It’s here! I am so excited to bring the Radiance pattern to you and see what you all create with it. This design was really fun for me to work on, sew and create the instructions for. I think it’s the most impressive-looking quilt yet for the Classic Curves Ruler.
The idea for this one came from my love of pieced and interesting borders on quilts. The goal was to create a modern design based on traditional shapes, and add a lot of star power with the scrappy borders combined with the curves. What do you think?
I don’t usually choose fabrics before I design a pattern, but this was a rare occasion where I had fabrics in mind I definitely wanted to show off. The new mariner’s cloth from Alison Glass was the first pick for Radiance. The cloth has a really great texture with a larger weave than average quilting cotton and an actual three dimensional stripe woven into it. If you haven’t see the mariner’s cloth yet, you have to check it out <<click here to watch my youtube video on using mariners cloth and other textured fabrics in quilts>>.
In deciding the rest of the fabrics, it seemed necessary to maximize contrast with Uber-bright solids and prints to round out the palette. Usually when I make an orange peel design, the emphasis is on the pod/petal shapes and the other fabrics are “background”. Without intending to, Radiance ended up featuring the star shapes made up of the near-solids in the center blocks while the pod shapes mostly recede. I think that is a really interesting aspect…but you could totally flip that by using different contrast or fabric combinations!
This version of Radiance was quilted by the great Teresa Silva of Quilting is My Bliss. The Batting is Hobbs wool and I pieced with Aurifil thread.
I do have a kit available that includes the printed pattern, plus all fabrics needed to make the 51″ square quilt top. I only have a few right now because of limited availability of the mariner’s cloth. I ordered more, so hopefully more kits available soon. <<click here to purchase kit>>
<<click here to get the Radiance pattern>>
As always, I love you guys! I’ve been having so much fun making YouTube videos lately. It feels more like I can share quilting and fabric love more directly with you. I hope you’ll watch, subscribe, and let me know you’re there and if there’s any particular topic you’d like me to talk about or teach you.
I’d love to hear from you and what you think of the new Radiance pattern. Your comments always brighten my days!
Happy Sewing!
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