Riley Blake Around The World - Downloadable PDF

Riley Blake Around The World Quilt Pattern – Free Downloadable PDF

The Riley Blake Around the World pattern is a free downloadable PDF designed for intermediate quilters who want to create a striking, structured quilt measuring a generous 71 inches by 83½ inches — a comfortable throw or lap quilt size. The design draws on the classic Around the World layout, a time-honored quilting tradition that arranges fabric squares in a radiating, diagonal color progression to create a sense of movement and depth across the quilt surface.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a finished quilt consisting of pieced blocks, Nine-Patch Posts, and sashing rectangles assembled into a cohesive quilt center. The finished block size is 9½ inches by 9½ inches, and the finished Nine-Patch Post size is 3 inches by 3 inches. The combination of large pieced blocks with carefully constructed Nine-Patch Posts and sashing gives the quilt a polished, grid-like structure that showcases the fabric collection beautifully. The overall effect is a bold, graphic quilt that works well as a bed topper, couch throw, or decorative statement piece.

Fabric Collection and Materials

This pattern is specifically designed around the Riley Blake Designs fabric line referenced in the instructions, utilizing a coordinated palette of blue, white, and red fabrics. The required materials include:

• 2 Our World 10-Inch Stackers (10-5390-12) — pre-cut 10-inch fabric squares that form the primary block elements
• ½ yard of blue main (C5390 Blue)
• 1¾ yards of white flag (C5391 White)
• 7/8 yard of red hello (C5392 Red)
• 1¾ yards of white hello (C5392 White)
• ¾ yard for binding
• 5⅛ yards of backing fabric

The use of 10-Inch Stackers — a popular pre-cut format from Riley Blake Designs — makes fabric selection and cutting more efficient, as these coordinated squares are already sized and ready to work with. The pattern notes that all 10-inch squares except the 2 white hello squares are used in the quilt blocks.

Cutting Requirements and Preparation

Careful cutting is essential to this pattern's success. The instructions direct quilters to cut 1½-inch strips across the width of fabric (WOF) from both the blue main and white hello fabrics to construct the Nine-Patch Posts. Sashing rectangles are cut at 3½ inches by 10 inches from white hello fabric. The pattern specifically advises quilters to read all instructions before cutting and to measure through the center of the quilt before cutting border pieces, as seam allowances can vary — a hallmark of good intermediate-level quilting practice.

Techniques Used

This pattern employs several core quilting construction techniques that make it well-suited to an intermediate skill level:

• Strip piecing — Long strips of fabric are sewn together and then cross-cut into segments, a highly efficient method for creating repetitive units like Nine-Patch blocks without sewing individual squares one at a time
• Nine-Patch block construction — A foundational quilting technique where nine equal squares (or strip-pieced segments) are arranged in a three-by-three grid and sewn together
• Sashing and post assembly — Sashing rectangles are sewn between quilt blocks to separate and frame them, while Nine-Patch Posts are placed at the intersections of the sashing, adding visual interest and structure to the quilt layout
• Pressing for precision — The pattern specifies pressing seam allowances toward the blue main fabric throughout the Nine-Patch construction, which helps seams nest properly during final assembly and reduces bulk
• Quilt center diagram reference — Quilters are guided to follow a Quilt Center Diagram for accurate fabric placement, an important skill for achieving the characteristic radiating pattern of the Around the World design

Stitches and Construction Details

All piecing in this pattern is done with a standard