Design your own Quilts with Electric Quilt 8 Demonstration (EQ8 Demo)

Have you wanted to design your own quilts from scratch?  Or even to change a purchased quilt pattern?

With Electric Quilt 8 Software, also known as EQ8, you can create your quilt designs.  In the linked video demonstration, I show the basics of Electric Quilt 8.

I have been using Electric Quilt 8 (EQ8) for about a year now to create new quilt layouts for panel quilts with a custom layout and block quilts with a more standard layout.

I have also used it to duplicate blocks from a purchased pattern, and then enhance the quilt by adding new borders, and auditioning different fabrics and colors to see how the quilt will look (see the Pen & Paper quilt below)!  

If you are interested in purchasing EQ8, please scroll to the end of this page for links to purchase from Electric Quilt.

Learn more about Electric Quilt 8 by watching our video or keep reading this page.

The Sweet Bees Baby Quilt, Woodland Friends Panel Quilt, and Snowflake Table topper are a few examples of quilts I've designed in EQ8.

Needlepointers.com is an Electric Quilt Affiliate which means we earn a commission on any purchases you make through our links.  

Annette and I would NEVER recommend a product that we did not like ourselves.  All opinions in the video and on this page are my own and not influenced by Electric Quilt.

Is Electric Quilt 8 Easy to Learn?

Electric Quilt 8 does have a bit of a learning curve to learn how to use it. The software was originally built many years ago so it does not work like the more modern software we are used to today.

I am a computer programmer by trade and took a class at a local quilt shop to learn the features and how to use the software. Taking the class showed me more of the features of EQ8 and cleared up the questions I had when trying to use the software.

If you purchase Electric Quilt 8, I recommend that you take an online or in-person class to learn how to use it and all the features.  I've included some options for classes at the end of this page.

It's also good to use EQ8 regularly so you won't forget how to use it!

Electric Quilt 8 Introductory Demo

A short demonstration with screenshots of the EQ8 software will give you an idea of the capabilities and features.  If you watch the video (through the link above), it will show you the same features.

When you open EQ8 it has this first opening screen.

To start a new quilt, click 'Design a Quilt from Scratch'.  A new screen appears with tabs and buttons across the top of the screen.  These guide you through the steps in designing your quilt.

On the first 'New Quilt' tab, the type of quilt is selected.  Select from options such as horizontal, on-point, and fully custom set.

For this demo, pick the 'Horizontal' design.  

Layout Tab

Click the next tab, "Layout".  On this tab, pick the number of blocks across and down your quilt.  Also, pick the finished size of the blocks and add sashing.

As the settings are adjusted, the quilt size is adjusted and always shown along the bottom of the screen.

Borders Tab

Next, click the 'Borders' tab.  On this screen, add, remove or change the type of borders to include on your quilt. 

For this sample quilt, I'll add a 1” wide long horizontal border to start. Then I will add a 3" wide vertical border.

Design Tab

Then it's the fun part, the design! Most of the time in designing a quilt will be spent on this tab.

EQ8 comes with hundreds of block designs, fabrics, and colors built in.  So, you can browse and select the blocks to use in the quilt.  Choose from Classic Pieced, Contemporary Pieced, Foundation Pieced, and many more.

For this demonstration, I chose some "New York Beauty" blocks and added them to the quilt.  They now appear in the blocks available to use in the quilt.  Select a block to add and then click a square in the quilt to place it. 

The blocks can be rotated, flipped, erased or adjusted using the toolbar at the left.

Fabric & Color Tools

The "Fabric Tools" screen allows for experimenting with different fabrics or colors on the quilt. There are many fabric options built into the software.  Fabrics can also be imported from images or photos and then used in the quilt. 

Use the Swap Color tool to change all of the same color or fabric from one to another with one click.  Audition different fabrics and colors in the quilt!  It's so quick to try different colors and fabrics.

Printing the Quilt

Once you have the quilt designed, the Print & Export tab has options to print the quilt layout, fabric yardage, blocks, rotary cutting instructions, and templates.

Then you are ready to go shopping for fabric and create the quilt!

Block & Image Worktable

Two buttons I'm not showing in this demo are the Block Worktable and Image Worktable.  

The image worktable is where images of fabrics, motifs, or applique designs can be added to the quilt.

The block worktable lets you create pieced, paper pieced or applique blocks. Import a photo and then trace it to create an applique or paper-pieced block. EQ8 will create the paper piecing or applique design for you.

Pen & Paper Quilt Sampler Quilt with Additional Border

Below is a quilt I’m working on for Milo who will be going to college next fall. Milo selected and I purchased a sampler quilt pattern from a designer, Pen & Paper (the white center section of the quilt is shown below).

I wanted to make a larger quilt than the size in the pattern.  Also, Milo wanted to try out different colors in the quilt.  

So, I used the Block Worktable and created copies of the blocks from the pattern in EQ8.  I then placed the blocks in the center of the quilt like the pattern I purchased.

To make the quilt larger, we decided to add two additional borders, pink and green background.

In the border, we added another Pen & Paper Design, Sparrows.  The colored blocks around the border represent piano key blocks. I will end up using leftover fabrics from the quilt to make a piano key type of border to fill in between the blocks.

Once I created the quilt design with the additional borders, Milo was able to audition different colors to come up with the design they wanted.

Even though I created the blocks in EQ8, I am still using the purchased pattern and instructions to create the quilt blocks.  The yardage printout helped purchase the fabrics in the colored quilt.

Star Wars Paper Pieced Quilt Layout

Another quilt layout I designed with EQ8 is the Star Wars quilt shown in the photo below. 

I found the Star Wars paper pieced blocks on a website, Fandom In Stitches.  The paper-pieced blocks are all available for free!

I had the seven paper-pieced blocks completed and needed to figure out how to lay them out into a quilt.  With EQ8, I was able to quickly and easily try out different layouts. 

I uploaded photos of the pieced blocks and the fabric options then tried out the different fabrics until I found a design that I liked.

I finally came up with the final layout shown above.  This quilt has been assembled and even quilted.  I just have to add the binding and give it as a Christmas gift. 

EQ8 makes it easy to audition fabrics, try a multitude of layouts, add borders and a lot more.

I hope this quick demonstration has given you an idea of how powerful and useful Electric Quilt 8 software can be.  I could only scratch the surface of what this software can do.

I may do more demonstrations in the future!

Quilt Patterns Made with Electric Quilt 8:

• Woodland Forest Friends Baby Panel Quilt - Annette had a panel and some blocks to make a baby quilt.  We used EQ8 to try different layouts and audition the fabrics Annette had on hand.
• Snowflake Table Topper with Accuquilt - Chris wanted to make a table topper to use the Accuquilt Snowflake Die.  The design for the table topper was created in EQ8.
• Sweet Bees Baby Quilt - Chris needed a baby quilt to use a border fabric.  EQ8 was used to try out different blocks and design layouts.