How to make a color blocked quilt

My daughter Layla turned 13 last weekend!! I'd been saving some money and we decided to buy her a new bed for her birthday. Her twin bed was getting pretty rickety and she's getting too tall for her footboard, so we wanted to get her a full size bed. I went with a budget bed frame, picked out a good mattress with great reviews (I’ll link those choices at the end!) and spent the rest of my budget to make her a new quilt! We kept this whole thing a surprise (not easy!) and I was super excited when making the quilt, I couldn't wait to give it to her.

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It took forever in Hobby Lobby to choose fabrics. Ha! I kept texting my other daughter pictures of options to get her opinion, only to scrap it all and start over. I landed on a selection of solids with one black and white print and knew I had nailed it. This combo is so Layla.

I didn't start the quilt until after Christmas and her birthday is January 4th, so I knew I needly to choose the design wisely. I just didn't have time for anything complicated. I drew up a simple color blocked design instead of going with something with time consuming piecing. It turned out AMAZING!!! I'll give you the details on how I did it, but first, here’s a full photo:

Ok, here's a quick tutorial. I wasn’t sure how beginner-friendly to make this. If you’re a total beginner, I’ve included links to necessary supplies for quilting, plus links to some tutorials for the basic quilt making processes to help you. And you can always email me with questions!

How to make a color blocked quilt:

The finished size of Layla's quilt is 84 x 90, which is full size.

Supplies:

• 2.5 yards each of 5 different fabrics. I chose four Kona Cotton solids and one print. You'll have extra to piece together binding.

• Cotton batting, enough for a queen size quilt (I use this brand, by the yard. It is worth the extra cost! I've had cheaper brands come out of the package with impossible warps and wrinkles and then disintegrate in the washer when I tried to get them out).

• Backing fabric. I used a high quality 100% cotton full size sheet from the thrift store, then added leftover quilt fabrics to it to make it big enough. A king size sheet would have worked well, though, if you don't like a pieced together back.

• Four colors of coordinating thread.

• If you’re a new quilter, you also need a rotary cutter and mat, quilting pins, and a walking foot for your machine if it doesn’t have one built in. I also just purchased a pair of quilting gloves and totally wish I would have bought them year ago!

Instructions:

This quilt could probably be made with less yardage, but since I was using solid colors, I didn't want seams in my wide strips, so I wanted to cut them lengthwise, the same direction as the selvedge. In the end, I used most of the extra fabric to piece the backing and make the binding, so it definitely wasn't wasted. Since my one print was directional though, I did cut that fabric width-wise and pieced it together in thirds.

Cut your strips as follows (here’s a good tutorial on using a rotary cutter and mat in cutting out quilting projects).

-Strip one: 12" x 90"

-Strip two: 24" x 90"

-Strip three (this was my print): 16" x 90"

-Strip four: 20" x 90"

-Strip five: 24" x 90"

After cutting your strips, press creases into them at the half and quarter marks by folding in half and pressing, the in half again and pressing. This will help both when sewing your strips together and when sewing your vertical quilting lines.

Sew the strips together, matching up the crease lines you pressed, using a 1/4” seam and press seams open.

Make your quilt sandwich (here are some good instructions if you're new to this).

To quilt, I made vertical lines about 1 3/4" apart. My old 70s machine I use for quilting doesn't fit a seam guide, so I just strap a utensil to the side with washi tape and use that to keep my lines straight! The pressed creases in my fabric strips were helpful in keeping me straight as I moved from the center out. If I was starting to veer off onto a diagonal or something, the creases would put me back on track. I also used four colors of thread, which added so much cool interest on those solid colors! I did the first quadrant pink, then purple, teal and pink on the last quadrant. Here is a basic tutorial for quilting straight lines if you need it.

Bind your quilt using your favorite method. I pieced my binding together from my leftover fabrics and love how that ended up looking. And if you're new to quilt binding, here's a good tutorial. However you do it, please do that final binding step by hand! I know there are tutorials that tout a machine sewn quilt binding, but you've now spent hours on this thing and I promise, binding that has been machine stitched down always looks sloppy on the back! It's worth the extra time, truly.

I hope it helps you make your own color blocked quilt if you want to! Layla loves this quilt. It's so very *her*. I think one of the most fun parts of sewing for others is choosing fabrics you know they'll love. It's my favorite.

The new bed has been a big hit and the frame and mattress we chose were very budget friendly while getting great reviews. Can you believe you can buy a mattress on Amazon and it can be shipped to you, compressed in a box?? We couldn’t believe it either! So if you’re in the market, here is the mattress we bought and here is the frame, which is a more modern platform style take on the basic metal bed frame. We’d like to DIY a headboard in the future, of course :)

Cheers!