Riley Blake Ships Go Sailing - Downloadable PDF

Ships Go Sailing Quilt Pattern by Caskata Artisanal Home for Riley Blake Designs

The Ships Go Sailing pattern is a free downloadable PDF quilt pattern designed by Caskata Artisanal Home in collaboration with Riley Blake Designs. The finished project is a generously sized blanket or throw quilt measuring 76" x 79¼", making it a substantial and practical piece suitable for home décor or gifting. The pattern is rated intermediate difficulty, meaning it is best suited to quilters who already have a foundational understanding of quilting terminology, cutting techniques, and basic block construction.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a single large patchwork quilt with a nautical, coastal theme. The finished design draws on the maritime imagery found throughout the Riley Blake Caskata Artisanal Home fabric collection, featuring prints such as lobsters, crabs, shells, compasses, and sea leaves. The quilt incorporates a structured block layout with at least two distinct border treatments, creating a framed, polished appearance. The overall aesthetic is playful yet refined, making it well suited to beach houses, children's rooms, or any space with a coastal decorating theme.

Fabrics and Materials Required

This pattern is designed specifically around the Riley Blake Caskata Artisanal Home fabric line. The required fabrics include a carefully curated selection of prints in navy, red, and white colorways. The specific fabrics and their required yardages are as follows:

• C8550 White Main (Navy Lobster) — ½ yard
• C8552 Navy Compass — ⅛ yard
• C8552 White Compass — 1⅛ yards
• C8553 Red Lucy — 1¼ yards (includes binding fabric)
• C8554 Red Crab — ⅛ yard
• C8554 Navy Crab — ⅛ yard
• C8555 Navy Lobster — ¼ yard
• C8555 Red Lobster — ⅛ yard
• C8556 Navy Shells — ¼ yard
• C8557 Navy Sea Leaf — ½ yard
• C120 Riley White Solid — ¾ yard

The Riley White Solid (C120) plays an important structural role in the quilt, providing visual breathing room between the busy nautical prints. The Red Lucy (C8553) fabric serves double duty as both a design element within the quilt top and as the binding material, tying the finished edges together with a cohesive pop of color. Quilters should note that seam allowances of ¼" are included throughout, which is the standard for quilting projects.

Cutting Requirements and Techniques

Precise cutting is essential to this pattern's success. The instructions call for a variety of strip-cutting and sub-cutting techniques that are standard in intermediate-level quilting. Key cutting tasks include:

• Cutting multiple 3½" x WOF (width of fabric) strips from nearly every fabric in the collection
• Sub-cutting strips into 3½" x 6½" rectangles from fabrics including Red Lucy, Red Compass, White Lobster, Navy Lobster, Red Sea Leaf, Navy Crab, White Crab, and Navy Shells
• Sewing strips together end-to-end before cutting long 3½" x 54½" rectangles — a technique used for border or sashing pieces that exceed a single width of fabric
• Cutting 72 squares at 3½" x 3½" from the Riley White Solid, which likely form a key repeating unit across the quilt blocks
• Cutting 8 strips at 5½" x WOF from the Riley White Solid for Border 2, indicating a wide outer border that frames the central design