Wash Day Quilt and Pattern

Spring has arrived in my neck of the woods and signs of new life are everywhere! I just love this time of year and before we know it it will be picnic season. The Wash Day quilt is the ideal size picnic quilt to make. So why not get a head start on things and get sewing!

For this quilt I used mainly thrifted fabrics and a few fabrics from my stash. I picked men’s shirts for the squares, a flat sheet for the backing and binding and solid colors to tie everything together.

Used clothes and linens make this quilt sustainable and will keep it out of the landfill. A loved one’s clothing and/or linens could also be used which would surely become a cherished and well loved memory quilt. 

I used 10 different button down shirts - plaids, stripes, flowers, dots - with more or less all of them in shades of blue. In addition I added four solid colors - pops of Robert Kaufman’s Kona Cotton in Mango, Riley Blake’s Confetti Cottons in Hot Pink, a solid blue from one of the shirts and Robert Kaufman’s Kona Cotton in White. I used white as the alternating color in between the prints/colors.

For the backing fabric I used a twin size bed sheet with navy, light blue and white stripes. This ties in nicely with the quilt top’s mostly blue shades.

I quilted a cross hatch pattern which works well with the squares.

I rounded the corners to give it a “picnic blanket” look.

I used the same fabric I used for the backing for the binding, as well as some of the orange and pink fabric.

The finished quilt feels like a fresh breeze on a warm summer day!

*** The Wash Day pattern is now available in my Etsy shop. Take a look here.

Finished size: approx 62 inches x 65 inches