Rainbow Scrap Quilts

There’s a mini baby boom going on in my work family. For our last work baby boom, I made these “stacked coins” quilts. Looking for a new pattern, I adapted a rainbow sampler quilt pattern into a simpler rainbow scrap quilt. I love scrap quilts for using my favorite fabrics, and I made these with a mix of baby fabrics, more grown-up prints, and some special patches from our work together.

This is an easy pattern. If you want to make your own version, here are the dimensions for a finished size of 42″x55″:

squares are 4.5″
strips are 1.75″ wide
Side borders are 2.5″ wide
Top and bottom are 6.5″ wide
Binding is 2.5″ wide
Backing and quilt batting dimensions are ***

I started by cutting the squares and laying them out in a diagonal rainbow pattern, starting with red at the bottom left and progressing through orange, yellow, green, blue, grey/purple to pink. When I found an arrangement I liked, I snapped a picture for reference while joining the blocks. I stacked the blocks in vertical rows, pinning each row together and setting aside to join.

I added the 1.75″ strips to the tops of each square in a row, except the top square. Then, I created the vertical rows and joined the vertical rows with 1.75″ strips on the sides, except far right and left. I put 2.5″ borders on the far left and right and 6.5″ wide strips on the top and bottom. This finishes the top.

I layered and pin-basted the quilt top with cotton batting and a backing fabric. Using clear top thread, I machine-quilted diagonal lines through the squares and a rainbow pattern on the top and bottom borders.

I created binding using 2.5″ strips of colored fabric, joined on the bias – I used fabrics from the quilt and laid it out so the colors would coordinate with the adjacent quilt squares. I folded the binding in half and ironed it flat. I machine-stitched the raw edge of the binding to the top of the quilt and hand-stitched the binding to the back.