I love designing quilt patterns that allow you to completely personalize the quilt with a one-of-a-kind fabric pull. And the Alight quilt is the epitome of this design approach!
This pattern was originally designed as an exclusive pattern for the Toad Circle Mystery Quilt and Book Club. After receiving so many requests from so many quilters who want to make it, I'm thrilled to finally share it with you!
One of my favorite things about this pattern is how much its personality can change depending on the fabrics you choose. Whether you love a carefully coordinated color palette or prefer to embrace a little creative chaos, I'm sharing three approaches to planning your color layout for the Alight quilt.
Three Ways to Play With Color
1. Keep Each Color Family Together for a Monochromatic Look
If you love a cohesive, thoughtfully coordinated color story, this approach is for you. Start by choosing five color families. For each family, select one light, one medium, and one dark fabric. As you begin to sew, keep each color family together as you construct your three blocks.
The result is a beautiful, balanced color story, with each row featuring its own monochromatic palette.
The secret to making this approach work is strong contrast between your light, medium, and dark fabrics. When the values are too similar, the patchwork details can disappear into one another. A noticeable difference in value helps the bird body and wings pop off the patchwork, while still giving the overall block that lovely, unified monochromatic effect.
Try this if you enjoy planning your fabric combinations and want a quilt that feels coordinated and calm.
2. Mix Up Your Color Families for a Playful, Colorful Quilt
Want something a little more unexpected? Try mixing your color families together!
Just as with the first approach, start by selecting five color families, each with a light, medium, and dark fabric. But instead of keeping each family together during the block construction, mix and match the fabrics.
The goal is to use one light, one medium, and one dark fabric in each block, but those fabrics can come from entirely different color families. This is the approach I used when I made the cover quilt.
This creates a colorful, jumbled color story. The blocks feel connected through their value structure (light, medium, dark), but the colors flit around the quilt in a way that feels spontaneous and playful. And here's the best part: when you’re building your fabric pull, you don't have to be quite as precise about coordinating the values across each color family. As long as each block has a recognizable light, medium, and dark, you have more freedom to experiment with unexpected color combinations.
Try this if you love colorful quilts, enjoy mixing unexpected fabrics, and want a little more freedom when putting your palette together.
3. Throw the Rules Out the Window and Choose Fabrics You Love
Sometimes the best fabric pull is simply a collection of fabrics that makes you happy. This color layout isn’t strictly in the pattern. But because the idea is “throw all the rules away” it’s not hard to figure out!
For this approach, skip the process of organizing your fabrics into color families, and skip the step about using one light, medium and dark value in each block. Instead, choose 15 different fabrics that you love and start sewing!
You can still pay attention to contrast as you work, but there's no need to build perfectly coordinated piles of fabric before you begin. This means less time planning and more time quilting! Let your favorite prints, colors, and combinations guide you.
Try this if you love ignoring rules and letting your fabrics guide you.
Need help picking fabrics? I’ve shared 5 vacation destination inspired fabric pulls. Pack you bags and gear up for some seriously good travel themed quilts.
Bring a flock of color into your home with this bold, geometric quilt pattern. Featuring graphic bird silhouettes, cornerstones, and striking color combinations, your sewing room will take take flight when you make this pattern!
Whether you choose a monochromatic color layout or embrace an eclectic mix of your favorite fabrics, this quilt offers plenty of opportunities to make the design your own. The result is a statement-making quilt that feels right at home on a bed, draped over a sofa, or displayed as a colorful work of art.
The Alight quilt is traditionally pieced and finishes at 58" x 68". The pattern uses 15 fabrics for the bold bird motifs, and two for the sashing and cornerstones. The pattern includes a fabric planning worksheet and coloring page. The skill level is confident beginner.
Cover quilt pieced and hand quilted by Mija Handmade
Technical edit by Quilting Jet Girl