Riley Blake Forever Blue Panel Quilt - Downloadable PDF

Riley Blake Forever Blue Panel Quilt – Free Downloadable PDF Pattern

The Riley Blake Forever Blue Panel Quilt is a finished 57" x 65" quilted throw designed around a striking central fabric panel. This is a free downloadable PDF pattern from Riley Blake Designs, making it an accessible and rewarding project for quilters who want a bold, graphic result with a straightforward construction process. The design celebrates the FFA (National FFA Organization) theme, incorporating the official FFA emblem and branding through licensed Riley Blake fabrics from the Forever Blue Collection.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a panel-centered quilt measuring 57 inches wide by 65 inches tall — a generous lap or throw size suitable for display or everyday use. The design places a large, pre-printed fabric panel at its heart, then frames it with three successive borders in coordinating fabrics. The result is a clean, structured quilt with strong visual impact that lets the panel artwork take center stage.

Design and Construction Overview

The quilt is built using a panel-and-border construction method, one of the most approachable formats in quilting. Rather than piecing together many small blocks, the quilter begins with a single large panel rectangle and builds outward with successive border strips. This technique is ideal for confident beginners and intermediate quilters who want a polished finish without complex block assembly.

• Central Panel: Cut to a rectangle measuring 35½" x 43½" from the P7217 Blue panel fabric. This panel features the licensed FFA artwork and serves as the visual focal point of the entire quilt.
• Border 1 (White Text – C7215 White): A narrow framing border cut from 4 strips at 3½" x WOF (width of fabric). Side borders are sewn to 43½" and top/bottom borders to 41½", creating the first layer of contrast around the panel.
• Border 2 (Gold Logo – C7216 Gold): A second border cut from 5 strips at 3½" x WOF. Side borders extend to 49½" and top/bottom to 47½", adding a warm gold accent that echoes the FFA color palette.
• Border 3 (Blue Main – C7210 Blue): The widest and final border, cut from 6 strips at 5½" x WOF. Side borders reach 55½" and top/bottom borders reach 57½", bringing the quilt to its full finished dimensions.

Techniques Used

• Panel quilting – centering and cutting a pre-printed fabric panel as the design foundation
• Border attachment – applying multiple successive border rounds, always sewing side borders first before top and bottom
• Strip piecing – joining WOF strips end to end as needed to achieve required border lengths
• Measuring through the quilt center – a standard quilting best practice emphasized in this pattern to ensure borders lie flat and square
• Quilt sandwich assembly – layering the quilt top, batting, and backing before quilting
• Binding – finishing the quilt edges with binding fabric from the Forever Blue Collection

Stitches and Sewing Details

All piecing is sewn with a standard ¼" seam allowance with right sides together, which is the foundational stitch convention in quilting. The pattern notes that seam allowances can vary, and quilters are advised to measure through the center of the quilt before cutting border strips — a critical step for achieving a flat, professional finish. Quilting stitch patterns for the finished sandwich are left to the quilter's preference.

Materials and Fabric Requirements

All fabrics referenced in this pattern are from the Riley Blake Designs Forever Blue Collection, which is officially licensed by the National FFA Organization. The specific fabrics required are:

• P7217 Blue – 1 blue panel (the central focal fabric)