FMQuilter Jennifer Lefor gave this tip during the Birch Gnomes workshop she taught in October. The internet is a wonderful source of patterns you can download a print on your printer. However, be aware of a potential mix up when creating a quilt using a downloaded pattern.

If your computer is set up to resize pages so they print on a single piece of paper, you may wind up with a block that’s a very different size than the design states. They could come out too small or too large, or you may get lucky and they’re just the right size.

Take the guess work out of it. Look for the the 1 inch square on at least one of the template pages designers include. After your pattern is printed, measure that square and ensure that the square is, in fact, 1 inch square. You’ll know that your templates are the correct size to make your blocks in the dimensions they are supposed to be.