Ruby Sue Quilt Pattern: all the details!
The Ruby Sue pattern is out now! This is Lo & Behold’s first new pattern of 2025, and I’m so excited to finally share it with you! The Ruby Sue pattern has been in the works for a while, but it took some fine-tuning to get it just right. I love the finished product, though, so I think it was worth the wait! :)
In this post, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Ruby Sue pattern…and then I’ll share all about the cover quilt!
Behind the Ruby Sue pattern
You probably already know that the Ruby Sue pattern is named after and inspired by our sweet girl. 🐶 We adopted her around Christmas time 2024 when she was 8 weeks old. To see her Instagram highlight and watch her grow up before your eyes, click here. 🥹
But actually, I had the idea for the pattern before we adopted her. I’d been wanting to create a simple striped pattern for over a year now…something beginner friendly that was still interesting, fun to sew and quick.
I started seriously working on that idea around the time we adopted Ruby Sue in December 2024. I kept playing around with different designs and construction techniques, but it wasn’t quite coming together. Once we brought our puppy home, though, it all came into focus. I guess you could say she became my muse!
The pattern would be playful…bold…a little chaotic, even. In other words, it would be just like our sweet Ruby Sue. I knew this pattern HAD to be named after her!
Ruby Sue quilt pattern 101
So what’s special about the Ruby Sue quilt pattern?
PLAYFUL STRUCTURE
I wanted to strike a careful balance with the Ruby Sue pattern…a random, improv vibe that still had some structure and order. It took some trial and error, but I love how it turned out.
I knew true improv can be overwhelming for many quilters, so I had to find a different way to construct the quilt…a way to get the feel of improv without the struggle. So the Ruby Sue quilt looks like something a skilled improv quilter cooked up on the fly, but the pattern tells you exactly how to assemble and where to place each block. In other words, you get an improvised look without any agonizing or second guessing. The trick was to arrange the blocks in a way that looks and feels random…but not disorganized.
Let me tell you, it took a lot of thought, planning and experimentation to get that effortless, random look! The result is a pattern that’s playful yet elevated. You’ll get a perfect result every time, but it won’t look like you tried too hard. 😉
FABRIC REQUIREMENTS
Another key to that random look? Ruby Sue’s fabric usage. I decided against using any sashing or background fabric to break up the blocks. So the Ruby Sue pattern is all color, all the time…and it gives the quilt a very bold, very modern feel.
That also means that the Ruby Sue quilt is pre-cut friendly! If you’ve been holding onto a fabric bundle waiting for the perfect pattern, this might be it. You won’t even have to buy extra fabric for a background! The smaller sizes can use fat eighths or fat quarters. The larger sizes (Throw - King) use half yards. Here's a look at the exact fabric requirements:
QUILT SIZES
And speaking of sizes, the Ruby Sue pattern includes nine sizes…tied with Knitted Blooms for the most sizes included in a pattern! You can whip up a couple of ultra-fast placemats (also perfect for putting pet bowls on!), or you can settle in and make a king-size quilt for your bed.
Here’s the full list of sizes:
- Placemats x 2 (10” x 16” each)
- Wall Hanging (20" x 30")
- Baby (36" x 40”)
- Crib (36” x 50”)
- Throw (60” x 70”)
- Large Throw (72" x 80”)
- Twin (72" x 90")
- Queen (96" x 100”)
- King (108" x 110”)
Plus, the Ruby Sue pattern includes a bonus tutorial to turn your quilt into a pet bed! I cannot wait to show you how Ruby Sue's Ruby Sue pet bed turned out! 🤭
DIFFICULTY LEVEL
Our last pattern, Knitted Blooms, was an intermediate skill level with lots of seams and small piecing, so I wanted to make my next pattern more approachable. And sure enough, Ruby Sue turned out to be an advanced beginner pattern! That means that you should have some basic quilting experience under your belt…mostly because Ruby Sue does have long seams and a little bit of strip piecing. But if you need some tips, I have a blog post all about sewing long seams.
Overall, though, Ruby Sue is a fast, simple finish. The strip piecing really makes assembling your blocks a breeze, and you can chain piece your rows to speed things up even more. So if you’re early in your quilting journey, Ruby Sue offers a great chance to practice techniques that will help you in the future. And if you’re an experienced quilter, you can enjoy putting your skills to work on a fun, breezy project.
QUILT KITS
We have four Ruby Sue quilt kits in the shop:
I'll be sharing more about each of these quilts in the coming weeks, but it was so fun to give each quilt a life of it's own, all inspired by our Ruby girl. 🥰
Now that you have all the details on the pattern, let me introduce you to the cover quilt!
Ruby Sue - the cover version
The whole Ruby Sue pattern was designed with our pup in mind, but I especially wanted the cover quilt to represent Ruby Sue. That meant I had to find the perfect colors. 🎨
FABRICS
I made the throw size (60” x 70”), which uses nine half-yard cuts. Given Ruby Sue’s name, I of course started with a purple-y red, Kona Bordeaux. Fun fact: We named Ruby Sue after Uncle Eddie's daughter on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. 😅 Since we adopted her around Christmas time, it felt fitting.
So then I needed to figure out what other colors to add in. I was going for a girly, playful look, and since I naturally gravitate towards pinks and purples, it felt like the right addition. Then I pulled it all together with a recent favorite blue. I’d used Art Gallery Fabrics’s Hydrangea in some recent Knitted Blooms and Valley Song quilts, but I thought that color looked a smidge too saturated for this quilt…so I swapped it out for Kona Grapemist instead.
In the end, I used seven Art Gallery Pure Solids:
- Cosmos
- Cotton Candy
- Icicle
- Moonstone
- Rock Candy
- Stargazing
- Verve Violet
And two Kona solids:
- Bordeaux
- Grapemist
I know the last few paragraphs make the process sound pretty simple. To be honest, though, it took a long time to settle on those colors! Some fabric pulls feel easy, and others feel more challenging. This one was definitely on the challenging end of the spectrum. It took several tries until it felt…right. Maybe because I had such specific inspiration? 🐕
All that effort was worth it, though, because I love how this quilt turned out. The palatte really captures the colors I envision when I think about Ruby Sue…and yes, you can get this as a quilt kit!
QUILTING
I sent the quilt to Megan of Blue Ridge Quilt Co. for long-arm quilting, and she used a light blue thread and the Demure panto by Longarm League. I just love how the big, swooping swirls contrast with the right angles of the quilt top…and look at that beautiful texture!
I backed the Ruby Sue cover quilt with Mugwort Gathering by Art Galley Fabrics. It’s from the Fresh Linen Collection by Katie O’Shea, and I loved the sweet, feminine feel. It echoes the Kona Grapemist on the front of the quilt which highlights the sense of calm and softness within the color palette. 🦋
For the binding, I used Diamond Stripe Truffle from the Duval collection by Suzy Quilts…a stripe-y binding for a stripe-y quilt!
Put together, it’s exactly the quilt I wanted for Ruby Sue…bold, playful, girly, and FUN!
I think one of the things that I love about this quilt is that it looks SO good squished up on a couch or bed. Since the design is really about the colors and how they move throughout the quilt, the fabrics all come together like a painter's palette, as opposed to a traditional block-based quilt. See what I mean?
Make your own Ruby Sue quilt
The Ruby Sue quilt would be such a fun start to your summer quilting and the perfect weekend project. I’ve already made a handful and they come together SO quick... and I can’t wait to make more!
QUILT KITS
We have four different Ruby Sue quilt kits in the shop! Make your own version of the cover quilt with our Ruby Sue cover quilt kit…with or without backing and binding! We’ve also got a bright and sunny Beach Day kit, a mellow and cool Sea Glass kit, and a warm and earthy Clover kit.
DESIGN YOUR OWN
Prefer to figure out your own fabric pull? We’ve put the Ruby Sue pattern on PreQuilt so you can play around to your heart’s content!
Or check out all the fabric bundles in the shop. We’ve got some gorgeous fat quarters just waiting to become your Ruby Sue!
I can’t wait to see how your quilt turns out. I hope the Ruby Sue pattern steals your heart…just like Ruby Sue stole mine! 💜
HELP OTHER RESCUE ANIMALS
This weekend, we're donating 10% of Ruby Sue sales to Hope Animal Rescue, the organization that we adopted Ruby Sue from. Help us raise funds for medical bills, food, supplies, and other things that are needed to successfully rescue animals in need.
