Quilt Roulette - The Rachel Quilt in Vintage Children's Book

I have loved working on this Quilt Roulette projects over the past few months and I'm excited to continue these in 2025. If you want to see the two previous quilts I have made as part of this series, click here. 

How Quilt Roulette Works

Here’s the fun part: I have two buckets to draw from. One bucket contains all of my quilt patterns, and the other has themes suggested by my Instagram followers. I draw one piece of paper from each bucket, and the challenge is to create a baby quilt that combines the pattern and theme.

For this project, the selections were:

• Pattern: The Rachel Quilt

• Theme: Vintage Children’s Book

Adapting the Rachel Quilt Pattern

The Rachel Quilt is made to have the feature fabrics in the large squares with star blocks made from a single fabric. However, this theme really pushed me to dig into my stash of scraps and leftover fat quarters, so I decided to put a fresh spin on the design. I love how small changes can breathe new life into a familiar pattern.

Choosing the Colors and Fabrics

To start, I gathered inspiration by looking at images from vintage children’s books. My initial fabric pull included green, yellow, red, and navy blue. But after noticing brighter blues in some illustrations, I swapped out the navy for a more vivid blue, which brought the palette to life.

Here’s what I used:

• Background Fabric: An off-white solid from my stash.

• Larger Squares: A crosshatch fabric from the Summersville collection by Lu Summers (circa 2012).

• Binding: A ruler print from American Jane—I couldn’t resist how perfectly it tied in the vintage theme!

• Backing: I originally planned to use Dick and Jane fabric, but I forgot about my eBay auction where I was trying to win some yardage and someone else won (oops!). Instead, I found another American Jane print on Etsy that turned out to be an even better fit, incorporating the brighter blue from my fabric pull.

The Quilting

I chose a classic crosshatch quilting design with lines spaced about ½” apart. This technique balances traditional and modern vibes—classic straight lines with a closer, contemporary feel. The texture it creates is just perfect for this baby quilt!

Final Thoughts

This quilt was such a joy to make! I loved interpreting the vintage children’s book theme with fabrics from my stash and adding my own twist to the Rachel Quilt Pattern.

I’m excited to share this project and can’t wait to get started on my next Quilt Roulette challenge. Be sure to follow me on Instagram to see the pattern and theme I draw next!