Red Fort of Agra is my modern quilt pattern inspired by a trip to Agra, India. It uses fat quarters and a junior jelly roll to create an intertwined, modern design. This block based pattern is great for the advanced beginner who has a quilt or two under their belt and is ready for a little bit more of a challenge. I have made this quilt multiple times and it never gets old.
You can find the Red Fort of Agra Quilt Pattern in my shop.
Small Throw Size
This version of the Red Fort of Agra quilt is the small throw version. The pattern has 5 different sizes (baby, small throw, large throw, twin, and queen). The small throw is fun to make because all it takes is a junior jelly roll and seven fat quarters. The finished product ends up being 48 inches and 60 inches.
I happen to love Ruby Star Society by Moda. All their lines are available in junior jelly rolls. This is a great way to get all the prints in the line for a cheaper price than buying the whole line in a fat quarter bundle. If I happen to really like all the prints in one line then I will buy a junior jelly roll. The junior jelly rolls are used for the four patches in the quilt blocks. Using one reduces your work because it gets ride of one step of cutting. However, you can also use mini charm squares and then you wouldn't have to do any cutting for these little squares at all.
If you don't have mini charm squares or jelly rolls, then have no fear, you can easily use scraps, fat eighths, fat quarters, any cuts of fabrics really for these little cute squares. One tip about this pattern, the more variety in these little four patches you have the more the larger blocks will stand out.
Aviary
When I saw the Aviary Collection by Ruby Star Society I fell in love with the floral pattern and bird fabrics in this bundle. I also love the bold blue and red with accents of pinks and golds. The design is modern yet also classically beautiful. It really is just a beautiful line. Well done ladies!
When choosing the larger squares I wanted to stay in the Ruby Star Society family of fabrics. They are so soft when washed up. And I love how the designers work so the palettes from the different lines can be mixed and matched with each other. That's especially helpful for those color challenged people like me.
So I bought a fat quarter bundle of Spark by Melody Miller with coordinating colors. I love this blender fabric and how well they work with the Aviary line, yet also stand out in this quilt. It's really the perfect fabric combo. You can see below. This picture was taken right after I finished piecing it and I was so excited to see how it had turned out.
Tips for the Red Fort of Agra Pattern
One this about this modern quilt pattern that is very important, when choosing fabrics, you need to make sure that the fabrics have a contrast somehow. If they do not contrast then the design does not stand out. The picture above is a great example of this. You can see how much the pattern stands out because the larger squares are closer to a solid in that they have very little pattern to them. While the Aviary line I used is full of patterns and varying colors on each fabric square. Yet, they all still match and go together. This is what makes the pattern really work and come alive.
The small throw size of the Red Fort of Agra would be a great size of quilt to quilt yourself if you have never quilted one before. I just didn't quilt this one because I knew I wanted to put it on the cover of my pattern. The colors and design turned out so nice I knew it would be a great choice.
Smaller quilts are a great way to not be overwhelmed when first starting quilting. This is only the second quilt I have ever sent out to be quilted. Partly because of cost, but also because where we live I don't have access usually to long arm quilters. I highly suggest when you are first starting quilting to quilt your own quilts. Even if it is a means of laughter to look back later at your poor beginner efforts.
Since the flowers were a large part of why I chose this fabric I decided to buy the Aviary Chambray Hana fabric for the backing. I then sent this quilt off to Kaitlyn from Knot and Thread Design. I wanted a floral design in the quilting to go with the quilt. Kaitlyn was super helpful as always in helping me choose. I used the extra backing fabric for the binding.
This quilt has soon because a family favorite. My son says it's his "emotional support quilt" and I'm never allowed to sell or give it away. LOL! He spent several months using it as his bed spread. Here's hoping you find your emotional support quilt.
When we road tripped across the country in June of 2020 I made sure to have this quilt at the ready so I could get some good snaps of it. My favorite pictures were taken in Utah and Nevada. Especially the ones at Arches National Park. Which by the way, is amazing!! If you ever have the chance to visit go! I hope we get to go back some day. We didn't have a good hiking pack for my littlest and didn't have enough time to really walk around much. Next time we will take the time to fully enjoy this beautiful park.
The thanks goes to my husband for this picture. He is the one holding up the quilts in this picture in Arches.
This blog post may contain affiliate links from which I may get a percentage of purchases from links.