

Saving, sharing and printing your work

Quilt patterns and blocks can both be saved, so a design can be set aside and returned to later. There is a share button that sends a picture of your pattern by email, text or another app, which is a simple way to get feedback from someone before you start cutting.

The app also prints quilts, blocks and instructions. For anyone who likes to work from paper at the cutting table, that turns a phone design into something you can pin up or carry with you, and the instructions give you a written reference for the layout rather than just an image.

Between the block library, the custom block editor and the layout tools, there is a fair amount of capability here for a free download. The trial patterns give you a way to see how the app behaves before deciding whether the creation tools are worth paying for.

What it costs and what you get free

The download is free, and there are no ads at any point. That is a welcome detail for a design tool, since nothing interrupts the work while you're placing blocks or mixing colors.

The catch is the creation tools. Activating creation costs $2.99, described as a one-time fee rather than a subscription. The app offers in-app purchases, and this is the purchase the developer describes. Three free quilt patterns are included, so there is a way to try the app before deciding.

What I'd weigh here is whether the design work is something you'll do more than once. A one-time charge of $2.99 is small in the context of quilt fabric, but it only makes sense if the app becomes part of how you plan projects. The absence of ads means the cost is the only commercial element to consider.

How it compares with paper and paid design software

The obvious alternative is graph paper and colored pencils, which cost almost nothing and require no learning. Paper is quick for a rough sketch, but recoloring a whole quilt means redrawing it, and the app's fill-all tool does that in a couple of taps. If your planning is mostly rough and disposable, paper may still be enough.

Desktop quilt design software is the other comparison. Those programs typically run on a computer and often carry a higher price, and they may offer more advanced features than a phone app can. The trade-off is that a phone is with you when an idea strikes, and the app's block editor and layout tools cover the core of what most quilters need to decide on a design.

There are also general-purpose drawing apps that could be pressed into service for quilt layouts. They won't have a library of quilt blocks, sashing controls or a block editor built around quilt geometry, so they involve more manual work. The value of Quilt Creator is that the pieces are already shaped for quilting.

A planning tool for quilters who design on screen

Quilt Creator is a focused tool: it takes a quilt from an idea to a layout with colors, sashing and, if you want, blocks you drew yourself. The library of over 200 blocks and the custom block editor mean it can handle both traditional patterns and designs that aren't in any catalog.

The $2.99 one-time activation for the creation tools is the main decision point. The free download and three included patterns let you see how the app works first, and the absence of ads keeps the experience clean. For a quilter who plans projects regularly on a phone or tablet, that is a reasonable ask.

It's worth going in knowing what the app is for. This is a design and planning tool, not a sewing or fabric-management app, and its value comes from how often you sketch quilts before you cut. If that describes your process, the app covers the ground well.

What's new in version 26.2.4

Quilt Creator - Be able to make your own Quilt Designs from over 200 quilt blocks. You can also create your own quilt block designs to add to your quilts. You can print your quilt, blocks and instructions. No Ads ever. One Time Only Activation Fee is $2.99