Jawbreaker Quilt Pattern

October 3, 2018

The Jawbreaker Quilt Pattern is now available for sale in my shop!

YAY! Happy Jawbreaker Release Day!!! Pattern release days are always good days for me because I finally get to share what I have been working so hard on and then sit back and relax. I typically try and "treat" myself on release days with maybe a lunch out or a little shopping - switch up the norm.

The Jawbreaker Quilt Pattern comes in four sizes and multiple design options. It also can be made with FQs or yardage depending on the design option you choose! Here are some mock ups of the Large Throw size in each of the options.

Design Option 1: Meandering Geese - This uses FQs and the outside geese colors "meander" through the quilt from left to right and going down then up - starting at the top left.

Design Option 2: Color Column Geese - this uses yardage (either 1/3 yard or 1/2 yard depending on size) and each column gets it's own color of outside geese.

Design Option 3: Solid Color Geese - this uses yardage and all of the outside geese are the same color for a very bold modern look.

Now for a little (or a lot of) background on this quilt design and a lot of photos! After releasing the Meadowland quilt pattern back in June, I sort of sat back and watched that pattern take on a life of it's own. It was marvelous, exciting, so thrilling but also a little terrifying. I have never had a pattern be so successful before and I started to doubt if I could design another pattern just as good. I took a couple months off from designing and I think that is what I needed to have a fresh perspective and motivation.

I wanted to create another pattern that was very little waste in the fabric department. I find so much joy out of not having all these tiny triangles or scraps left over when piecing. And I enjoyed using flying geese so much from Meadowland that I wanted to create a whole design with geese being the main feature.

Also, back in March, I made my first flying geese quilt and the process was so satisfying. I wrote a blogpost all about that process and I had SO MANY requests for a pattern of this quilt. The only thing is, I made this quilt only for me, not for business so I never wanted to write a pattern for it exactly.

But, when I finally felt like I had given myself enough of a design break, I kept going back to this flying geese quilt. The color, placement, and vibe of the quilt is what I wanted to embrace for my new pattern. But I knew I needed and wanted to put a modern, new spin on a flying geese quilt. That's where the idea of having the "inside" of the geese be strip pieced. And strip piecing is a favorite time saving technique I love to use.

Once I decided on what I wanted to design and how, then it was just going about doing the math and testing out my ideas. I pretty quickly came to the design that is now Jawbreaker.

I usually get the idea, do some super basic math and then make a test quilt. I cannot commit to a design until I have physically cut and sewn a top to decide if I really like it. This time, I was smart and made a baby quilt for my tester version. I pulled fabrics from my stash and made this in a day I think?

I really love this color combo - Lingerie, Acid Lime, Sea Glass, Waterfall and Paris Blue - all Kona Cotton. The Inside Geese are Kona White and the Dash print from Erin Dollar's line Arroyo in a bright Blue.

I knew I had a winner when my husband came home from work that day and said "Wow I LOVE this one". I sew A LOT and I show him what I am working on A LOT so for him to take a moment and tell me how much he loves it means so much to me.

Now that I had given this idea the official "TCJ stamp of approval" I played around in Illustrator with ideas for my throw size cover quilt for my pattern.

I tried LOTS of color combinations and the second I finished the rendering above, I knew this would be the cover quilt. It had brightness, warmth and a little drama. I reached out to Robert Kaufman and all of these fabrics arrived a week later!

The colors from top to bottom are as follows: Kona Cotton - Black, Indigo, Cadet, Slate, Fog, Sky, Lingerie, Peach, Creamsicle, Salmon, Orangeade, Leather, Grellow, Bright Idea and White. The Gingham is Carolina Gingham in Black 1/4" repeat. You can buy this exact quilt kit bundle on Fabric Bubb.

I couldn't wait to cut into these fabrics and see my quilt design come to life - one of my favorite parts.

That photo above of the fabrics all cut makes me SO happy. It is so bright and cheerful and inviting.

The Jawbreaker quilt pattern uses two techniques to create the design - Strip Piecing for the inside geese with two different fabrics (my example is Kona white and the Gingham) and then the No-Waste Flying Geese Method (using the outside geese fabrics) to create the actual geese.

Sewing this top together really was therapeutic for me. It was fun to work my way through my colors and see how the quilt changed with each new color addition. And something about the boldness of the Gingham against all the solid colors really makes it all pop. Once I finished sewing this top together and photographing it, I cried. It felt like such relief. A final top to confirm I did have another good pattern in me.

The night I finished this, we were going to pick up a bottle of wine for dinner from a local shop that we love. And I threw the quilt in the car before we left incase we found a fun spot for a full photo. Well, we found a super fun wall just a few shops down and snapped these photos!

When it came to quilting these tops, I didn't have too much of an idea of what I wanted. I went to Michelle of Mariposa Quilting and said, let's do custom quilting on the throw size and just a fun standard repeat quilting on the baby one. I have never done custom quilting but knew it could be super fun for this one. We brain stormed ideas over coffee one Sunday morning and decided that we would do a different geometric design for each column in the throw size. Michelle was excited and I was super pumped! And then we decided on baby clam shells for the baby quilt.

And here we go with a massive photo dump of quilting images. :)

I mean.... I die. This is SO gorgeous. I don't know if I can pick a favorite quilting design because they are all so amazing. It really highlights the fun vibe of this pattern and the movement in it.

And my baby size Jawbreaker has 2" clam shells for the quilting design and it feels like a little like a mermaid, which I love!

During the photoshoot for this launch, Amy and I took some more editorial/environmental photos which were really fun to do. Some are moodier than others but it's important to me to be photographed with my work. So much of my work in personal that I can't NOT be a part of it, in it's final view.

The studio we shot these images in (The Portland Studio) has a beautiful wall of windows and I asked Amy to take some wide shots because I LOVE a good window shot. I want a studio space like this one day.

Next up - all the BEAUTIFUL versions my testers made. Just outstanding. In no particular order, here we go!

Lindsey @penandpaperpatterns made this beautiful baby jawbreaker in floral prints.

Joy @themakingsofjoy made this Cotton + Steel throw size that is soooo good.

Stefanie @satterwhitequilts totally made me rethink how I imagined this quilt design. I love that her inside geese are similar in saturation. So cool.

Cristina @sterlingquilts made this adorable Design 3 option which is the solid color way.

Meredith @merbreed also made a beautiful Rifle Paper Co solid color way Jawbreaker!

Felicia @faquilts made this beautiful version with darker inside geese and I think her cat approves!

Bess @sidelakestitch used vibrant and playful colors!

Julie @runningstitchquilts made this insanely gorgeous sunset inspired quilt!

Emily @stitchandsewstudio used a stripe for her inside geese and I love it!

Fran @cottonandjoy just knocked my socks off with her beautiful quilt!

Rachel @wren.collective made my heart sing with this colorful happy quilt.

Phillipa @flipandco created the most beautiful peachy/pink/floral baby quilt that ever was!

Mary @azcoquilting used some warm reds and turquoise and it's gorgeous.

Evie @evquilts made a Christmas quilt!! She tweaked the pattern just a bit to make it a twin size - she will post a tutorial later about how she did it. Genius, she is.