Line Dance - the Love Patchwork & Quilting cover quilt

I'm finally getting a minute to show you more of the Line Dance quilt that appeared on the cover of issue 101 of Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine.*

This was such a lovely quilt to sew up. I love the Prickly Pear collection from Figo Fabrics that I was able to use for this throw size quilt, and I'm saving the few remnants I still have for a special project in the future.

*The pattern is currently only available in the magazine, but as soon as the rights revert back to me, I will have it available as a stand-alone pattern in my shop as well.

Line Dance Quilt Pattern

The inspiration for the Line Dance quilt pattern actually came from a piece of gift wrap that I had saved for some time. I liked how the lines on it intertwined and seemed to go over and under each other. 

A piece of gift wrap is obviously one continuous design, but that doesn't always work so well for a quilt, so I knew I needed to make this a block-based pattern somehow. I played around with various intertwining lines in a single block that would connect to the next block until it did what I wanted it to do.

The Line Dance quilt pattern is made up of two mirror-image blocks that simply get repeated and turned a half turn to make up all the twists and turns. It's important to keep track of where each colour goes, but otherwise it turned out to be quite a simple way to make something look rather complicated.

Photo credit: Love Patchwork & Quilting

Line Dance Quilt Color Options

When I designed the Line Dance quilt pattern, I played around with a lot of different colour options. The way the loops intertwine and connect with each other give this quilt pattern a lot of options to play with. The simplest version is to choose two colours for the lines, plus a background. Use one colour for the complete loops in the corners, and a second colour for the remaining ones. This puts the emphasis on the four corner loops.

By choosing a third colour for the center loop (the navy one in my quilt), or a different shade of the colour that's used for the incomplete loops, you can add a bit of movement and depth to the design.

I also really loved this ombre version of the Line Dance quilt. The incomplete loops around the edge form the first "layer", the four corner loops the second layer and the center loop is the third layer. By choosing three shades of the same colour, you can really add an feeling of depth that way. 

And of course choosing a dark background colour instead of a light one changes things up again, too.

Prickly Pear Fabric by Figo

When the magazine's editor Debora and I were deciding which fabrics to go with, we wanted to make the pattern jelly roll friendly so we knew it would have to be a scrappy version. 

It still needed to look cohesive, though, and the various loops on the pattern needed to stand out. We chose the Prickly Pear collection from Figo Fabrics (designed by Emily Taylor) because it has three main colours (blue, yellow, pink) that would work out well to make the various loops stand out.

In this case, I went for two pink and two yellow corner loops, and used the blues for the center and the incomplete loops around the edge. This collection has one very dark navy print among all the lighter blues, so I decided to use the navy for the center loop to make it stand out from the rest of the blues as well.

Quilting Design

I sent this quilt out to Heather of Red Willow Quilts to be quilted with an overall pantograph. She sent me a few options to pick from and we decided on the Kapari pantograph. I love how it adds some movement with the curved design, but is very geometric at the same time. It complements the looped-yet-not-curvy design of the quilt blocks perfectly.

Line Dance Pillow

One fun bonus with having the mirror image quilt blocks is that they connect all the way around if they're put back to back. This gives you some fun options for making smaller projects with the blocks, like a pillow or a tote (or even a table runner, although that wouldn't be reversible).

The way the ribbons line up at the edges of the block makes them connect around to the back of a tote or pillow, and then back to the front again on the other side.

The blocks in the pattern are 18" square, so they are perfect for making a pillow. To make your own, follow this tutorial and use two mirror-image blocks instead of one block and a backing fabric.

The magazine pattern includes instructions for how to make a lined tote as well, similar to this one. Again, use two mirror image blocks so they connect around the edges of the tote and it will look like the ribbons are flowing from back to front and back again.