Ever since I first heard about Elizabeth Hartman I have been dying for an excuse to make one of her patterns. Everyone seems to love her designs and they’re always super cute but the right excuse never really came up. I’d thought about making one of them for myself with my free time – but really, what free time? So I’d just occasionally stalk her web store fantasizing about her quilts and just waiting for the right moment.
Then a family member announced their pregnancy and they liked dinosaurs and I didn’t even have to think about it – I knew exactly what I wanted to make her! I grabbed up Elizabeth Hartman’s Dinosaurs Sampler and started shopping for fabric.
I really love the T-Rex. He looks like he’s excitedly telling his other dinosaur friends a cool story.
This pattern has instructions for both a large and a small quilt. The pattern is set up with the color scheme for the small quilt being more of a monotone while the large quilt is done in a gradient. I made the small quilt but I wanted the gradient so I diverted from the instructions here to do my own color scheme. Fortunately she breaks down what’s in each block so after I figured out my colors I was able to easily figure out what I would need to cut.
I worked two blocks at a time.
Normally I would cut everything at the start and then do all the sewing but I was worried I would lose a lot of the tiny pieces. I did cut all the background at the beginning since that was all the same color and I was a bit disappointed that there was quite a bit of fabric waste. I understand the reason she wrote the pattern that way was because she was trying to simplify the cutting instructions and I can’t honestly say I’d do it any differently – I think it’s just a sacrifice you have to make for such an intricate quilt.
This Stegosaurus was my favorite of the bunch.
The only real complaint I have is that a couple of illustrations were unclear. When you’re working with a block that is ¼” longer on one edge, it’s kind of hard to tell which side should be the top when the picture pretty much looks like a square. A measurement indicator on those would have helped.
Really though, I’m kind of nit-picking here to find issues with the pattern. I like pictures more than written instructions and I pieced nearly all of it based off the pictures alone. I only needed to refer to the written instructions a couple times, mostly to make sure I was using the right pieces. Both the instructions and the diagrams were excellently done.
This quilt pattern is a good challenge for your piecing skills. I discovered that I’m really good at sewing a consistent ¼” seam allowance but my diagonals could use some work.
This is a pretty complex pattern with lots of tiny pieces. It reminded me a bit of putting together a jigsaw puzzle (which is something I actually love) – so this was right up my alley! It’s probably not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. You have to proceed carefully and there’s a good chance you’ll make a few mistakes. But I really feel that the end product was worth it! I’d love to make another one of these again!
Pros
- Great design
- Well written
- Includes color chart with suggestions
- Detailed cutting diagrams
Cons
- Large fabric wastage
- A couple of diagrams were unclear as to which side was up
Could Be Either (Depending On Personal Tastes)
- Lots of tiny pieces in a lot of different sizes
Just bought this pattern and was looking for any tips and tricks for making my dinosaurs. That is exactly what you provided, thank you.
I have a question. How little is little on the size of the pieces, can you give me the smallest piece? What size do the blocks turn out to be? I am not sure my skills are good enough for tiny pieces yet. I have only been quilting for about 2 years.
There are some really small pieces – about 1″ if I recall correctly.
I am currently cutting the fabric for the quilt. The smallest piece is 1×1 inch (the eyes of the dinos) I find the pattern is good when you have lots of extra fabric from other projects. Personally, I think her earlier patterns are better for beginners. I remember her cat pattern had less misc sizes to cut, and weren’t so small.
I love that you flipped the background! I need to do 2 of these for now. All Boys. So i like the color for this smaller version. And need 1 more twin size so will need more color options. Ideas?
Lindsey, I love your color palette for this pattern – do you mind sharing your fabric selections with us? Thank you!
This was a little while ago so I’m not sure all these fabrics are still available, but I used: -Wilmington Essentials Soda Pop Lemon Lime -FreeSpirit Garden Brighter Pebbles Kiwi -P&B Textiles Toss of Texture DPI Dots Green -Studio E Just Color Swirl Basic Green -Benartex Cat-I-tude 2 PurrFect Together Squarely There Green -Michael Miller Hash Dot Hash Dot Turquoise -Stoffabric Denmark Solaire Small Dots Dark Turquoise -Andover/Makower UK Reef Coral Teal -Michael Miller I Want a Monster Furry Blue -Andover Buzzin Around Dots Teal -Wilmington Summertime Sketchy Dots Blue -Kona Cotton Sand (for the background) I just tried to… Read more »
Lindsey, Thank you so much for your answer! I really appreciate the time you took to share your Dino palette and explain your thinking!
How do I order this pattern? i would like it in a baby crib size if possible.
It looks like she had updated her shop so I fixed the link in the article above, but you can find the Elizabeth Hartman Dinosaur pattern at the link here.
I would like to make this quilt, but only in a crib size. Does your pattern give instructions for this and where can I purchase it from? TIA
This is not my pattern – this is a review of Elizabeth Hartman’s Dinosaurs quilt pattern. There’s a small and a large version of the quilt which can be purchased at her shop here.