Create an Optical Illusion Quilt with EQ8

Have you ever looked at a quilt and wondered, "How did they make that look three-dimensional?"

Optical illusion quilts have an amazing ability to fool the eye. With carefully placed lines, contrasting values, and thoughtful color choices, a flat quilt suddenly appears to twist, fold, or rise off the surface.
While these designs often look incredibly complex, the secret is that many of them begin with surprisingly simple shapes.

​In this week's EQ8 tutorial, I'll show you how to create an eye-catching optical illusion block using nothing more than EasyDraw, Serendipity, and a little strategic coloring.

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​A Simple Block with Dramatic Results

One of my favorite things about Electric Quilt 8 is that it allows you to experiment with ideas before ever cutting fabric.

For this project, we begin with a straightforward EasyDraw block made from a series of nested squares.

After drawing the block, we'll use one of my favorite EQ8 features--Serendipity's Tilt Block—to completely transform the design.

It's one of those "EQ magic" moments that reminds us why designing in software is so much fun.

​Once the block is tilted, the illusion really begins to emerge.

Initial EasyDraw Block

Quadruple Your EasyDraw Design

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​Color Creates the Illusion

Drawing the block is only half the story.

The real magic happens when you begin assigning fabrics.

By placing lighter fabrics on one side of the design and darker fabrics on the other, the block suddenly appears to have depth. Instead of looking flat, the shapes begin to resemble folded ribbons or dimensional frames.

This is one of the biggest advantages of designing in EQ8—you can audition dozens of color combinations in minutes until the illusion is exactly what you're hoping to achieve.

No seam ripping.

No wasted fabric.

​Just experimentation and creativity.

Serendipity>Tilt Block

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​Add Quilting Before You Ever Sew

Another technique I demonstrate in this tutorial is creating quilting motifs directly inside EQ8.
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Using the Appliqué Worktable, you'll draft simple geometric quilting lines, save them as a stencil, and place them on Layer 3 of your quilt. Seeing both the piecing and quilting together before making your first stitch makes it much easier to visualize the finished project.

Quilting Motifs Created using EQ8

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​Watch the Complete Tutorial

In this week's video you'll learn how to:

• Draft an optical illusion block in EasyDraw
• Resize and duplicate patches with the Serendipity tools
• Transform the design using Tilt Block
• Use color value to create convincing depth
• Draft simple quilting motifs
• Assemble the finished quilt in the Quilt Worktable

​Whether you're fairly new to optical illusion quilts or already enjoy designing geometric quilts, I think you'll have fun exploring this technique.

Optical Illusion Final Quilt

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​Ready to Take Optical Illusions Even Further?

This tutorial introduces just one of the many techniques you can create with Electric Quilt 8.
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If you've ever wanted to design quilts that appear to weave, spin, twist, or leap off the surface, you'll love my upcoming class:

​Optical Illusions with EQ8

Over twelve step-by-step lessons, you'll discover how to design a wide variety of optical illusion quilts while learning the design principles behind them.

During the class we'll explore:

• Attic Windows
• Shadow Boxes and Shadow Stars
• Overlapping Ribbon Designs
• Three-Dimensional Cubes
• Quilt-from-Block Layouts
• Spinning Circles
• Impossible Triangles

Each lesson builds on the previous one, giving you confidence to create your own original designs instead of simply reproducing someone else's quilt.

You'll also receive:

• Twelve detailed video lessons
• Fully illustrated PDF tutorials
• Creative design challenges
• Permanent access to every lesson
• Access to a private Facebook community where you can ask questions and share your designs

​If you've ever admired optical illusion quilts but assumed they were too difficult to design, I'd love to show you just how approachable they can be when you let EQ8 do the hard work.

​Enrollment is currently open, with the class beginning August 3.

Sale Price: $53  (Regular Price: $73)
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I hope you'll join me!

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