In August 2025, we highlighted our Diamond Ripples Quilt Pattern for our Make of the Month project. And today, we are sharing it all with you!
Diamond Ripples is a beginner friendly HST quilt pattern. This design is one of my first and has been a long standing favorite. The pattern includes four sizes - two baby options and 2 throw options. Within each size, you can make it using yardage or you can make it scrappy.
I wanted to make a super scrappy version and I decided to upsize it by quite a bit! I’ve always wanted to make a larger throw size version and August was finally the time. I planned on making a 36 block Diamond Ripples which would be a 6 x 6 grid and finish at 84” x 84”. It is decently simple to upsize the design and I thought I’d give you all the details on how I did it for my version.
But first, you wanna see my mock up?!
The Diamond Ripples pattern is created by making 2 of the same block construction wise but they have a slight variation in color palette. And the two blocks alternate back and forth throughout the design. For the non-scrappy version, the only difference between the A and B block is Color 1 and 2 (the colors that meet to form the diamond). The other 4 main colors - 3 - 6 remain the same. Well, for the scrappy, it is really up to you how you want to divide and organize your fabrics.
What I decided to do was to create slightly different color palettes for the A and B blocks all together. If you look at the top left corner of the mock up you will see the A block is made with a brighter blue background and a deep maroon to light purple/pink gradient. The corner HSTs are more of a golden yellow. And then the next block is the B block with a deeper blue background, a burnt orange/red to yellow gradient and deeper gold corner HSTs. So essentially I made the same block on repeat but divided in half by their color ways.
Before I get into the math of it with you, let’s look at the pretty pretty fabric! Below is the color palette pull for all the A blocks.
And now here is the Block B color way in all its yummy glory.
I may or may not have forgotten to pull the burnt orange/red color way in my initial pull and only realized it after I started making a test block. Whoops. So here is the missing pile that would be officially Color 6 for Block B.
And here they are all together.
Okay onto the math. The Diamond Ripples pattern already has a scrappy materials chart for Colors 1 - 6 but not for the background fabric. It is pretty easy to figure it out but I thought I’d make it super clear here for anyone who wants to make the same size as me in the same way.
For a 36 block, 84” x 84”, all scrappy, with two different color way blocks for A and B Diamond Ripples here ya go:
You need the SAME numbers for BOTH the A Blocks and B Blocks:
Color 1 - (9) 6.25” sqs (this would be Color 2 for B blocks)
Color 3 - (14) 6.25” sqs
Color 4 - (18) 6.25” sqs
Color 5 - (14) 6.25” sqs
Color 6 - (9) 6.25” sqs
BG sqs - (64) 6.25” sqs and (36) 4” sqs
You follow all the same construction instructions within the pattern. You make every block the same, you are just making more of them.
For my fabric pulls, I decided that for each Color 1 - 6, I would try and only use ONE 6.25” sq per fabric for ultimate scrappiness. So for Color 4, it says I need (18) 6.25” sqs so I pulled 18 different fabrics in that specific color way. So on and so forth. But for the background fabrics, I am just using what I have on hand and there will be some fabrics repeated.
I decided to make one test block in the B Block color way. I wanted to get my bearings and make sure my initial idea made sense and I felt good about the colors. I love love loved it. It looked chaotic and wild but I trusted that when I made the A Block, the difference would be big enough to see but not enough to distract. Also, I knew thatvas they alternated across the quilt, it would be so gorgeous.
At this point, I hadn’t decided three things. 1. If I was going to make alllll the HSTs first between both the A and B blocks and THEN construct the blocks. 2. If I was going to work all the way through A blocks and then move onto B blocks. 3. If I cared about any fabrics repeating within a single block. In the test block, no two fabrics within Colors 1 - 6 AND background repeat. But I was not sure I could keep up the no repeating BG fabric throughout the entire make. I thought I could make sure no fabrics repeat within Colors 1 - 6 though in a single block. I still needed to toy around with the idea but I was REALLY excited to keep going.
After taking a weekend off sewing, I knew I wanted to just stay focused on the same B block fabrics and batch sew them. 18 Block B's coming up!
The last photo shows all 18 B Blocks. It alone highlights the scrappy vibes in a saturated bold palette. I love the variety of prints and solids I used through out. I was able to get a really quick and enjoyable rhythm going when working on these blocks and could do about a block every 15 minutes. They flew together! Of course sewing and trimming all the HSTs took a lot longer but once those were ready, the assembly of each block was really fun and fast.
I decided to make one test block of the Block A fabrics like I did before with the Block B fabrics. I was itching to see what the two would look like next to each other. The blocks as shown above (in the single color way) are a lot stronger and intense than I would choose if I was using this as a single color palette. I can say that this is where I had to just trust my original vision. I wanted something more playful and less IN YOUR FACE in the final product, and by making this next test block and putting it up on the wall, I could totally imagine the end product. It would still be super saturated but it would be a lot more playful and joyful (look at the top row in the photos below).
After confirming I loved this combination, I cut out all the fabrics needed for the second half and got to sewing and trimming a lot of HSTs.
Seeing these blocks come together was so enjoyable and really fun to witness the different colors and prints interact. And as I finished each new Block A, I would add it to the design wall and watched the quilt grow.
Buuuut, if I am being honest… I wasn’t really liking what I was seeing.
Don’t get me wrong, I did’t hate this quilt. The blocks individually looked awesome. I loved the gradient and the contrast. But when they were placed next to each other, they started to feel chaotic and muddled. But, I also knew that I wasn’t able to put the entire quilt up on my design wall at home because it wasn’t big enough. So I finished working my way through all the blocks and then put them away for a week. I needed to step away and trust the process.
By no means did I think this was a mistake or it was looking awful. I just wasn’t *loving* the direction it was going at this point. It was hard for me to step back and see the overall gradient change and sparkle effect I was going for.
Also, at this point, I started packing up all my fabric and sewing supplies I had brought home for the summer. It was time to head back to the studio with school getting back in session and new routines being implemented. And I knew at least in the studio, I had enough space to hang all the blocks up to see the real final layout. Here are all the blocks up on the design wall in the studio.
I had to tape the far right column onto the door so that's why it looks a bit wonky on that side. I still thought this quilt looked chaotic BUT I also thought it did provide the sparkle effect I was wanting.
Alysson and I talked about why maybe this hadn’t turned out quite like I had envisioned and I think it’s just one thing:
The mock up I made just used solids in it so the contrast was much more obvious between the two blocks. When sewing with lots of different prints, the contrast gets lost a bit. There are other colors popping in and out all throughout the top so it doesn’t highlight the gradient as cleanly in each block, and it does make the top feel less structured visually.
I knew getting it all sewn together would help the top feel more intentional and I’d be able to see the seamless play of color change throughout it.
Creativity can stretch us and make us question our instincts but I have learned, I need to trust the process. Yes, it maybe hadn’t turned out exactly how I had envisioned in the beginning but that didn’t make it wrong. And the final product is rarely the reason I create in the first place. I create because it’s how I process life. And this make was *exactly* what I needed when I needed it. I was able to play, I was able to focus, I was able to be present. And that alone is worth the art of creating.
This quilt top is 84” x 84”, she is a big one! And funny enough, Alysson’s wing span is 56” so the photos we captured are funny. The benefit of a large quilt and a small wing span is we got some great lofty flying quilt photos to try and capture the quilt top as best as we could.
I loved looking at this quilt top and I kept saying "it's totally wild, this is crazy." And each day I kept looking at it and each day I kept really loving it.
I sent this off to Emily of So Sunny Quilts and I backed it in a wide back from Robert Kaufman - Sassy Pink. I wanted to lean into the chaotic nature of this quilt and chose a neon teal thread. Diamond Ripples has a lot of movement naturally in the design but it is all hard angles and I wanted to soften it with lots of swirls. So I met the chaos and added to it with using Raindrops on Water for the pantograph.
We bound it in this bright pink and coral stripped woven fabric. It is the perfect final addition to this quilt!
The back of this quilt is SO fun. I love seeing the teal swirls against the pink backing.
There we have it! This quilt is a lot of organized chaos but I turned out so gorgeous in the end. And I love the larger size that it ended up. Grab the Diamond Ripples pattern in the shop!