Meet the Pink One!

Despite the name, the Rainbow Burst pattern isn’t just for rainbows! Using beginner-friendly techniques to make four big blocks, the Rainbow Burst quilt is a celebration of colour and for my second version that meant a celebration of pink. Read on to find out more about how this quilt came into being.

Choosing my fabrics

When I was picking fabrics for my second version, I really wanted to show the versatility of the pattern and that it isn’t just for rainbows. After recently gifting a strawberries and cream version of Resonance that I’d completely fallen in love with, I decided to go with a pink and purple ombré colour scheme and oh my gosh I love how it came out. Just like with the Rainbow One I shopped my stash and pulled a lot of my favourite Ruby Star Society fabrics as well as a couple of hidden gems and had fun playing with the colour values and swapping them around until they were just right.

The fabrics I used are in the Pink Rainbow Burst quilt are:

Pinks: Airflow Floral Tapis* // Airflow Bloom Kiss* // Clementine Rattan in Peony* // Dashes by Libs Elliott // Social Chirp* in Peony // Speckled in Peony* // Clementine Fruity Stripes* // Spark* // Miscellaneous purple triangle print from deep in my stash

Background: Moda Bella in Off White

Binding: Zip in Berry*

*Ruby Star Society

Fabric requirements

To make an ombré version, just swap out the rainbow colours for nine shades of your chosen colour!

Make it your own with some colour and layout inspiration

One of my favourite things about this pattern is just how many options it has! It includes instructions for two layouts, but the possibilities don’t stop there - have a play and spin the blocks to find a layout that you love.

I know how much you all love switching up colours in patterns, so I just had to have a little play and came up with a few different colourways to inspire you! Plus I couldn’t resist playing around with the blocks and coming up with a couple of extra layout options to inspire you - this really is a quilt-you-own-adventure pattern!

Still looking for more inspiration? I’ve got you covered - the pattern includes lots of ideas for different colour schemes and colouring pages to help you choose your fabric layout and colours for your perfect Rainbow Burst Quilt.

Piecing

While this quilt looks a little complicated, it’s actually built on classic flying geese (or should that be flying goose?) and half-square triangle blocks set in a grid assembly so it’s a lot easier (and faster!) than it looks. And who doesn’t love a pattern that looks more impressive to make than it actually is?

With step by step instructions and diagrams for four at a time flying geese and two at a time HSTs, even if you’ve never done any patchwork before they’ll be flying off your machine in no time (sorry, I can never resist that joke!). Chain piecing really helps speed things up for this quilt, especially in the early steps - if you’ve not chain pieced before check out my previous blog for some handy tips to get you on your way.

I love adding little hidden bits of flair to quilts, although it’s usually limited to a fun pieced back - I used a stripe of hot pink to break up my rainbow print for this one - but this time I managed to sneak in one of the fun Ruby Star Society selvedge messages on the edge of a HST. I just love the “Inspire. Sparkle. Shine” message and it felt perfect for this quilt.

Quilting plan

It took me quite a while to decide how to quilt the Pink One as I was worried about doing justice to some of my favourite fabrics! Eventually I decided on a geometric orange peel design from Walk by Jacquie Gering, using different coloured thread for the central purple section and pink for the outer ring.

Naturally though, that’s not what ended up happening! Best laid plans and all that… After spending some quality time with my walking foot and finishing the central section in a lilac thread (40wt Aurifil 2510) I realised I loved having the central section stand out so much and that the plan needed a rethink. After staring at it for quite a while over a cup of tea I decided on 1” echo quilting in quarters around the outer ring and set of with my favourite pink thread (40wt Aurifil 2423) thinking that was the plan sorted. Oh no. While I’d been quilting I’d noticed that one of my prints - the Spark by Ruby Star Society - looked just like one of the embroidery stitches on my machine and despite never using the decorative stitches when quilting before I just couldn’t get the idea of adding some stars to the quilt out of my mind. A little trial and error later, and the Pink One had accent stars around the inner section and across each corner!

I finished it off with my favourite striped binding - Zip in Berry by Ruby Star Society - and some big stitch quilting, and I love it so much!

And there you have it - the Pink Rainbow Burst Quilt!

You can get your own copy of the pattern now by clicking the button below. Remember, I absolutely love to see your makes, so don’t forget to share your projects with #RainbowBurstQuilt and #caitlisledesigns!