Kailia's Quilt Featuring Petunia by Ruby Star Society
Kailia's Quilt Pattern is easy to make too many times. I know... I have made it 6 times so far and I'm always dreaming up what it could look like with different fabric lines. So yeah, I would expect another version in the future.
Why is it easy to make too many? Well, this modern quilt pattern goes together effortlessly and it's easy to grab just about any fabric from your stash and make it work.
Kailia's Quilt was written with a desire to be able to use most fabrics in my scrap bin in some way. You see I keep all my extra binding fabrics and I don't use bias binding. So the bindings were just sitting there waiting for a project.
This quilt project works great with small, thin scraps. I was able to use up a good bit of my binding scraps (there is still a ton left!).
I use the 2 at a time method to make the Half Square Triangles (HST) in this pattern. If you have never made them before you can find a tutorial here.
Kailia's Quit Pattern is listed as a beginner quilt pattern. The HSTs are the hardest part. If you are truly a beginner quilter and are struggling with your HSTs, then I suggest cutting your squares 1/4 inch larger than what the pattern calls for. This gives you a bit of extra room when trimming. An extra 1/4 inch can go a long way with getting a perfect HST. Note: If you do this you might need more fabric for the pattern.
Kailia's Quilt has three sizes:
I finally decided this would be a great fabric line to use for the quilt partly because of the varying designs on the fabrics, but also because of the combination of dark and light colors in the line.
This quilt was so fun to put together. Ruby Star Society's Fabric is so soft and light weight. It's so fun to sew with.
When I assembled my blocks I made sure to spread out the colors in each block and as much as possible to not double up any patterns or colors. But it's hard to always make that happen.
You can see in the image above this pattern requires lots of patience with pressing. I like the seams to be pressed open. This way the blocks can be sewn together randomly and the quilter doesn't need to worry about seams nesting. Pressing the seams open helps reduce the bulk of seams, which is nice if you are quilting the quilt top yourself.
One last thing about pressing... before this quilt I had always pressed my HST seams to one side because it's faster and easier. However, after testing this pattern a couple times and deciding on open seams I really started loving them! I think the press comes out even better with the HST and when you sew the blocks together there isn't a bulky block of seams to sew over in the middle where they all meet. So yeah, I am fan of open seams for HSTs now.
The Petunia Fabric Line had enough fabrics in it that I was able to make the quilt have a nice scrappy feel. In fact, it had more fabrics than I needed for the throw size. I debated adding an extra row or two to the bottom to make it a bit longer but decided against it. However, I did make the extra blocks before I decided. I'm glad I did because those blocks came in handy when I realized I didn't quite have enough backing for the quilt.
I usually buy my backing fabric when it's on sale and stock up. So that means sometimes I don't always have enough or I have too much. In this instance I was short the extra inches I needed to send the quilt to the long arm quilter.
This is where the extra blocks came in. I made a panel that went the width of the quilt and sewed it into the middle of the backing. I love to do this because it uses scraps instead of buying more fabric, and it adds some interest to the back of the quilt.
I sent this quilt off to the longarm quilter, Knot and Thread Design. Kaitlyn helped me chose the flower panto. It went perfectly with the quilt.
I had saved three fat quarters at the beginning of this project that I thought would look super cute for the binding. I only needed to use two. I'm glad I did because the checked and stripes on the fabrics created the effect I wanted on the binding.
Kailia's Quilt is one of the best patterns to incorporate lots of different fabrics with a variety of precuts, scraps or fat quarters. Get a copy of Kailia's Quilt Pattern and get sewing!
Why is it easy to make too many? Well, this modern quilt pattern goes together effortlessly and it's easy to grab just about any fabric from your stash and make it work.
You can find a copy of Kailia's Quilt Pattern here.
A Bit About Fabric For the Pattern
The Kailia's Quilt Pattern was named after my oldest child. She is sometimes a bit all over the place and forgetful. She is a delight and joy, but also messy. So this pattern had a hint of her in the design. It had a bit of the scrappy/messiness. It had the mixed up element of the fabrics, but in the end it's a work of art and beautiful. It also has organization and thought put into the layout.Kailia's Quilt was written with a desire to be able to use most fabrics in my scrap bin in some way. You see I keep all my extra binding fabrics and I don't use bias binding. So the bindings were just sitting there waiting for a project.
This quilt project works great with small, thin scraps. I was able to use up a good bit of my binding scraps (there is still a ton left!).
I use the 2 at a time method to make the Half Square Triangles (HST) in this pattern. If you have never made them before you can find a tutorial here.
The 2 at a time method helps get the scrappy look of the quilt by getting as many combinations of fabrics as possible. It also allows the quilter to use smaller scraps from their scrap bin for the quilt than say the 8 at a time method.
I made my scrap version into a rainbow version. You can find a blog post about that quilt here.
Kailia's Quilt isn't written for just scraps. It's also fat quarter friendly and precut friendly. By precuts I mean 1 1/2 in. precut strips. Moda fabrics makes packs of fabrics called Honey Buns which would work perfectly. They also make Charm Squares (5 inch precuts) which would work perfectly for the HST units.
But my favorite way to make the Kailia's Quilt Pattern is by using large packs of fat quarter bundles. I had several of these when I wrote the pattern which had been lying in my fabric cabinet for a long time. I just wasn't sure what project to use them with. It turned out Kailia's Quilt was the perfect pattern. You can find my versions using my fat quarter bundles here and here and here.
About the Pattern
Kailia's Quit Pattern is listed as a beginner quilt pattern. The HSTs are the hardest part. If you are truly a beginner quilter and are struggling with your HSTs, then I suggest cutting your squares 1/4 inch larger than what the pattern calls for. This gives you a bit of extra room when trimming. An extra 1/4 inch can go a long way with getting a perfect HST. Note: If you do this you might need more fabric for the pattern. Kailia's Quilt has three sizes:
- Baby 36 in. x 40 in.
- Throw 60 in. x 72 in.
- Twin 72 in. x 92 in.
This Quilt-a-long Quilt
I made this version of Kailia's Quilt during the sew-a-long after the pattern's release. It was hard to choose which fabric I wanted to use. But, I had been eyeing the Petunia Fabric line by Ruby Star Society for a long time. I just love the pinks, flowers and general cheerfulness of the fabrics.I finally decided this would be a great fabric line to use for the quilt partly because of the varying designs on the fabrics, but also because of the combination of dark and light colors in the line.
This quilt was so fun to put together. Ruby Star Society's Fabric is so soft and light weight. It's so fun to sew with.
When I assembled my blocks I made sure to spread out the colors in each block and as much as possible to not double up any patterns or colors. But it's hard to always make that happen.
You can see in the image above this pattern requires lots of patience with pressing. I like the seams to be pressed open. This way the blocks can be sewn together randomly and the quilter doesn't need to worry about seams nesting. Pressing the seams open helps reduce the bulk of seams, which is nice if you are quilting the quilt top yourself.
One last thing about pressing... before this quilt I had always pressed my HST seams to one side because it's faster and easier. However, after testing this pattern a couple times and deciding on open seams I really started loving them! I think the press comes out even better with the HST and when you sew the blocks together there isn't a bulky block of seams to sew over in the middle where they all meet. So yeah, I am fan of open seams for HSTs now.
The Petunia Fabric Line had enough fabrics in it that I was able to make the quilt have a nice scrappy feel. In fact, it had more fabrics than I needed for the throw size. I debated adding an extra row or two to the bottom to make it a bit longer but decided against it. However, I did make the extra blocks before I decided. I'm glad I did because those blocks came in handy when I realized I didn't quite have enough backing for the quilt.
I usually buy my backing fabric when it's on sale and stock up. So that means sometimes I don't always have enough or I have too much. In this instance I was short the extra inches I needed to send the quilt to the long arm quilter.
This is where the extra blocks came in. I made a panel that went the width of the quilt and sewed it into the middle of the backing. I love to do this because it uses scraps instead of buying more fabric, and it adds some interest to the back of the quilt.
I sent this quilt off to the longarm quilter, Knot and Thread Design. Kaitlyn helped me chose the flower panto. It went perfectly with the quilt.
I had saved three fat quarters at the beginning of this project that I thought would look super cute for the binding. I only needed to use two. I'm glad I did because the checked and stripes on the fabrics created the effect I wanted on the binding.
Kailia's Quilt is one of the best patterns to incorporate lots of different fabrics with a variety of precuts, scraps or fat quarters. Get a copy of Kailia's Quilt Pattern and get sewing!