Looking back: the Chartres quilt from 2025

This month’s look back doesn’t see very far because I’m sharing rather a recent finish, the Chartres quilt. I introduced it in this blog in October last year (in 2025) when I was still blogging in Finnish. I thought that you might like to see it and know a little bit more about it!

Chartres is cute because almost all of its fabrics are super pretty! (Note to self: use your pretty fabrics; it’s worth it!)

What's behind the name "Chartres"?

You may want to know why I named this quilt Chartres. I did consider inventing a name that would have been related to the other quilt that inspired me. My friend Soile had sewn a gorgeous quilt called Erica, and it might have been nice for the name to give a nod towards it, but I just could not come up with anything.

This quilt was nearly called Eeny Meeny, which would at least have had the same initial letter, but then I realised that the nine-patch blocks reminded me of cathedral windows. And a specific cathedral at that.

In the summer of 2023, my family and two friends travelled together in France and stayed overnight in Chartres, right next to its famous cathedral. Here is a picture that I took inside there, and the centre part of the quilt has a bit of the same look, doesn’t it?

What’s more, we happened to be there during a festival of lights and saw the cathedral in all the colours – like my blocks are.

So, even though I didn’t start with this idea for the name at all, I now feel that the quilt got exactly the name it was meant to have.

Chartres quilt in progress

You may be wondering about the kind of quilt that inspired me to build my own. Soile’s Erica quilt was one of the works in our quilt show last summer (in 2025) and while we were there, I went back to it over and over, to admire how pretty it was. This is a detail:

So, I started on my own Erica before the show was even over. I cut what I thought were enormous amounts of small squares and combined them into 9-patch blocks such as these:

When all 9-patches were done, I had to wait a while to start designing the quilt surface. During the wait, I organised my blocks into value order. Here are the stacks of medium darks and lights:

This is the “scientific” method I used to organise the blocks. I started from the lower left-hand corner, laying out one diagonal row at a time. I picked the blocks that seemed to look good together. There was a white or nearly white square between every block and white triangles to even out the corners and the edges:

The darkest blocks are on the “bottom” of the quilt. Several red blocks grouped together and I organised a small patch of yellow blocks close to it. Most of the lightest blocks are on the “top” of the quilt, except a surprisingly dark block in their midst.

Border: the most difficult part

Like I’ve described in my post How I plan my quilts, I do not spend hours on perfecting my layout, let alone plan designs beforehand, but at least I take time when selecting the fabrics for the bindings and the possible borders.

This time it was extremely difficult to find the right border fabric. I auditioned every bit from my stash that I had enough of – for example the fabrics in this photo:

They looked wrong and so did every other option! I did identify a good choice for the narrow border, but to find the wider one, I had to go to the Tilkkunen fabric store. (Not a great hardship, to be honest.)

I had no vision but trusted that I’d recognise the correct fabric when seeing it. At the end though, I had to buy enough of two choices so that I could look at them properly at home.

And as you have already seen, my final choice was the fun salmon patterned fabric.

The magic of quilting

This picture shows that a quilt isn’t a quilt until it’s been quilted. (Also, the border is all wrinkly, making this look even less like a proper quilt.)

Though all the lovely blocks are there, the essence of a quilt is missing:

In contrast, quilting brings the quilt to life! I was so happy to see mine freshly quilted that I shot this photo even though it wasn’t even trimmed yet:

Of course I wanted my Erica to be quilted with the same pattern as Soile’s. The quilting pattern shows up best on the beautifully satiny quilt back:

The photoshoot

The photoshoot for Chartres in October 2025 took place on a windy and chilly day. I’d hoped to catch autumn colours brightened by sunshine, but the sky stayed overcast every time we (Husband, my trusted quilt holder and I) stopped for a photo op.

Luckily the clouds weren’t thick, and there was quite a bit of light. And thanks to the wind, I got a shot of a flying Chartres quilt:

This was the only spot where I almost caught some sun on the quilt surface. The blocks look lovely:

This was our last stop. We stood there for several minutes, waiting for the sun to come out. Clouds were moving with speed and the sun was just ALMOST out the whole time, it seemed, but I finally got so chilled that I gave up. I took my photos, folded the quilt into the saddlebags and got back on the bike. And then, when we had ridden less than 100 yards, the sun came out.

I didn’t stop because the clouds would certainly have returned if I had. I just knew.

Looking back at Chartres, I remember how much fun it was to pick those pretty, happy-looking fabrics for the 9-patches. And even now, I cannot imagine another border fabric working any better than the salmon-patterned one that I chose.

Quilt details for “Chartres”

Pattern: Copied from Soile’s Erica quilt
Block: Nine-patch blocks sewn of 1,5-inch squares
Size: 156 cm x 193 cm (61,5” x 76”)
Quilting: Longarm quilted by Soile Kivinen at Töölön Tilkkupaja
Quilting pattern: Clamshell with lines edge-to-edge pattern
Backing: Freefall in Blossom wideback cotton satin by Tula Pink
Binding: Self-made binding of the outer border fabric, Sofishticated in Blossom by Tula Pink. Cut 6 cm wide, folded in half before attaching.
Finished: October 2025
Quilt number: 90

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