Demure Edge-to-Edge Digital Quilting Panto

What good is the Internet if you can't use it to jump on a trend? The first time I saw something relating to "very demure" was an Instagram Reel of a real estate agent in Des Moines, describing the city as "very demure". I thought that was an odd way to describe it, but I continued with my day. In a short amount of time, I saw "very demure, very mindful" pop up in so many other places that I had to google it. Apparently, it originated with TikTok influencer Jools Lebron as a way to describe her look and way of being. It has caught fire from there! Now "very demure, very mindful" is a phrase that is popping up everywhere, and just when I needed a name for my new design. It fits, doesn't it? 



Demure's design starts with the outer petals and ends with the medaillion-like framing around a center circle. The repeating shape is elongated. 



Every other row is staggered at 50% with this design. When arranged, the row-to-row nesting is minor and is not challenging to align when stitching it out. 

Aesthetically, I love the rounded shapes of this design, along with the overall spacing of the quilting. It'd work great for floral quilts, or anytime you want to inject a dose of "demure" femininity. ;) 

The Quilt

When I saw on Instagram that Sarah of Stitch Mode Quilts (a founding Longarm League member) had a quilt pattern for sale, I knew I wanted to make it! I love star quilts, and Fizzy Stars has a fun and unique look.

It was exciting for me to read and follow Sarah's pattern. When I know the designer (humble brag), I "hear" their voice and imagine them narrating the instructions. One thing I loved about the pattern was that Sarah has you cut the fabrics, but then group the components of each star block together first to make sure there's enough contrast in each. I usually make pairings on the fly, so I appreciated this approach. Once I had all my blocks sorted, I happily sewed one at a time, adding them to my design wall as I went.

Oh yes, I also loved the excellent diagrams in this pattern. At first, the blocks seemed complicated, but I wasn't even halfway through the second one when I caught on and didn't have to refer to the diagrams as closely. 

For the fabric, I used a Daybreak fabric bundle that I bought at Olive Juice Quilts earlier this year. Daybreak is a line from Riley Blake Designs, designed by Fran Gulick of Cotton and Joy—I'm such a big fan of her patterns and fabric. I was surprised to rediscover that I bought a half-yard bundle (and not just a fat quarter bundle—score!), so I had enough fabric to piece a backing together for this lap sized quilt. 

I'm pret-ty proud of using that striped fabric for the sashing cornerstones and binding, too. Overall, a very enjoyable make! 

 

The Quilting Details

Ultimately, I classified this design as "easy" to use, but there are just a few things to be aware of when you use it. 

Firstly, upon setup, you should offset (or stagger) every other row by 50% and then close the gap slightly. You'll want to maintain space between the rows; the rows should not touch.

Secondly, there is a bit of backtracking, but it isn't much. Watch the stitch-out video at the top of the blog post to see the stitch path.

I used sizing very close to the default sizing for this quilt. I wouldn't have wanted to go any larger. Perhaps I could have gone smaller, given this is a smaller quilt, but I'm very happy with the final results.

Here are the sizing specifications for how I set up this sample quilt size using my Intelliquilter (51" x 51" quilt size):

Row height: 7"
Gap: -.609" 
Pattern height: 7.609" (measurement from top to bottom of the repeat)
Offset: 50%
Backtracking: some

Here's a look at the included PDF:

If you use Demure on a quilt, we'd love it if you used the hashtag #demurepanto and tag @longarmleague on Instagram so we can see how you use it! 


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