Moda Fabrics Type It Quilt - Downloadable PDF

Moda Fabrics Type It Quilt – Pattern Summary

The Type It Quilt is a striking, graphic patchwork quilt designed by Moda Fabrics and available as a free downloadable PDF. The finished quilt measures 62" x 72", making it a generous lap or throw size that works beautifully as a bed topper, couch quilt, or statement home décor piece. Rated at an intermediate difficulty level, this pattern is ideal for quilters who are comfortable with basic strip piecing and are ready to explore a more playful, improvisational construction method.

What Is Being Made

The Type It Quilt is a modern strip-pieced quilt top that plays on bold color contrast between vibrant, multicolored strips and crisp white fabric. The design creates a dynamic, almost typographic or barcode-like visual effect — hence the name — as colorful segments of varying lengths are interrupted by white sections, producing a lively, rhythmic pattern across the quilt surface. The quilt top finishes at 62½" x 72½" before borders or binding are added.

Materials Required

• 1 colorful Jelly Roll – a pre-cut fabric bundle from Moda Fabrics, consisting of 2½"-wide strips of coordinating or assorted quilting cotton prints
• 1 white Junior Jelly Roll – a smaller pre-cut bundle of 2½"-wide white quilting cotton strips, also from Moda Fabrics

A Jelly Roll is one of Moda's signature pre-cut formats, featuring strips of fabric that are already cut to a uniform 2½" width and approximately 44" in length, making them ideal for strip-piecing projects. The Junior Jelly Roll is a smaller version of this format. Using pre-cuts significantly reduces cutting time and ensures that all fabrics are already coordinated within a single fabric collection.

In addition to fabric, quilters will need standard quilting supplies including a rotary cutter, cutting mat, quilting ruler, sewing machine, coordinating thread, and an iron for pressing seams. Backing fabric, batting, and binding materials will also be needed to complete the finished quilt.

Techniques Used

Strip Piecing

Strip piecing is the foundational technique of this pattern. Rather than cutting individual blocks and sewing them together, quilters work with long continuous strips of fabric, joining them along their lengths. This method is efficient and produces clean, consistent results when pressed and sewn with accurate seam allowances.

Ring Construction and Random Cutting

One of the most distinctive and creative techniques in the Type It Quilt is the ring method. Each colored strip is joined at both ends to a white strip to form a continuous fabric ring or loop. The quilter then cuts through the colored portion of the ring at a random point — somewhere between the middle of the colored strip and approximately 10" away from the white section. This random cutting is intentional and introduces organic variation into the finished design, ensuring that no two strips look exactly alike.

This improvisational approach is what gives the quilt its spontaneous, modern aesthetic. Because every cut is made randomly, the placement of the white segment shifts unpredictably from strip to strip, creating the visual rhythm and movement that defines the Type It design.

Layout and Assembly

Once all strips have been cut and prepared, they are joined along their long sides following the quilt layout diagram provided in the pattern. The assembly process involves selecting 36 colored strips from the Jelly Roll and splitting the white Junior Jelly Roll strips into equal halves to create 36 white strips at approximately 22" each. Careful attention to the layout diagram ensures the strips are oriented consistently to achieve the intended graphic effect.

Stitches and Construction Details

• Straight stitch – used throughout for all seaming on the sewing machine
• ¼" seam allowance – the standard for quilting, ensuring the finished quilt top reaches the target dimensions of 62½" x 72½"
• Press seams – ironing seams open or to one side after each join is recommended for flat, accurate results

Difficulty and Skill