Stripes of black, gray, red, pink, lime and teal cross the quilt on both diagonals, over a patchwork of small squares, and then keep going straight through the white border to the binding. Pique Nique is a modern quilt pattern in solids, and every piece in it is cut and sewn square.
The trick is in the order of work. Everything is sewn square, in straight strips and 4 inch squares. Only when the center is finished is it turned and trimmed on the diagonal, which is what sets the stripes at an angle. The border then gets small inserts that carry each stripe across it, so the lines look continuous from the middle to the edge.
The pattern is from Robert Kaufman Fabrics, designed by Suzanne Paquette of Atelier Six in 2015, in twenty six Kona Cotton solids.
Pattern details
Pattern name Pique Nique
Brand Robert Kaufman Fabrics
Designer Suzanne Paquette, Atelier Six
Finished size 57 by 57 inches
Size category Lap quilt, square
Difficulty Intermediate, our assessment: the piecing is simple, but the diagonal trim and the border inserts ask for careful measuring. The pattern does not print a level
Block One master block: a central patchwork of squares and rectangles framed by four stripe blocks
Technique Strip piecing, blocking, trimming on the diagonal, staystitching, pieced inserts in the sashing
Colorway Twenty six solids, brights and neutrals from black to white
Fat quarter friendly No, the stripes are cut across the width of fabric
Jelly roll friendly No, the strips are 4 inches and wider
Layer cake friendly No
Charm pack friendly No, the stripes need yardage
The pattern is free to download as a PDF, eight pages, direct from Robert Kaufman: Pique Nique quilt pattern. It includes the fabric list with every color named, the cutting, the diagrams for the central patchwork and the master block, the eight trimming measurements and the sashing inserts.
How this modern quilt pattern goes together
The center starts as columns of 4 inch squares and 4 by 5¾ inch rectangles, sewn and pressed open, then joined with the seams lined up. The stripes come from strips cut across the width of fabric and halved into 21 inch lengths. Seven bright stripes make one kind of stripe block and ten neutral stripes make the other, and you need two of each. The bright ones go on two sides of the center and the neutral ones on the other two. That is the master block.
Before any trimming, the pattern has you block the master block by pressing, gently stretching and steaming until every seam is square. Then comes the step the whole quilt depends on. You mark eight measurements along specific seams, join them with rulers butted end to end into one long straight edge, and use a large square ruler at the corners. Each finished side should measure 45½ inches and each diagonal 64⅜. If yours is a little bigger or smaller but square, the pattern says that is fine, as long as you adjust the sashing and binding to match.
Mark a cutting line ¼ inch outside the finished line and staystitch between the two before you cut. The trimmed edges run across the grain, and that line of stitching holds them until the sashing is on. The trimmed block measures 46 inches square.
The sashing is 6 inch strips of white, two at 46 inches for the top and bottom and two at 57 inches for the sides. Where a stripe meets the border, you unpick the seam a little beyond it, cut the sashing and sew in a short insert in the stripe's color. Many of the inserts can be cut from the stripe block offcuts. Seams are pressed open throughout.
Fabrics for a solid color quilt pattern
Every fabric in Pique Nique is a Kona Cotton solid, twenty six of them, each given a letter from A to Z in the pattern. Most colors need only ⅛ to ¼ yard, based on 40 inch wide fabric, with two larger cuts of ⅞ and 1⅛ yards. You will also need 3½ yards for backing and ½ yard for binding.
The pattern suggests labeling each fabric with its color name and letter before you cut, and with twenty six solids, that small step is worth taking.
The trimming measurements only work if every strip is cut true. Our guide to cutting fabric accurately covers the ruler checks that keep 4 inch strips at 4 inches. When the top is done, borders, backing and binding walks through the finish, and there are more patterns like this one in our modern quilt patterns collection.
