Rainbow Quilts: A Retrospective
Rainbow Quilts Through the Years: A Retrospective
Happy Pride Month, y’all!
You know I never waste an opportunity to make a rainbow quilt, or even just put a stack of fabric in color order. Rainbows are the best! But they also have come to mean something, especially during June which is National Pride Month in the USA.
Pride Month as we know it commemorates the Stonewall riots in NYC in the summer of 1969. Later on, during this commemoration in June 1978, artist Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag as symbol of pride and visibility for the gay community during the Gay Freedom Day Parade in San Francisco.
Since then the rainbow pride flag has long stood as a symbol of LGBTQ+ pride, inclusion, community, and the beauty of diversity. It’s a flag that radiates visibility and celebration of a full spectrum of humanity with a full spectrum of color. And I just can’t get enough.
So in honor of Pride Month, I’m sharing a retrospective of my favorite rainbow quilts. I often call a quilt a “rainbow quilt” when its colors are in some kind of color order, but the Pride flag currently features 6 of the Roy G. Biv colors (sorry, indigo!), so I’m really trying to include only quilts that contain all 6 here.
Some are wild and scrappy, some are polished and precise, and some fall somewhere in between. Together they form a patchwork tribute to joy, love, and authentic self-expression.
Here they are, in no particular order:
#1 - Rainbow Twist Lap Quilt
Pattern: Lucky Twist by Kate Brown Quilts
I made this quilt while pattern testing the Lucky Twist quilt pattern by designer Kate Brown. While she made it as a striking two color quilt, I decided to take it in a completely different direction by featuring all of my super saturated Alison Glass prints.
I used some long-treasured bold prints from some of her early collections like Diving Board, Seventy Six, and Handiwork for the larger triangles, and then vibrant blender prints for the smaller log cabin style blocks.
My favorite part of this quilt was finding the perfect bold black and white mural to photograph it with. Look at those same log cabin style shapes! They were made for each other.
#2 - The Unicorn Molecule Quilt
Pattern: adapted from the Scattered block from Summer Sampler 2019, designed by Faith Jones
My 12 inch Scattered block from the original Summer Sampler 2019 quilt
In 2019 I participated in a quilt along for the Summer Sampler quilt, using Rifle Paper Co. floral prints and some coordinating solids and blenders to create all of my blocks. After making this one, I joked that it looked like something I would see in AP Chem, like a molecular diagram for a unicorn.
So, of course, I couldn’t resist enlarging the scale to make the Unicorn Molecule quilt. And although the photos in front of the California poppies mural turned out great, I then could not pass up the chance to take another snap or two in location that was covered in more rainbows, the Spanish Village at Balboa Park.
The beautiful terracotta tiles at the Spanish Village had just been repainted before my photo shoot, and were looking their very best.
#3 - Custom King-Sized Rainbow Jewels Quilt
Pattern: Vintage Stars Double Quilt, from the book Modern Rainbow Patchwork Quilts, by Paula Steel
I don’t think I’ve ever properly documented this quilt on this site or social media or anything, and surely she deserves her time to shine! This was an enlarged adaptation of a pattern from designer Paula Steel’s book.
With this giant king-sized custom beauty, you really get a sense for how much I favor prints over solids, I think. Not a single solid fabric on the whole thing! Where you think you see solid red? That’s a print from a Sun Print collection by designer Alison Glass. That solid violet you spy? That’s a Speckled blender print from designer Rashida Coleman-Hale of Ruby Star Society. I just love how a print gives a little added dimension and sparkle.
#4 - Custom Rainbow Kitties Queen-Sized Quilt
Pattern: The Kittens quilt pattern by Elizabeth Hartman
You can read much more than you maybe wanted to know about this pop-art inspired rainbow kitty quilt because I have already documented its custom journey.
But I will add this little tidbit, did you know the original Pride rainbow flag included the colors pink and turquoise? Apparently they were later taken out to make it easier to mass produce for greater distribution and increased visibility. But perhaps the aqua and pink-ish kitties in this quilt make this rainbow more in line with the original vision of the Pride rainbow flag. Meow!
#5 - Ultimate Rainbow Matrix Quilt
Pattern: 2 by 4 quilt blocks, no pattern
I used up prints from all my favorite fabric designers on this one (currently the designers of the Ruby Star Society). I called it the Ultimate Rainbow because it felt like the quintessential La Bizarra collection of prints that comprised that rainbow. Octopuses! Tiny frogs! Hulking toadstools! and so much more to see.
And it’s all backed with that bold black and white buffalo checked flannel that serves to make the colors from the front of the quilt seem even more vibrant. Chef’s kiss.
#6 - Mid Mod Inferno Quilt
Pattern: House Party by Modernly Morgan
When I pattern tested the House Party quilt pattern for Morgan, I made two “test” quilts. Reason number one, why not? Why make one quilt when you could make two? Am I right?
Reason number two, this fabric was itching to be used. The word ‘house’ in House Party, made me think of this little paint swatch print in the many different color ways of the Inferno fabric collection by designer Giucy Giuce (Giuseppe Ribaudo). The main prints in this collection are the ombre brushstrokes prints that you see making up the rainbow on this quilt.
I have to include the photo of just the unfinished quilt top, too, because those little party lawn flamingos just drive me wild.
#7 - The Rainbow Knuffel Quilt
Strictly speaking, this has only the barest amount of orange to make it a full 6 color rainbow, but IT COUNTS! I made it with the full rainbow in mind, and thus added the orange, so it counts!
And I just loved taking quilt photos using the outside walls of this San Diego dance studio. They’re intricate and stunning and deserve their own photo shoot.
#8 - The Rainbow Agate Quilt
Pattern: Scrappy Trip Around the World, a classic
A rainbow quilt in front of a very welcoming Pride mural in Raleigh. If you’ve kept up with me for any length of time, you will know that the Scrappy Trip Around the World is my favorite quilt block to make, and my favorite way to play with color. I usually stick to one hue to make what I call a ‘gemstone’ quilt, a multi-faceted sparkling color display.
But the Rainbow Agate quilt features my favorite color of all: all of them. And just to keep the theme going on the back, I used a luscious cloud print from Melody Miller’s Reverie fabric collection.
#9 - The Circle of Friends Quilts
Pattern: Circle of Friends quilt block
The Low Key Bee Circle of Friends Quilt from 2018-19
I am a member of several quilt bees. A quilting or sewing bee traditionally was when a group of quilters would come together to complete a quilt, all sitting together, contributing their stitches by hand while trading news and gossip.
Today, the bees I participate in are made up of people from my quilt guild who contribute blocks to get sewn up into a quilt, or people who I interact with online, who trade blocks and conversation through messages and mail.
For many years, I have been a part of the Low Key Bee online. Each month, one queen bee assigns a block for each of the other bees to make and send. Way back in 2018 or 2019, I requested a Circle of Friends block, a tutorial for which I found online. Each bee was to create a block or two using one color of the rainbow, and I made the center block, which was a full rainbow circle.
I love the way it turned out. And each tiny square of color reminds me of the other bees and their generosity in helping me complete this quilt for myself.
So in 2022, I requested the same block, this time with dark black, gray or navy for the background pieces, instead of white or cream. I ended up omitting the rainbow center block this time around as well, which gave me a little more flexibility with the layout.
The Low Key Bee Circle of Friends Quilt from 2022-23
#10 - Rainbow Shields Baby Quilt
Pattern: Flowering Snowball, a classic
Well, you got me. This one is not a rainbow according to the 6 color standard that I set out at the top of the page. But up against that rainbow striped wall? Are you kidding me? I couldn’t leave it out simply because there wasn’t any purple in Carolyn Friedlander’s Gleaned fabric collection. I’m only human.
#11 - Quasar Rainbow Quilt
All right, and if we are going to be picky, the Quasar Rainbow Quilt contains no red, so it doesn’t meet the parameters I said I’d stick to either. But it does have hot pink, and that seems like a pretty stellar substitute to me.
This is another of those tricky quilts where I used nearly all vibrant prints in place of solid fabrics. But I also stuck to prints designed by Alison Glass (she does these super saturated hues SO WELL), and she was missing out on some of the lighter shades I needed to achieve the right depth.
#12 - The Custom Super-King-sized Rainbow Magnum Opus
Pattern: enlarged version of Rainbow Quilt by Lies Bos-Varkevisser
Mostly these were in no particular order, but I did purposefully save the best for last. This is my magnum opus, the custom super-king rainbow watercolor gradient star quilt!
I used the rainbow quilt pattern from Lies Bos-Varkevisser, enlarged to twice the size, then adapted the whole thing to be more square, so as to cover and provide maximum drape on a California king sized bed.
I am glad I got this custom order early on in my quilt making business, as it taught me so much, particularly about color, that I have then carried forward with me in my art. Photographed in the beautiful Esalen retreat center in Big Sur, CA, draped across my lovely friend as a Technicolor Dream Coat.
So Many Songs about rainbows…
I was honestly surprised when this little retrospective hit double digits up there, and this isn’t even all the rainbow quilts I have made! There’s no wrong way to rainbow, and they certainly keep me from having to make color decisions. Don’t make me choose a favorite hue!
Rainbows are also a lovely and welcome reminder of authenticity and visibility, joy, and the beauty of diversity. During Pride Month and all year long, I think of courage and community and try to pour it all into my stitches.
So here’s to the rainbow, legal name Roy G. Biv, an enduring muse!
If you enjoyed this post, please use the buttons located over each photo to pin on Pinterest, and spread the rainbow love.
You can also visit the Rainbow quilt galleries for more inspiration, or consider ordering your own custom rainbow quilt.
So I heard you like rainbow quilts…
