Hello friends, it’s Julia Frazier from Bayhill Studio, and I have a super quick and easy tutorial to share with you today! I love a quick and easy panel quilt, but I refuse call it in and sacrifice design in favor of speed and ease. A Prairie Braid Border is just thing to add a fun, unique touch to a quilt, and yes, it is seriously easy to make!
I had so much fun working with this gorgeous Guadalupe fabric panel from the Eleanor collection designed by Crafty Chica. The panel features the iconic Our Lady of Guadalupe. If you aren’t familiar with Guadalupe, here is a little more info:
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Spanish Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, also called the Virgin of Guadalupe, in Roman Catholicism, the Virgin Mary in her appearance before St. Juan Diego in a vision in 1531. The name also refers to the Marian apparition itself.
The fabric panel is loaded with bold, bright colors, and I knew I wanted to continue that vibrant tone into the border treatments using fabric from the Eleanor collection.
I used 2 1/2″ strips of fabric from a precut Eleanor Rolie Polie to make my Prairie Braid border, which was a real time-saver, making this project super quick and fun to make.
The first border is made up of 3 1/2″ wide strips of Super Pink from the Texture Basics designed by Sandy Gervais. Then I added the fun Prairie Braid border (also called a Friendship Braid or French Braid), followed by another 3 1/2″ wide Super Pink border.
The Prairie Braid looks complicated, but is very much a beginner friendly technique. You can watch the complete tutorial in the video above. Be sure to take a moment to subscribe to my YouTube channel to see more content like this.
I did some free motion quilting around the Guadalupe figure to highlight her features and to avoid detracting in any way from the beautiful artwork. The black backdrop and Prairie Braid portions were quilted with a simple meandering design. I’m loving how it turned out!
I love how the Prairie Braid showcases each of the cool prints in this fabric line. Here you can get a closer look at the interesting stripes and detailed florals. There is a fun text print, a clothing print, and there is another small scale Guadalupe print that I used again for the quilt binding.
Hop on over to my BLOG for more photos and a step-by-step photo tutorial. You can also take a look at my Our Lady Zipper Pouch Tutorial which also features fabric from the Eleanor fabric line.
You can also find me on Instagram @bayhillstudio where I always have a new project or idea to share with you.
The beautiful Eleanor collection, designed by Crafty Chica, is available now at your favorite local quilt shops and online retailers.