Actually, not at all.  Newspapers across America used to print quilt patterns as a weekly feature.  The reader would save patterns they might like to make.

Are you familiar with Kansas City Star patterns?  There were more than 1,000 quilt patterns were printed between 1928 and 1961 in The Kansas City Star newspaper, and its sister publications The Weekly Star and The Star Farmer. This publishing tradition preserved much of American quilt heritage. These clippings, often discovered in Grandmother's attic, are well sought after by quilt historians.

Each week they devoted a good 6” x 10” (give or take) to a pattern which would make an entire quilt! They're not at all like the patterns of today.We could write a whole book... and sometimes do... on a single pattern such as the Log Cabin quilt pattern.  Today we include all sorts of time saving tips, color combinations, and photos of absolutely everything - even photos of the supplies we will need.

The Kansas City Star patterns were 1 each week.  A simple line drawing of the patterns, generally without seam allowances.  The patterns published often presented pattern pieces only – sometimes no assembly or stitching directions.

Kansas City Star weekly patterns were pieced, appliqued and included quilting designs.

One of the reasons the lack of deatiled instructions was they only had a certain amount of space to publish each week.   With a new pattern each week, it was simply impossible to reproduce quilting tips and assembly directions week after week after week.  Can you imagine? 

In the old days, sewing was often a necessity. Quilters know from experience, and had others they could ask, how to cut out the patterns and assemble the pieces.  Today you can piece your Kansas City Star blocks, and then turn to the back section of one of your more current quilt books for information on topics such as battings, borders and bindings.

Quilters reproduce all sorts of vintage patterns, now in the public domain, as Adobe PDF scans.  Here's what a pattern looks like on the screen.  PDF patterns will reprint the same size as the original.  No funny .jpg scaling issues!

If you have experience with quilting, and independent knowledge of quilt assembly, then these patterns should be enough.  They are at least very interesting to look at.  :0)    Looking at the Kansas City Star patterns may enable you to put a name or date on one of Grandma's quilts!