Tattoo Quilt Review

I’ve made this quilt more than once—and I still keep coming back to it. The Tattoo Quilt by Berene Campbell of Happy Sew Lucky is bold, modern, and packed with meaning. Each block feels like its own little message, and together they make something really special.

In this video, I share my experience with the pattern, including how I first discovered it, what I love about the design, and the four different versions I’ve made so far. I also explain how foundation paper piecing plays a big role in getting those crisp, graphic shapes.

Whether you’re curious about trying the pattern yourself or just love seeing how other quilters work, I hope you’ll enjoy this behind-the-scenes look.

Captions are included in the video, and if you prefer to read or want to refer back to something later, you’ll find the full transcript just below the video.

🎬 Scroll down to watch—and let me know which version is your favourite!

Transcript

Hi, I’m Sue for Curious Quilter and I wanted to take a few minutes to share one of my absolute favourite quilt patterns with you—the Tattoo Quilt by Berene Campbell from Happy Sew Lucky.

I first came across this pattern a few years ago and was immediately hooked by the bold, modern look and the meaningful messages in each block.

I joined the Tattoo quilt sewalong in 2020. I like sewalongs, or quiltalongs as they are also know. They are fun and a great way to stay motivated while making a quilt.

During the sewalong, Berene sent out a newsletter each month focusing on a different block. She’d tell the story behind why she designed it and included helpful tips and tricks to get it done.

The Tattoo Quilt is a foundation paper piecing pattern also known as FPP. I love paper piecing because it gives you those super crisp, graphic shapes.

The pattern is available as a downloadable PDF and there are two versions The only difference is the block design for the Peace tattoo. I brought the Peace Crane option.

What I really love is how each block looks like a tattoo and carries uplifting messages like Hope, Courage, and Moxy.

I’d consider this to be an advanced pattern-it’s got some complex sections to sew and each block is made of multiple sections. Plus, there are Y-seams!

But that’s not say that if you’re not super confident with paper piecing yet, you shouldn’t give this a go. The instructions in the pattern are incredibly clear and well written.

The pattern pieces are thoughtfully designed with reference markers to help line everything up, so you can be really accurate. They are also well labelled and colour coded-which really helps avoid accidentally sewing a piece of fabric in the wrong spot.

So far, I’ve made three of these quilts, and I’m currently working on my fourth-for some reason that seemed like a good idea at the time.

The blocks are really versatile—you can use a bunch of them for a full quilt or just a few for a wall hanging or cushion.”

I wanted to do the quilts with different coloured backgrounds and to challenge myself to use only fabric from my stash. In the end, I did have to buy a few pink fabrics-turns out I don’t have much of that colour.

This dark grey background version was the first of the three quilts I completed. Originally, I wasn’t a fan of the centre block, so I left it out. This one doesn’t include all of the blocks from the full quilt pattern, so it finishes smaller than the others. Each tattoo block has an individual quilting design, with horizontal straight-line quilting through the background.

This cream versions uses scrappy cream and beige tone on tone fabric for the background. For the tattoos, I challenged myself to start with scraps pulling only from my stash for larger pieces. This version has the most complex quilting design and I decided to add in the centre block.

This version has an all-black background and the fabric challenge here was to use only solid or grunge fabric. The quilting is a simple all-over design of vertical straight lines.

If you love modern quilting and want a project that feels meaningful and creative, I totally recommend this pattern.

It’s expressive, thoughtful, and makes a beautiful gift or something really personal for yourself.

You can find the pattern on Berene’s Etsy shop. She also shares loads more inspiration and ideas on her website and her YouTube channel has great tutorials, tips and tricks. I’ve linked everything in the description.

Thanks so much for watching! This is a pattern I keep coming back to, and I hope it inspires you as much as it’s inspired me.