Luxurious Retro Modern Quilt Gem

Custom Queen size retro modern quilt

I was so excited to make this custom queen size quilt for a customer who seems to share my aesthetic, and even had a great name for our shared vibe: retro futurism. Think of the Jetsons’ vision of what the future (now) would look like. Living in the sky, among the stars, but still communicating on phones with cords and rotary dials. Below, the final digital mock-up for her quilt on the left and the final product on the right.

Custom fabric choices make this totally unique

Luckily, our style is also shared by fabric designer Melody Miller, so I was able to use a lot of her fabric collections, including the recent Stay Gold, to create this stunner. I had to source a few extra prints in order to incorporate the customer’s request for red cowboy boots, disco balls, and gemstones.

adding meaningful quilt details

Incorporating gemstones into the quilt became a fun challenge and gave me an opportunity to piece a few gemstone blocks to give some texture and dimension to the quilt. I used the book Gemology, by Andrea Tsang Jackson for a couple of those gems, and the emoji-style diamond was a free tutorial from Quilt Cakes.

This customer wanted some personally meaningful symbols represented in her quilt and this was a really unique way to do that. It adds texture, visual interest, and personal significance in a way that just printing it digitally on the fabric would not have. Nobody else in the world will have a quilt quite like it.

luxurious finishing touches

Because of the deep teal (not quite navy) metallic gold celestial print on the front, this special new quilt owner chose a complementary print for the back; it is a larger scale print, slightly lighter color, and made of cotton sateen for a luxe feel and light weight that will work well in both winter and summer.

I usually use bamboo blend batting for a lightweight feel and gorgeous drape, and this was no exception.

I always forget how truly large and unwieldy a queen-sized quilt is until I’m trying to get good photos of it. My kids tried to assist me in the process of taking an outdoor quilt photo, but to little avail. We had a good time wrestling with it in the breeze though.

I finally managed to get a good shot of it indoors, which really showed off the soft retro color palette. An abundance of warm colors and sepia-tones. I used a cat to show the scale, standard practice in the quilting industry.

The little personalized details really make this quilt sparkle

• rollerskates

• disco balls

• birds

• Viewmaster reels

• corded rotary phone

• diamonds

• cowboy boots

Retro Mod Quilt decor styling ideas

This quilt IS a decor styling idea; it is sure to define the character of any room it’s in. But, I also just love imagining quilts in their natural habitats. You can check out my Pinterest boards for similar stylish room ideas and more. This quilt belongs with these other vintage artifacts and stylish furnishings in these beautiful spaces.

This quilt was completely bespoke and therefore unavailable for purchase, but I hope you’re inspired to create your own custom quilt. If you need help making your quilt vision happen, let me know.

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