Intro to Curved Piecing with Curated Blooms -

2024 has been a year of firsts for me. This year I had the pleasure of being a Maker for a fabric manufacturer, Riley Blake Designs. I tried my hand at applique for the first time. I made fabric ornaments for the first time. And most recently, I tried curved piecing! Behold, the Head Over Heels quilt!

This quilt pattern has eight finished blocks with curved piecing. To make these blocks, you sew 16 curves. I have been thinking about trying curves for a while but was always hesitant because of the number of curves most quilt patterns have. But then I saw the Head Over Heels pattern on the Riley Blake Designs website and knew, this was THE pattern. And did I mention, it’s a FREE pattern!?

This pattern came together pretty easily and quickly. Finishing at about 48.5″ x 48.5″ this is a nice lap size quilt. I only used eight prints from the Curated Blooms collection which has a whopping 21 prints! The delicate flowers and curly swirls in this collection went perfectly with this pattern.

For this pattern, I selected a few focal prints, which feature flowers and swirls, and then a few prints that read more as blenders, showcasing stary diamond shapes. What I love about this pattern is that in addition to giving the maker an intro to curves, there is a good amount of “dead space”. This is perfect for showcasing your free motion and custom quilting skills. The large center block is perfect for a breathtaking custom quilted focal point.

This pattern also has several blocks that contain points. Points in half square triangles, points from block-in-a-block and the not too often seen, points from quarter square triangles. This small quilt packs a ton of skills in it that is perfect for beginners just learning and also for old pros to freshen their skills!

One thing I like to do when I’m working on quilt layouts is to take pictures in black and white. This is great to see how the fabrics read on the quilt as a whole. What might like fine in color, could show that all your darker fabrics are grouped together instead of being spread out. If that’s the look you’re going for, then job well done! That was not the look I was going for so seeing everything nicely balanced in black and white was a win for me!

I highly recommend you give this free quilt pattern a try and using the Curated Blooms collection gives you 21 prints to select from! And since I love making video tutorials, I put one together walking you through the entire process of making this lovely Head Over Heels quilt. Check it out below!