The Colors of My Pride Quilt Pattern

Show us the Colors of Your Pride!

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HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!

Another year rolls by and we have come around to June, the month when the LGBTQIA2S+ and TGNCNB community celebrates Pride Month! A few years ago, we started down a road toward expressing more of our identity and making ourselves more visible through our fiber arts making by creating a mini quilt based on the Progressive Pride Flag. You can travel back in time to that post HERE.

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Obviously not his first time on a stage.

And some of you were there when Jason debuted our They/Them Pullover crochet design on the runway at an event we were teaching at. Those of you who weren't there will just have to make do with seeing the photos… a natural born performer! Travel back to that post HERE and click on one of these photos for the pattern to make your own.

L-I-V-I-N-G!!

As with most of our endeavors, our mantra of "If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing!" held true here. We started with the They/Them Pullover crochet pattern to speak to the non-binary gender expression and the Progressive Pride Flag mini quilt project was a way for us to talk about the need for more inclusion of BIPOC and TGNCNB2S+ folx in Rainbow Pride Flag and the community as a whole. Both were projects created as a way to express our own Pride and it kind of snowballed from there into three different quilt designs during the past year. Also true to our modus operandi, we started working out the designs for all of those quilts at the same time. Soon, one of the designs started consuming our minds and became almost an obsession. Piece by piece, the blocks grew. Block by block, our vision expanded… as did the project! The patterning experiment became a wall hanging, the wall hanging became a lap throw, the lap throw became a queen sized quilt for our bed which brings us to this pattern release: the Colors of my Pride quilt pattern!

Before we dive into the new quilt pattern, let's add some context to the content and take a brief look at the history of Pride flags.

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A brief glimpse at the History of LGBTQIA+ Pride Flags

The history of the banners we wave to represent us in the LGBTQIA+ and TGNCNB community is as deep and as colorful as the members of our community itself. Without writing a tome on the subject, we would like to give you an overview of the flags and colors that influenced us in the creation of the Colors of My Pride quilt.

Beginnings
In 1977, Gilbert Baker was challenged by Harvey Milk to create a symbol of pride for the gay community. Baker, who was inspired by the song Over the Rainbow, created the original Pride flag with eights colorful stripes representing different aspects of queer Pride. This first Pride flag flew for the first time at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978. Although the flag was modified to seven stripes sometime that next year due to a scarcity of materials in the mass production process, the iconic six striped Pride flag was not far behind. Again, due to production issues, one of the seven colors was dropped and the six colors remaining comprised the Rainbow Pride flag that many of us in the LGBTQIA+ community “grew up” beneath. The Rainbow Pride Flag has been a rallying point for our community through celebrations, protests, mourning our friends and loved ones, and strengthening our resolve by reminding us that we are part of a larger community.

Gilbert Baker Pride Flag, 1978

Rainbow Pride Flag

Gilbert Baker 8-Stripe Pride Flag with color designations and meanings of each color.

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More Color, More Pride flag designed by Amber Hikes.

Representation
Throughout the years, modification have been made to the Rainbow Pride flag including a vertical white stripe that was said to signify unity and, in 2017, Amber Hikes designed the “More Color, More Pride” flag (what some call the Philadelphia Pride Flag) with the addition of a black and a brown stripe to the rainbow. Hikes said on Instagram, the addition of the stripes was to “uplift the voices and experiences of LGBTQ people of color.”

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A More Progressive Community
The latest evolution of the Rainbow Flag came about in 2018 when Daniel Quasar added a chevron with five colors to the flag and the new iconic Progressive Pride Flag was born. The five additional colors are the black and brown from of the Philadelphia Pride Flag as well as the blue, pink, and white from the Transgender Pride Flag.

Daniel Quasar's Progressive Pride Flag

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Beyond the Rainbow
The LGBTQIA2S+ community is not a monolith, and neither are the colors of our Pride! In addition to the incarnations of the Rainbow Pride Flag, there are individual flags that represent the communities we each identify with. There are flags hoisted for the lesbian, bear, agender, transgender, and non-binary communities, as well as flags that represent the leather, pansexual, intersex, and genderfluid communities. And that’s just a few! Regardless of how we feel on the inside or how we represent ourselves on the outside, each of us celebrates our Pride differently and we certainly express our Pride with colors that go beyond the rainbow.

Transgender Pride Flag

Intersex Pride Flag

Agender Pride Flag

Leather Pride Flag

Lesbian Pride Flag (5-stripe 2018 variation)

Bisexual Pride Flag

Non-Binary Pride Flag

Bear Brotherhood Flag

Genderfluid Pride Flag

Pansexual Pride Flag

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The Project: The Colors of My Pride Quilt

Our quilt, The Colors of My Pride, is a combination of colors from across the wide range of vibrant Pride flags that speak to us the most; the colors that we feel represent us best. We worked with Karla Overland at Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics to pick our very specific colors that best represented our Pride. As we encourage each of you to do with your own Colors of My Pride quilts, we chose colors from different flags and pulled the ones that had the most meaning to us to include in our blocks. Our choices were very personal to us… as yours will be to you. For our The Colors of My Pride quilt, we included the six colors from the Rainbow Pride Flag since that is the first flag that either of us remembers flying as a banner at marches, plastered on our vehicles, worn on our bodies, waved in defiance, and painted on our skin for the better part of 30 years. However, in more recent years, we have come to feel that the representation of the colors from the More Color, More Pride Flag is more inclusive and even further encompasses our community, so we included the black and brown stripes from that flag. Shannon is transgender so we also brought in the soft blue and pink from the Transgender Pride Flag and added a lavender stripe to represent those of us who feel we are outside of (or fluid within) the gender binary. And the soft pink for the framing of the blocks? We had asked Karla of Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics for a soft pink that was just barely there. We wanted something that would subtly frame and complement each of our blocks and would provide an overall unifying color when the blocks were assembled. For us, the pink framing of the vibrant blocks represents the overall LGBTQIA2S+ and TGNCNB community and our unity regardless of where we are and how we represent ourselves. Again, all these color choices are very personal to us and represent OUR LGBTQIA2S+ and TGNCNB Pride… if those colors speak to you, then use them for your own quilt but, if you feel like other flags and other color combinations represent your place within your community, pick the colors of YOUR Pride and make your quilt your own.

The Colors of My Pride Quilt by Shannon & Jason

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The Colors of My Pride Quilt Color Choices
How many colors? Which colors? That’s up to you. The blocks themselves are created using a Scrappy Wonky Log Cabin block construction with 17 pieces built from the center out. We used a total of 11 colors repeated starting with either of the three color sets. Don’t worry… in the quilt pattern, we break down the different color sequences we used. You can follow those exactly or substitute in your own colors that represent your Pride!

Pride Celebration at Seattle Center

But that’s not the end! We used a gorgeous, soft pink by Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics to frame each of our Pride blocks. When we created the blocks, we didn’t aim for one size but let the blocks grow organically. The result, as you can see, are different sized Pride blocks floating in a background of pink. We used the pink fabric to square up each block four different ways. The way we did that still ensures the random nature of the finished quilt. We did not count how many we squared up using which method, we just looked at each bock individually and framed it so it looked best!

Finally, we arranged all of the blocks on our makeshift design wall (not much space around here for a big ol’ design wall!) to determine the final layout for our quilt. This is the exciting part where we get to see all of our work come together. For us, the layout was an exciting afternoon of putting together a giant, vibrant puzzle. This final step will ensure your quilt will be a one-of-a-kind work of art unlike anything anyone else will create. In the end, your The Colors of My Pride quilt will, just like all of us, look unique and be personal to you.

Follow our color patterning or pick your own colors that represent your Pride. No matter which colors you choose and how many of them there are, we have worked with the folx at Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics to make sure you can find what you need. With 200 colors to choose from, Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics has you covered.

Equally important is the thread we used to construct and finish our The Colors of My Pride quilt. The folx at Aurifil thread made sure we had the exact shade of neutral 50 wt thread we needed for piecing our blocks. And we cannot say how thrilled we were to have such a glorious thread match for the pink fabric for the final assembly and quilting of our Colors of My Pride quilt. 270 colors of thread to choose from means you’ll find your perfect match for your own Colors of My Pride quilt.

The PERFECT Pink from Aurifil Thread.

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The first time we laid the quilt top out on our bed.

The Pattern
The Colors of My Pride quilt pattern is available right here on our website! The pattern includes fabric requirements and full instructions for a 4-block sampler through a king size quilt. Those instructions include detailed diagrams for making the blocks and for assembling your row sets and quilt top. You can get your pattern right now by clicking on this button right… here…

Colors of My Pride Quilt Pattern

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The Kit
We worked with Karla Overland at Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabric to to pick the colors for our Color of My Pride quilt… with 200 colors, it was easy to find exactly what we were looking for. The kits are available on the Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics website in sizes from sampler through king size quilt and the kit purchase includes the pattern. In addition, you can choose to purchase the fabric for just the blocks or you can purchase the fabric for both the blocks and that amazing pink Karla made for us for framing. And, if you are looking to customize your colors, you can build your own kit for a personalized Colors of My Pride quilt.

The button on the right will take you to the Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabric site page for the Colors of My Pride quilt kit.

All in a day's work!

Gimme the Kit!

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The Class
Our Colors of My Pride quilt pattern is written for sizes from a lap throw to a king size quilt. If you’ve never made a quilt before or never made a quilt with this style of construction and want to try a smaller project first, we also included sizes for a 3 x 4 block wall hanging and a 4-block sampler. And, if you want a little help with the blocks or you just want to hang out with other FAB folx making their quilts, we have recorded a class on Creative Spark where we will be make the 4-block sampler.

The class focuses on the stacked spiral style of construction of the scrappy wonky log cabin Pride blocks and shows how to frame those blocks in the four different ways we did for our quilt. We also cover how to assemble and finish your sampler including options for making the quilt sandwich, quilting options for domestic machines, binding your sampler using a faced binding, and two different options for hanging your work of art for display.

Rainbow Pride Flag at Seattle Pride Celebration

If you have never made a quilt before or if you are newer to quilting, you’re going to love how forgiving this method of construction is. No… really… time after time, folx in our scrappy wonky quilt block classes who were intimidated by matching corners and perfect lines are thrilled with how they can sit down and, with a basic machine that sews a straight line, create something glorious and stunning. Experienced quilters will love this style of construction both because of the freedom of expression it offers and the modern esthetic it creates. Most experienced quilt makers love the sense of play in the creation of these blocks and the resulting randomness is always a thrill… new or experienced!

Click on the button below to be whisked away to the Creative Spark website buy the Colors of My Pride Quilt Class so you can start on your own version of this FAB quilt.

Colors of My Pride Quilt Class

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A final word… or two…
On this, the 53rd anniversary of the riots at the Stonewall Inn that sparked the fire that became the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement and, ultimately, the reason we celebrate Pride Month in June, we are proud to be a part of this vibrant, diverse, exciting community of people. We stand in the shadow of those first transgender Black and Latino women, lesbians, and sex workers who threw the first bricks at Stonewall. We stand on the platform that those folx and so many more before and since have built so that we can be out and proud. Without them, we would not be where we are today… period. Now it is our time to speak out and use our own platform of creativity and education to express ourselves and make it possible for others to stand tall and proud.

Whether you make this for yourself to show the color of your Pride or if you make it for someone else to show them your love and support, we hope you think of those who have come before and all of those of us who are still fighting every day just for our basic human rights as members of the LGBTQIA2S+ and TGNCNB community. Whether you make a Colors of My Pride quilt as a silent encouragement for yourself or as a way to shout out to the world, whether it is a personal journey or one of support for others, we hope you find the same strength and power in the creation process as we have.

STITCH ON!
S&J