“Let the Light In” Quilt with Madame Fleur Fabric

“Let the Light In” Quilt with Madame Fleur Fabric
Madame Fleur Quilt by Kristin Esser of Simple Handmade Everyday
Photo credit: Minki Kim

I was so thrilled to be asked to make a project for Quilt Market this year–especially with a line as lovely as Madame Fleur by Jera Brandvig for Lecien.

Madame Fleur by Jera Brandvig
Photo credit: Jera Brandvig

(Disclosure: Some of these are affiliate links, which means I make a small commission if you buy from them, at no additional cost to you. Rest assured that I only recommend products that I know and love.)

Jera designs lovely fabric that is a joy to work with. Madame Fleur has a beautiful, rich colorway, including some gorgeous purple and gray prints and little flecks of gold. I love those gold accents!

The Quilt

I really wanted to show off this whole line, including the beautiful low volume prints. I decided on a pattern that I wrote for Love Patchwork & Quilting a few years ago, called “Let the Light In“, which highlights the lighter prints in the center of the layout.

It’s a simple quilt, with 6″ triangle in a square block (My favorite tool for that block: 6″ Triangle in a Square template from Bloc Loc). The hardest part was deciding how to do the colorwash. I don’t have a design wall big enough to do the whole layout on, so I tried importing the fabric into EQ8 and playing around with it digitally. That wasn’t working for me either, so I ended up picking a solid color in EQ8 to represent each color in the line and then played around with the colorwash. Once I got close, I laid it out in real life and tweaked it from there (on my “design floor”).

Madame Fleur Quilt by Kristin Esser of Simple Handmade Everyday
Photo credit: Minki Kim

Once the layout was nailed down, it was pure chain piecing heaven. I used the toile print on the back, because I am such a sucker for toile! And because I can’t do simple math, I ended up piecing a “bonus” row on the back to get it to fit. I love pieced backs, but I only do them when I mess up the fabric calculation for the back.

I love how the simple design really lets each print shine. I think it will be fun to continue to appreciate each print as we snuggle under it this winter.

My friend Deanna over at Sewing Blue longarm quilted it and she did a gorgeous job. I think that the lovely, curvey quilting motif (Citrine from Urban Elementz) complements it perfectly.

The Cushion

Madame Fleur pillow by Kristin Esser of Simple Handmade Everyday
Photo credit: Minki Kim

While it was away being quilted, I couldn’t resist sewing up a little Christmas cushion. The reds and greens of this line practically demanded a Christmas project!

I used the On-Point Pillow pattern and just adapted it to a 12″ x 16″ lumbar pillow form that I had on hand. I kind of love how it turned out, and I’m glad to have a new cushion for holiday decorating this year. I may sew up a few more since they were so fun and easy.

Madame Fleur Quilt by Kristin Esser of Simple Handmade Everyday
Photo credit: Minki Kim

Funny story about this last photo. Minki and I were using this welding shop as a background for these photos when the owner drove up and politely asked if he could open the door to his own business. I think he thought we were a little crazy!

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