Petite Plaid Quilt Pattern - The Sugar Plum Version

Last week, I introduced you to the Petite Plaid quilt pattern and the autumnal cover quilt. Today I want to tell you all about another, very different version of the pattern…the Sugar Plum quilt!

The Petite Plaid quilt pattern at a glance

The Petite Plaid quilt pattern is a sister pattern to Upscale Plaid. They both use strip placement and clever color choices to create the illusion of a woven plaid (instead of just pieced blocks).

But where Upscale Plaid is oversized, Petite Plaid takes things in a much smaller direction. Plus, Petite Plaid uses strip piecing and nested seams throughout, making it SO fun to sew. (And who doesn’t love the chance to see your carefully colored plaid motif repeat?)

While Petite Plaid is more than a downsized Upscale Plaid, I do think of them as closely related…and so for my second sample, I decided to play up that connection. Meet the Sugar Plum sample!

My Sugar Plum Petite Plaid quilt

I made the Petite Plaid cover quilt in a throw size (63” x 63”), so I thought it would be fun to sew my second sample in a smaller size….or should I say a more petite size? I made this one a small throw, measuring 50.5” x 63”.

FABRICS

If you’ve been with us for a while, you might remember my Winter Blush Upscale Plaid quilt. It was my neutral, lower contrast take on the Upscale Plaid quilt pattern. I’ve always loved the way it turned out (and if you love it like I do, you should know that we’ve recently restocked Winter Blush quilt kits in the shop!). So when I looked at Upscale Plaid samples to inspire my new Petite Plaid quilt, Winter Blush was a no brainer!

I didn’t want to use all the same colors, though. I aimed for sisters, not twins. So while both quilts use some of my favorite Art Gallery Fabrics PURE Solids, like Bewitched and Sugar Plum, those colors get more of the spotlight in this new quilt. And I did add a little more pigment and moody-ness to this new quilt, especially by including some earthy greens and purple tones.

Here’s the complete list of PURE Solids I used:

Sugar Plum (Background)
Bewitched (A1)
Popsicle (A2)
Garden Fern (A3)
Golden Bronze (B1)
Forest Night (B2)
Pampas (B3)
Sweet Macadamia (C1)
Hydrangea (C2)
Atmospheric (C3)

What's fun about this pattern is that it uses the same number of fabrics as Upscale Plaid. So if you have seen an Upscale Plaid quilt that you like, you can replicate those colors in Petite Plaid!

I love how all these colors work together. The final result is just what I’d hoped: it definitely feels related to my Winter Blush Upscale Plaid without feeling like just a smaller version of that quilt. (Sisters, not twins!) Like the inspiration quilt, I love how my Sugar Plum sample looks perfect for the colder months without feeling like a holiday quilt.

Before you ask…yes, we have Sugar Plum quilt kits in the shop!

QUILTING

I sent my quilt top to Megan at Blue Ridge Quilt Co. for long-arming. With some quilts, I immediately know what panto I want to use…but this was not one of those quilts! As I was trying to decide, I kept coming back to a panto I’d passed over many times: Beaded Row by Karlee Porter. I just wasn’t into the horizontal repeat, so I never used it.

But for some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about Beaded Row for this Petite Plaid quilt, and I finally asked Megan to use it. I was a bit nervous…but I’m so glad we went for it! It turns out that I love how it plays off the plaid, and the curves look so striking against the straight lines of the quilt top.

So lesson learned: don’t write off a panto you’re not sure about…because maybe you just haven’t made the right quilt for it yet!

BACKING AND BINDING

For my backing I used Harmony Eventide (from Sharon Holland’s Midsummer collection for Art Gallery Fabrics). I love how well it goes with the quilt top, but in an unexpected way! While the quilt top has just small amounts of green, the backing fabric goes all-in on the green with just little pops of pink.

I used AGF Popsicle, which is also my A2 fabric on the quilt top. Again, I think it’s a slightly unexpected choice…but it helps make those little A2 squares more pronounced, and it keeps the quilt from feeling too dark and moody. It’s just right!

I’m so happy with this project. The pattern, colors, and quilting combine to make just a stunning quilt!

Make your own Petite Plaid Quilt

Petite Plaid is one of our more precise quilt patterns, but it’s definitely worth the effort. Make sure you know how to cut WOF strips, sew a scant ¼” seam, and sew long seams, and you’ll do great!

QUILT KITS

We have Sugar Plum quilt kits in the shop (with or without backing and binding). We also have four other Petite Plaid quilt kits, each with a different feel:

DESIGN YOUR OWN

The Petite Plaid quilt pattern has so much potential for playing with colors, and I’m so excited to see the colorways you come up with! Even more than with most quilt patterns, fabric choice matters a lot with Petite Plaid. So before you pull your fabrics, I recommend: