Riley Blake Retro Indigo Quilt - Downloadable PDF

Riley Blake Retro Indigo Quilt – Free Downloadable PDF Pattern Summary

The Riley Blake Retro Indigo Quilt is a beautifully composed intermediate-level quilting project that finishes at a generous 68" x 78", making it an ideal lap or throw quilt. This free downloadable PDF pattern is a collaborative design from Riley Blake Designs and Liberty Fabrics, released in 2021. It showcases the rich, sophisticated palette of the Retro Indigo Collection, blending classic Liberty prints with a crisp white background fabric for a timeless, graphic result.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a single, full-sized patchwork quilt measuring 68 inches wide by 78 inches tall. The design is built around a repeating Half Square Triangle (HST) block with a finished block size of 5" x 5". The blocks are arranged in a 12-row by 10-block grid to form the quilt center, which is then framed with a border to bring the quilt to its final dimensions. The interplay of angled HST blocks and assorted print squares gives the finished quilt a retro-inspired, dynamic visual movement that is characteristic of indigo-toned Liberty Fabrics designs.

Techniques Used

• Half Square Triangles (HSTs): The primary construction technique. A diagonal line is drawn corner to corner on the wrong side of a white square, which is then layered right sides together with a print square. Stitching ¼" on each side of the drawn line and cutting along the line yields two HST units per pair of squares — an efficient and accurate method widely used in quilting.
• Squaring Up Blocks: After pressing, each HST is trimmed and squared up to a precise 5½" unfinished size to ensure consistent, accurate seam alignment throughout the quilt top.
• Quilt Center Assembly: Blocks are laid out and sewn together in 12 rows of 10 blocks, combining HST units with assorted print 5½" squares. Careful attention to the quilt center diagram is required for correct fabric placement.
• Borders: A border (Border 2) is added using strips cut at 6½" x width of fabric (WOF). The pattern advises measuring through the center of the quilt before cutting border pieces, a best practice that prevents wavy or ill-fitting borders.
• Pressing and Seam Management: All seams are sewn with right sides together and pressed for neat, flat construction throughout.

Stitches and Construction Details

• ¼" seam allowance is used consistently throughout the pattern, which is the standard seam allowance in quilting.
• All measurements in the pattern include the ¼" seam allowance, so no additional adjustments are needed when cutting.
• A total of 68 Half Square Triangle units are made (with 8 HSTs left over, providing useful extras for squaring up or future projects).

Fabrics and Materials

This pattern is designed specifically around Riley Blake Designs and Liberty Fabrics prints from the Retro Indigo Collection. The required fabrics include:

• 1 Fat Quarter Stack (FQ-04775940A-15) – Retro Indigo Collection assorted prints, used for the HST and square blocks. Specific prints referenced include Bloomsbury Silhouette B, Piccadilly Poppy B, Sunny Afternoon A, Cosmos Cloud B, and Paradise (among others from the stack).
• 1¼ yards of 04775715Z White Wiltshire Shadow – used as the light, contrasting background fabric for the HST units.
• 1⅜ yards of 04775942B Portobello Paisley B – which also includes enough yardage for the binding.
• 1½ yards of 04775940A Sunny Afternoon A – used for borders and additional piecing.
• 4¾ yards of backing fabric