I’m so excited to share the Beauty School Dropout quilt, a modern New York Beauty quilt with you all!

The Beauty School Dropout pattern is available to download from the Raspberry Spool online shop now.

Are you singing away? Beauty school dropout, go back to high school… The name of this quilt is rather ironic for me (which is why I chose it, of course). My first job was as a beautician, way back when after I finished high school. Just between you and me, it is not the most glamorous job! It was bloody hard work, but I loved my customers and making them look beautiful. I still remember fondly my long term customers and how we could chat for hours on end while I pampered them…

The Beauty School Dropout quilt is based on a traditional New York Beauty quilt, but with a twist of course! I have always loved the New York Beauty blocks. It is such a striking block and the name sounds so romantic to me, conjuring up images from the 1920’s – O how very Great Gatsby!

Even with all this swooning over them, when faced with all those precise points, I just wasn’t up for it. Quilting is supposed to be enjoyable and matching points just makes me cranky.

After much trial and error, I came up with a way to make those precise points imprecisely (say that three times fast!) by using foundation piecing. I came up with a technique (which I am calling free foundation piecing), which really works for me and I was able to get just the look I wanted. You want bigger points? Just make them bigger! You want more points? Just draw them in. Simples!

This quilt was originally designed for my final Sewvivor quilt. Sadly, I didn’t make it to the final, but it still was there calling my name. I will admit that it tool several months to pluck up the confidence to make it… It was just waiting there for me as something that had to be made, must be made. When Kim from Simpson and Scarlett contacted me about making a bloggers bundle and creating a quilt, I knew it couldn’t wait any longer.

I set to work making the blocks and I really enjoyed seeing them all come together. I spent many hours laying them out on the design wall until they were just right. Finally it came together and I just love the layout. I know, I know, they look like prickly little pac-men!

For the quilting, I decided on organic pebbles all over the white background. Oh, I might just be crazy, I was pebbling for days… As much I love how it looks, I shan’t be doing it again in a hurry, that’s for sure! With all that dense quilting in the negative space, I wanted to do something a bit simpler in the centre of the circles in order to save my sanity. I played with the lines in the points and created a geometric flower shape in the centre with varying lengths. All said and done, I’m really proud of the quilting.

The pattern is now ready for you to download in the shop and I can’t wait to see what you come up with for your very own Beauty School Dropout quilt. Will you try a different layout? Maybe you will stretch yourself and add in more points, more curves or an entirely different direction that your imagination takes you? You can also check out my Pinterest board where I have collected many different New York Beauty Quilts for you to swoon over and be inspired by.

Fabric bundle and pattern giveaway

The fabrics used in this quilt include Cotton and Steel, Riley Blake and Michael Miller. They were generously supplied from Kim at Simpson and Scarlett, who stock an amazing collection of modern fabrics. There will also be bundles available in the shop if you love this selection as much as I do! You can visit Kim’s online shop anytime at www.simpsonandscarlett.com.