Inspiration for the ‘After The Rain’ Quilt
Inspiration for ‘After The Rain’ quilt come from seeing so many uniquely colored, modern rainbows. I found modern rainbows everywhere, it felt like. I even made a folder in Instagram to save inspiration. Here are a couple of photos that I saved and what I liked about them.
Inspiration for After The Rain Quilt
This was the first modern rainbow that I remember seeing and thinking, “I want to make a quilt with this shape.” I love the unusual rainbow shape where the ‘legs’ of the rainbow are longer than the arch. You can see that in my ‘After The Rain’ Quilt.
These colors . . . I wanted to add these unusual rainbow colors in my quilt.
The colors in this are untraditional, but I also wanted to recreate the FEEL of this. The childlike feel and look was something I wanted to recreate in a quilt.
Speaking of wanting to recreate a feel, I LOVE the water color rainbow here. Again, this soft and welcoming vibe was one I wanted to bring to life in my quilt pattern.
Designing The Rainbow Quilt Block
I worked in the EQ8 (Electric Quilt 8) computer program to create the pattern. But designing the templates was another story. I tweaked the templates from EQ8 in Adobe Illustrator, and after HOURS and HOURS of almost giving up on this pattern, I reached out to a friend of mine who is amazing, and she helped me get the templates just right. It takes a village!
I knew I wanted the design to be an untraditional look for a rainbow, and after a lot of work (and possibly tears), I finalized this design for the quilt block:
Picking Fabrics for ‘After The Rain’ Quilt Top
My first Mini version made for the Quilters Candy Membership. It was called ‘Over The Rainbow Quilt’ at that time, before I picked a different name. I also went with blue and pink colors for this mini version.
Fabrics: Art Gallery Fabrics (AGF) Pure Solids, from outer to inner: Snow (background), Denim Blue, Icy Mint, Peach Sherbet, and Sweet Macadamia.
For my larger, lap size quilt, I wanted to try some of the more earth-tone colors with some purples. I was motivated by the Instagram photos I saved. Here is what my final, lap size quilt looks like, along with a list of the colors I used.
Fabrics Used for ‘After The Rain’ Quilt:
- Rainbow 1
- AGF Honey
- Kona Snow
- AGF Mauvelous
- Kona Latte
- Rainbow 2
- AGF Macchiato
- AGF Lavendar Water
- AGF Vanilla Custard
- AGF Foxglove
- Rainbow 3
- AGF SAndstone
- Kona Ice Peach
- Kona Rose
- AGF Gentle Feather
- Rainbow 4
- AGF Vanilla Custard
- AGF Creme De La Creme
- Kona Honey
- AGF Cinnamon
- Rainbow 5
- AGF Sweet Macademia
- AGF Toasty Walnut
- AGF Peach Sherbet
- Kona Sienna
- Rainbow 6
- AGF Creme De La Creme
- Kona Peach
- AGF Sweet Macademia
- AGF Mink
- Binding
- from The Small Circle’s pre-made binding.
- Background Fabric
- Art Gallery Fabrics ‘Snow’
THE NAME CHANGE
I first made this quilt for my digital quilting membership, the Quilters Candy Membership. It was a mini quilt pattern, just one block. And I named it, “Over The Rainbow”. Somewhere in between the release of that mini pattern and the release of the full sized version, I realized I want my patterns to have intentional names. I want each pattern to mean something, to share a message. I took time to think on this pattern.
The release of this pattern came during the Corona Virus quarantine. There was the death of George Floyd. The world felt (and at the time I write this) still DOES feel uncertain. No matter how difficult things are, there is always hope in what is to come. Things get better. It takes rain to produce a rainbow. Without difficulties, we can’t grow and improve, or appreciate the good as much as we could.
And so I decided to rename this quilt. It is now named, ‘AFTER THE RAIN’. I love this new name as much as I love the pattern. You can get a copy of the pattern HERE.
OTHER’S VERSIONS
Since this pattern came out in the Quilters Candy Membership first, I have a few samples of this pattern made in the mini version. Here are a few of the beautiful mini ‘After The Rain’ quilts that were made.
Made by Melissa of @ifyoudontsew
Made by Rachel of @wren.collective
Made by Kelli of @simplymackbeth
Made by Brittany of @loandbeholdstitchery
A personal favorite made by @wildrose_company
I hope you enjoyed seeing different versions of this pattern, ‘After The Rain’, and learning what inspired it’s creation. Be sure to check out my other blog post where I share how to attach Bias Binding to your Quilt.