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Rail Fence Picnic Quilt

By: Barbara Brandeburg and Teri Christopherson for Martingale

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Finding free jelly roll quilt patterns for summer jelly rolls is easy! Try this Rail Fence Picnic Quilt with your favorite jelly roll. This picnic blanket pattern combines rail fence blocks with nine patches and a bold black and white sashing for a quilt with a retro feel. If you don't have a jelly roll on hand, you can also cut colorful fabrics into 2-1/2" strips to make this simple pattern.

Rail Fence Picnic Quilt
Rail Fence Picnic Quilt
This image courtesy of shopmartingale.com

Project Type: Make a Project

Quilt Size: 64.5 inches wide x 64.5 inches long

Time to complete: A week or two

Primary Technique: Pieced

Difficulty Level: Easy

Find more projects and tutorials from Martingale.

This was one of our most popular projects from 2012. See our collection of the 100 Best Quilt Patterns for Free for other reader favorites!

Note: Yardage and strips are based on 42"-wide fabric. Rolls of 20 precut 2-1/2"-wide strips are commonly available in quilt shops. Two rolls will provide you with the required number of strips for this project, although the number of strips needed in each color for this project may not be the same as those in the bundle. You can cut your own strips from standard yardage, if desired. Cut the strips 2-1/2" x 42". Also, if the strips from your bundle or yardage are shorter than 42", you will need more strips than the amount listed.

MATERIALS:

  • 1-3/4 yards of off-white fabric for block centers, pieced sashing, and pieced border
  • 7/8 yard of black fabric for block centers, pieced sashing, and pieced border
  • 12 assorted red precut 2-1/2"-wide strips for blocks and binding
  • 12 assorted blue precut 2-1/2"-wide strips for blocks and binding
  • 8 assorted green precut 2-1/2"-wide strips for blocks
  • 6 assorted light blue precut 2-1/2"-wide strips for blocks
  • 2 assorted yellow precut 2-1/2"-wide strips for blocks
  • 4 yards of fabric for backing
  • 70" x 70" piece of batting


CUTTING:

From the black fabric, cut:

  • 3 strips, 2-1/2" x width of fabric; crosscut into 38 squares, 2-1/2" x 2-1/2"
  • 12 strips, 1-1/2" x 26-1/2"

From the off-white fabric, cut:

  • 3 strips, 2-1/2" x width of fabric; crosscut into 34 squares, 2-1/2" x 2-1/2"
  • 24 strips, 2" x 26-1/2"


MAKING THE BLACK AND WHITE UNITS:

  1. Sew five black and four off-white 2-1/2" squares together to form a nine-patch unit. Press the seam allowances as indicated. Repeat to make a total of four units for the block centers.

    Rail Fence Picnic Quilt
     
  2. Sew two black and two off-white 2-1/2" squares together to form a four-patch unit. Press the seam allowances as indicated. Repeat to make a total of nine sashing cornerstone units.

    Rail Fence Picnic Quilt
     
  3. Sew a black 1-1/2" x 26-1/2" strip between two off-white 2" x 26-1/2" strips. Press the seam allowances toward the black strip. Repeat to make a total of 12 sashing/border strip sets.

    Rail Fence Picnic Quilt


MAKING THE BLOCKS:

  1. Sew together six light blue and two yellow precut 2-1/2"-wide strips along the long edges to make a strip set. Press the seam allowances open or to one side. Cut the strip set into four segments, 10-1/2" wide. Repeat with the red, blue, and green precut 2-1/2"-wide strips. Set aside the remaining blue and red strips for the binding.

    Rail Fence Picnic Quilt
     
  2. Sew a light blue segment to the right side of a nine-patch unit, stopping the seam halfway down the unit. You will complete this portion of the seam later. Press this seam allowance and all the remaining block seam allowances toward the strip-set segments as you go.

    Rail Fence Picnic Quilt
     
  3. Sew the remaining light blue segments to the top of the nine-patch unit, followed by the left side, and then the bottom of the unit. Sew the unfinished seam from step 2.

    Rail Fence Picnic Quilt
     
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the red, green, and blue strip-set segments to make one red block, one green block, and one blue block.


ASSEMBLING THE QUILT TOP:

  1. Join three four-patch units with two sashing/border strip sets. Repeat to make a total of three pieced sashing/border strips.

    Rail Fence Picnic Quilt
     
  2. Join three of the remaining border/sashing strip sets and two blocks to make a block row. Press the seam allowances toward the strip sets. Repeat to make one additional block row. Join the block rows and the pieced sashing/border strips.

    Rail Fence Picnic Quilt


FINISHING:

  1. Piece the quilt backing so that it is 4" to 6" larger than your quilt top.
     
  2. Layer the quilt top with batting and backing, and baste the layers together.
     
  3. Quilt as desired.
     
  4. Sew the remaining red precut 2-1/2"-wide strips together end to end. Add the remaining blue precut 2-1/2"-wide strips to the end of the red strips to make a scrappy binding. Attach the binding to your quilt, using your favorite method.

    Rail Fence Picnic Quilt

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