I’m very pleased to share with you my new quilt pattern entitled, The Princess and the Pea. A quilt that was designed for our 2 year old granddaughter, Eloise. We are so fortunate to have two beautiful granddaughters, Belén (age 4) and Eloise (age 2). When Belén transitioned from the crib to her “big girl” bed, I made a quilt for her bed, which eventually became my first pattern called B’s Big Girl Quilt.
Now that Eloise has also moved to her “big girl” bed, it was time to create a quilt for her new bed. My daughter, Alecia, (aka Mommy) had a great idea to make a quilt based on the Princess and the Pea story. I thought it would be fun to come up with a quilt for Eloise incorporating that popular fairy tale and started to jot down ideas. Eventually, my notes and sketches all came together to create this pattern.
I wanted to be able to personalize the quilt for our own little princess, so I digitized a crown embroidery design that can easily be personalized with a child’s name. For my pattern model, I used the name “Princess,” and Eloise’s crown has her name on it.
The pea is an important element for this quilt and has a personality of his own. I created a digitized version for machine embroiders as well as a template that can be hand embroidered.
Then it was time to sew the bed frame and prepare it to be machine appliqued onto the quilt top.
It was fun to work on the quilt as it came to life. The wandering vine and its many colorful leaves and spiral flowers are the focus for the outside border.
I came up with an unusual spiral flower design and have a unique way of making each of these flowers. I enjoyed mixing up the colors for the flowers to add a bit more whimsy to the quilt top.
Once the quilt top was completed, I took it to Yvette Ebaugh to quilt. She did a beautiful job of capturing the essence of the quilt with her quilting. Then it was time for the finishing touch, a playful bias binding.
Last, but not least, final photos were taken and Eloise’s “big girl” quilt was complete!
It was a very fun project and I’m excited to see Eloise’s quilt on her big girl bed.
If you would like to make this quilt for your little princess, you can purchase the pattern online at Craftsy or locally, in Boise, at the Quilt Crossing. I will also be teaching a class on this quilt pattern (check out the class list at the Quilt Crossing website) and welcome you to join the class.
Note: I made another version of this quilt, replacing the bias trim on the border with large rickrack. You can read more about this in my blog, The Princess and the Pea for Eloise. It was a fun variation for this pattern and Eloise loved her quilt!
Happy Sewing!
Jane
