The Little Prince Easy Panel Quilt

Have you seen The Little Prince fabric collection from Riley Blake Designs? A book on fabric? This is seriously every book and fabric lover’s fantasy! I remember watching the movie each year as a child when it aired on t.v. and feeling all kinds of emotions – pity, loneliness, frustration, sadness, hope – for the solemn little prince. Later in high school French class, we read it in the original French text, and I came to truly appreciate the depth and poignancy of the story. It is one that stays with you forever.

This panel makes a fabulous baby quilt or small throw quilt. For all of you fabric-loving ladies and gents who love books almost as much as you love textiles, this collection is for you! Think about it. You can now snuggle up with a book and with a quilt that looks like the book you are snuggling! Mind. Blown.

In the spirit of the book, I decided to load the little quilt into my kayak and take it over to a local island to be photographed. Not quite the same thing as the Sahara Desert setting of the book, but they both have sand, am I right?

The Little Prince collection offers three different fabric panels in Gray, Navy and Aqua. The panels measure 36”x44”. I decided to use the Gray Prince Panel for the quilt top, the Gray Prince Stars for the backing, and the Navy Prince Stripes for the binding, and for the yellow border I used Riley Blake’s Crayola Fuzzy Duckling.

Here’s a look at the full fabric panel. The gray has a bit of a mottled ombré effect, which is quite lovely against the bold yellow and orange hues.

To make this quilt, I simply added a 2.5” border using Riley Blake’s Crayola Fuzzy Duckling yellow solid. I debated adding the border, and I’m so glad I did. It adds a beautiful pop of color and really highlights the little stars and moons in the panel.

After adding the border, I simply made a standard “quilt sandwich.” (Quilt backing + Batting + Quilt Top). Once you have the layers in place, make sure they are smoothed out with no major wrinkles or folds. Baste in place. You can use a spray basting or quilter’s safety pins for this. I prefer to use the pins, but go with your personal preference.

Next, it’s time to quilt it. This is a baby quilt, so it is fairly easy to quilt on your home machine, however, if you don’t have the patience or confidence to do it yourself, you can definitely have it professionally quilted.

I quilted this in not-so-straight-lines. As always, when it comes to quilting, I am not a perfectionist. In fact, I love it when lines are a little wonky and uneven. I think they give a quilt a very quirky, homespun look.

After I finished quilting with the machine, I grabbed some embroidery floss out of my daughter’s friendship bracelet stash and decided to add a simple running stitch around the edges for a bit of a custom touch. This panel quilt comes together so quickly; the time saved not having to piece it is a great excuse to take a little time to personalize it a bit.

Finally, I used the Navy Prince Stripes for the binding. I love how the little stars in the Navy Stripe coordinate so cutely with the Gray Stars backing. Amy Smart, of Diary of a Quilter, has an easy Fast Machine Binding Tutorial on her blog. This is my go-to method. She also has a tutorial for the hand binding method, which takes more time, but definitely guarantees a “prettier” result.

That’s all there is to it. When your quilt is finished, throw it in the washer and dryer. This is my favorite part of quilting. I love seeing the quilt come out in soft, puckered perfection!

The Little Prince collection also comes with a panel to make your own fabric book! So many fun options! You can find The Little Prince fabrics at your local or online quilt shops.

Happy Sewing!

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