Riley Blake Quarter Sewn Quilt - Downloadable PDF

Riley Blake Quarter Sewn Quilt – Free Downloadable PDF Pattern by The RBD Designers

The Quarter Sewn Quilt is a striking bed or lap quilt pattern designed by The RBD Designers for Riley Blake Designs. Available as a free downloadable PDF, this intermediate-level quilting project produces a finished quilt measuring 62" x 74". The design is built around a clever circle-within-a-circle appliqué block that is then quartered, creating a dynamic, kaleidoscopic effect when the blocks are arranged across the quilt top. The pattern is an excellent choice for quilters who are comfortable with basic patchwork and are ready to explore curved cutting and appliqué techniques.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a full-size patchwork quilt with a finished measurement of 62 inches wide by 74 inches tall. The quilt top is composed of 80 quarter blocks, each measuring 6½" x 6½", arranged in 8 rows of 10 blocks. The design is framed by a narrow first border and a wider outside border, both cut from the same coordinating fabrics used throughout the quilt body. The overall aesthetic is colorful and geometric, with concentric circles creating medallion-like focal points that are then broken apart and redistributed across the quilt surface for a visually exciting, scrappy result.

Techniques Used

• Circle cutting with specialty rulers: The pattern specifically calls for the Riley Blake Large Circle Ruler and the Riley Blake Medium Circle Ruler to cut precise circles from fabric squares. Using dedicated circle rulers ensures consistent, accurate curves that are essential to the design.
• Appliqué: Large circles are centered on 13" background squares and stitched in place with a ¼" seam allowance around the edge. Medium circles are then layered and stitched on top of the large circles in the same manner, creating a concentric ring effect. This technique is a form of raw-edge or turned appliqué depending on the quilter's preference for finishing the edges.
• Quarter-cutting blocks: After the appliqué is complete, each 13" block is cut into four 6½" x 6½" quarter blocks. This is the signature "quarter sewn" technique referenced in the pattern title — by slicing the finished circle block into quarters and rearranging or rotating the pieces, the quilter can create entirely new secondary patterns and unexpected design effects across the quilt surface.
• Straight-line piecing: Blocks are joined in rows using standard straight-stitch piecing, and rows are then sewn together to form the quilt top.
• Border construction: Both the first border and the outside border are assembled by stitching strips end to end and then cutting precise lengths for each side, top, and bottom application. Corners on the outside border are carefully coordinated to match using fabric cut in a specific order.
• Quilting and binding: The pattern instructs the quilter to quilt and bind the finished top, though specific quilting designs are left to the maker's discretion.

Stitches Used

• Straight stitch: Used throughout for all piecing — joining blocks into rows, rows into the quilt top, and strips into borders.
• ¼" seam allowance stitching: The standard quilting seam allowance of ¼" is used for all block construction, including the appliqué circles stitched onto background squares.

Materials Required

The pattern is designed for quilting cotton fabric, consistent with the Riley Blake Designs fabric range. The following yardage is required:

• Blocks and outside border: ¾ yard each of 10 different fabrics — from each fabric, pieces are cut including two 13" x 13" squares (A), two 9" x 9" squares (B), two 6" x 6" squares (C), and one 6" x 40" outside border strip.
• First border: ½ yard of a coordinating fabric, cut into six 2"-wide strips across the width of fabric (WOF).
• Specialty tools: The Riley Blake Large Circle Ruler and the Riley Blake Medium Circle