One of the absolute best parts of designing quilt patterns is seeing other people’s take on it. I often have a vision of the finished quilt in mind as I’m designing so it’s fun to see my own vision become a reality, but then putting the pattern into the hands of others to let them express their own aesthetic preferences within the confines of the pattern just takes it to another level. Today I’m excited to share the wide variety of stunning Staggered quilts created by my pattern testers. It’s amazing that even within the small pool of testers, there is so incredibly much variety!
Baby Size (44″ x 54″)
Let’s begin with the baby size quilts and work up in size from there. The baby Staggered is a super quick sew, perfect for showcasing your favorite fabrics, matching the color scheme for a nursery, or just providing a fun pop of color for a little love.
Amanda @another.amanda used primarily thrifted fabrics for her baby sized Staggered quilt, and she ice dyed them, resulting in these gorgeously soft color variations. She threw in a few added pops of a coordinating light slate blue from her stash for this soft and cozy version. I adore how the ice dyed fabric looks in this pattern, and can picture this quilt hanging over the railing of a crib, babbling, giggling baby and all.
Note that Amanda chose to add her own personal touch by sewing vertical stripes into the side borders; that bit is not included in the Staggered pattern.
Anja of Anja Quilts used a darker background for hers, with Kona Charcoal paired with the brights of Alison Glass Road Trip fabrics for Andover fabrics. I love how that strip with the darker background melts into the background so that the lighter flowers pop! It’s such a fun detail. Check out Anja’s blog here, or follow her on Instagram @anjaquilts to see more of her gorgeous makes.
Darlene @dcapulus took a walk on the wild side with a super bright version of the baby Staggered. This combination of the Timeless Treasures rainbow ombre by Chong Hwang and that wild and fun floral background fabric that might be Alexander Henry, creates a whole new look for Staggered! I just love this version, don’t you?! Plus how much fun is this photo? Play at your own risk is right!!
Lap Size (50″ x 62″)
The next size of Staggered is Lap Size. Darlene loved sewing up Staggered so much that she made two; the fabulously colorful baby quilt above, AND this equally stunning lap sized version.
For this quilt, she used Giucy Giuce’s Spectrastic fabrics paired with Libs Eliott’s Venom fabric for the background, both by Andover fabrics, and it’s so much fun. I love how adding a non-solid background fabric changes the aesthetic of Staggered. You can find Darlene on Instagram @dcapulus, and I highly recommend following her, since she’s always making something gorgeous. This quilt is currently finished and living at my house, since Darlene sent it to me so that I could take fun photos with it… stay tuned for that!
Natasha @housefulofstitches sewed up a Staggered quilt for the second time during this pattern test, since she had sewn up the original lap size when it was available through Quilt Theory! For this version she went with the rainbow theme and used a Dot & Stripes Jelly Roll by Robert Kaufman as her focus fabrics. I love seeing the differences in her two versions and can’t choose a favorite. You can see her original as well as all of her other gorgeous makes at her blog Houseful of Nicholes here.
Lisa @sew.peace.full sewed up her version with a Tula Pink Tabby Road jelly roll and Zen Chic “Be the Color to Someone’s Gray” low volume jelly roll for the strips. For the side pieces she used a quilt themed text fabric she had in her stash. Isn’t it wonderful!?
Shannon Spicer @shannon_at_thespicerack sewed up her Lap Size Staggered with part of a Fall 2016 Lecien Minny Muu jelly roll, with Kona Bone as the background. I love the pops of fun in these fabrics, and the softer rainbow makes for a lovely quilt.
Twin Size (67″ x 86″)
The Twin Size version of Staggered was the one that was edited and changed the most during the testing process, and some of the testers’ quilts reflect this. Initially, the Staggered Twin size had the same six columns and wider, offset side borders, and a couple of the testers sewed up that version.
Kerry of @thatssewkerry who blogs at That’s Sew Kerry used mostly Alison Glass fabrics with some Spectrastic by Giucy Giuce both for Andover fabrics, as well as some other coordinating brights from her stash, on a Moda Grunge in Onyx background and it looks absolutely amazing. Don’t the colors just glow in this one!?
Ultimately I decided to widen the center of the Twin size so that the overall aesthetic and assembly for each size was more similar, so the Twin version included in the Staggered pattern is this one, with two additional columns. Debbie Griffiths @dgr04618 made it in Liberty fabrics on Essex linen, a combination I’ve been hoping to see since I first released the simple lap pattern card for Quilt Theory years ago. It does not disappoint, and the elegance of the Liberty fabrics and subtle color flow are swoon-worthy.
Queen Size (87″ x 98″)
The Queen Size of Staggered packs a huge visual punch, and Alyson Olander sure made it shine with her pattern test!
She used an Alison Glass Sun Print 2016 jelly roll plus the “Path” (text) prints from the Sun Print 2019 with Robert Kaufman Manchester Metallic in Licorice (black with gold sparkle) as the background, and holy smokes does it shimmer and shine!!! Alyson had a pretty epic photo shoot for this quilt, too, complete with video to show how much the gold metallic shines in the sun when the wind blows.
You can start to see the gold glimmer in this photo, but be sure to head over to her Instagram feed at @alysonwonderlan to see more of her gorgeous makes.
Since this is my first pattern with such a wide variety of sizes, I really wanted to take it through the wringer before releasing it into the world. I’m grateful to my pattern testers who provided essential and insightful feedback along the way, to Yvonne Fuchs for her technical editing skills, and to Lindsie Bergevin, who has been helping me slowly convert my patterns into a more professional-looking, consistent pattern layout.
And most of all, thank YOU to everyone who has bought this pattern, and continues to buy this pattern, sewing up gorgeous and varied versions that provide a little peek into how it looks through your eyes.
If you’re looking to add Staggered to your quilt pattern library, you can get it HERE in my Payhip shop. Happy stitching!
I have been using Aurifil thread since early in my quilting days, and once I tried my first spool, I was immediately sold on how silky smooth and strong it is. It leaves hardly any lint in my machine, especially compared to the older hand-me-down threads I had been using before switching entirely to Aurifil. Not only that, the range of available colors has my rainbow-loving heart swooning. Paired with Aurifil’s commitment to seeking the most sustainable options: using 100% cotton thread, putting their most recent thread addition on a wooden spool, going plastic neutral in 2019, and a continuing focus on 
Over the past few years, I’ve found myself grabbing the same set colors of thread for most of my projects, and so finally I decided to reach out to Aurifil to see if they would still be interested in my curating a thread collection, since they had mentioned it a while back. I was excited to receive a resounding yes, and then the fun began!
I carefully considered each of the colors of thread *I* always use, trying to decide if it would be a universally helpful color to have, and have very intentionally decided upon this spectrum of luscious, vibrant, tertiary-heavy threads. Here are just a couple of the projects on which I’ve personally used these threads recently:
If you want to purchase Color Crush and your local quilt shop doesn’t currently stock it, please ask them to special order. Any shop can grab it from a distributor of course, but ANY shop can purchase directly from 
Staggered is a fun, easy, extremely versatile pattern that is a great way to showcase your favorite fabric line. Perfect for precuts, this would be a fantastic pattern for that precious fat quarter bundle or jelly roll you have stashed away. I used the new Alison Glass Sun Print 2020 fabrics by Andover Fabrics for mine, and it seriously brightens my day. My kids are already asking who gets the finished quilt! I especially love how the Menagerie fabric from Sun Print adds some twinkle among the other rich range of colors. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Alison Glass fabrics, and this *might* be my favorite line of hers so far.
The range of greens-teals-blues are especially to die for! I just love how they play in this Staggered quilt. You can probably tell, but I’m smitten!
I quilted my Staggered quilt using coordinating 50wt Aurifil threads– I have another fun release to share–from my very own curated collection of Aurifil threads, called 
I kicked off the year with a 5K race and a personal record (PR) of 26:28.9 (woohoo!), snuck a hike in there in the middle, managed one back-to-back run duo, and finally started adding some longer runs with a 6 miler and 5 miler toward the end there. To read more details on how I plan to make this quilt, what each strip and color represent, and why some strips are skinnier than others, check out my first post 
I love the way the tree looks in there to represent our 2 mile snowy hike, and can’t wait until summer when hikes are much more frequently scattered throughout this quilt!
Here’s a peek at the tracking from earlier in the month, before I changed my width to 70″. I’m getting close to the end of the first row at this point, as well as close to 50 miles, when I’ll stitch a little 3″ runner from my 
This quilt has definitely motivated me to get out there and run on even the coldest days, with most of the runs logged here in Maine, where I crunch along on frozen ground, sometimes snow and ice, and always with lots of layers.
It’s pretty even if it’s frigid.
Yesterday I took a bit of time to cut strips for miles 2 through 9, as well as a bunch of cross training and rest day strips. Now I’m ready to go, set up for success for February, since all I’ll need to do is get out there and run, then grab the coinciding strip to add to my design wall. Here’s to a fit and fabulous (and maybe a bit brighter) February!
Night Quilter 