I'm not a big layer cake person. Don't get me wrong, I love the bakery kind, but the fabric kind, not so much. While I enjoy creating with charm squares, fat quarters and strip packs, layer cakes are the type of pre-cut I least like to work with. (I'm not sure why that is!) While looking over my stash (which includes a few layer cakes), wondering what to make next, I decided to design a quilt pattern for layer cakes that would use one layer cake and minimal background fabric.
The result was Bricktown - A sort of stacked rectangle pattern that mimics masonry brick work, with sashing for the mortar between each rectangle and between the rows.
For the fabric, I used a layer cake from the Pansy's Posies fabric line by Robin Pickens. (Bricktown can also be made using 14 fat quarters.) For the background, I used Thatched Cream fabric, also by Robin Pickens. I included an outer border on this quilt, but that is completely optional.
The piecing for Bricktown goes pretty quickly once you cut each 10" square in half and start assembling the quilt. The blocks are made by sewing short sashing strips between the rectangles and then alternating the blocks so they form a brickwork pattern. The sash border is sewn onto the sides and top/bottom once the quilt center is complete. With the optional border, the finished quilt size is 66.5" X 76.5", making it a pretty large throw quilt, perfect to curl up with!
Bricktown is the perfect pattern for beginner quilters to help build confidence and also for more experienced quilters who just need to use up those layer cakes!
This pattern is now available as a PDF download here, as a printed pattern here.
Until next time, happy sewing!
