When quilting daughter Stephanie was about 6, she drew a picture of a rainbow with a little rose in the corner.
One day, I was looking for inspiration for a new quilt and came across the picture. It was a time in quilting when quilts with pleats were popular. Merging the two ideas, I created this quilt.
It was a relatively easy quilt to make, although it took a bunch of time.
The rainbow was the first portion to be made. I simply sewed 2” strips of the rainbow colors together, and then cut them at a 45º angle into strips about 1 1/2inches wide.
I added the sky blue strips onto each side of the rainbow strip, estimating how long the top and bottom should be based on where it was positioned in the rainbow.
The pleats consist of one strip of white fabric and one strip of gray, each 1 1/2inches wide and about 45 inches long. Sew one side (lengthwise) of each pair together, right sides together, then fold it so the wrong sides are facing together.
You are now ready to assemble the pieces. Place a rainbow strip on one side of a pleat. Then place the next rainbow strip to the other side of the pleat. The key is lining up the colors of the rainbow so they form the angle. Once you have them lined up, sew the 3 pieces together. You will actually be sewing 4 layers of fabric.
Once sewn, open the pieces and add a pleat onto the rainbow strip. If you are working from left to right, you will open your strips and place a pleat to the right side, which is a rainbow strip, and then place the next rainbow strip on top and sew them all together.
Continue until you reach the end of the quilt. The rose was hand embroidered after the quilt top was finished
I was going to let the pleats “do their thing” when it was finished. They ended up looking rather strange, so I gently tacked each one down in a direction. Above the rainbow, the pleats show the white, below the rainbow, the gray side of the pleat shows.
This is hand quilted very simply – down the side next to each pleat. There is so much going on in the quilt, any extensive quilting would get lost, so the quilting is just to tack the top to the bottom and allow it to hang on a wall without gaps.
Tips:
- I made sure to put the white side of the pleat so it would always be on the left side.
- Alternate the direction of sewing the strips together. One time sew from top to bottom, the next from bottom to top. If you don’t, your quilt will not be square. I’m certain that some physicist could explain it, but trust me, it will be a mess.
- Plan to trim (and square up) the quilt after the center is sewn together. Trying to match up the sky blue pieces as you sew will drive you nuts.
- I pressed these as I sewed, with the pleats facing away from the side I was sewing. The quilt top tends to curl up, so it is easier to sew if you press it.
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Close up of the strips
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Penny Halgren
Master Quilter
