The Cynthia Quilt in Poolside Too
I know the word I’m about to use to describe this quilt is going to bother some people, but I can’t find a better one: this Cynthia Quilt has a scrappy layout.
To be clear, this isn’t a scrap quilt. It was made with a fat quarter bundle, not leftover fabric from previous projects. I considered other words like eclectic, mixed, and random, but none of them really captured what I was trying to say. The fabrics are distributed throughout the quilt in the same way I would arrange a scrap quilt, so “scrappy layout” is the description that fits best.
One of the things I love about the Cynthia Quilt Pattern is how well it works as a scrap quilt. In fact, making a true scrap version was my original plan for this quilt. Then life happened. Between my daughter graduating from high school and getting ready to leave for college, I needed a project that required fewer decisions and could come together a little faster.
Enter Poolside Too from Ruby Star Society. A collection that I love so much, I have now used it twice (see the first one here).
Poolside Too is a collaborative fabric collection with bright colors, playful prints, and a mix of scales that works beautifully in a quilt with lots of fabric variety. Rather than sorting through scraps, I used a fat quarter bundle and treated it the way I would a scrap quilt, mixing fabrics throughout the quilt to create a more varied, less structured layout.
One of the strengths of the Cynthia Quilt Pattern is that it gives each fabric a chance to stand on its own. The large center squares showcase the prints, while the sawtooth star blocks create movement across the quilt. When a variety of fabrics are mixed throughout the design, different colors and prints stand out as you look across the quilt, which keeps the eye moving and makes the finished quilt feel dynamic.
The more I work with this pattern, the more I appreciate how flexible it is. I’ve made versions using solids, curated fabric collections, and now this scrappy-style fat quarter quilt. Each one has a completely different personality, even though the construction is exactly the same.
I still want to make a true scrap version of the Cynthia Quilt someday, but this Poolside Too quilt was exactly the project I needed this summer. It came together quickly, made good use of a beautiful fat quarter bundle, and reminded me that you don’t need actual scraps to get the look of a scrappy quilt.
If you’d like to make your own Cynthia Quilt, you’ll find links below for the pattern, fabrics, backing, and binding used in this quilt.
Poolside Too FQ Bundle
Starry Wideback
Speckled in Strawberry
The Cynthia Quilt Pattern