Safe to say this is the EASIEST quilt I've ever completed. Highly recommend if you are new to quilting and looking for something high-impact and fun to start with. The hardest part was actually picking out the colored fabrics, but because I love a rainbow, that was the most fun part too.
I bought 1/3 yard of 36 different colors. This was not the most economical way to go about it, but I was very picky about my colors and so I couldn't just buy a bundle of rainbow fat quarters. I do, however, have enough fabric to make four rainbow quilts, so if you were going to make a bunch to give as gifts or something, this would be ideal. (I'm going to give away three of the stacks of fabric so three of you can make a similar quilt – details at the end of this post.)
I cut the fabric into squares that were 10×10 inches using a cutting mat, ruler and rotary trimmer. After a million triangle quilts, cutting squares (especially this large) was so easy and enjoyable.
I laid it all out to be sure I had the order right. I wanted to go red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple horizontally and then have it fade from darkest to lightest vertically. I sewed each rainbow together so I had six strips of six squares each and then ironed my creases open and pinned it together. Because there were so few corners to line up, this one actually came together pretty neatly.
I screwed up a bit and cut my backing fabric too small. I went with a white extra wide cotton backing but didn't quite give myself enough wiggle room and over the course of sewing all those lines, it shifted a bit which meant I had to lose some of the front to even it out (you'll notice that the darkest red square in particular is smaller than the others). This sort of thing always bothers me at the time, but I know from experience that months (or even days) from now when we're actually using the quilt, it's not the sort of thing I'll notice or worry about.
To give it a bit of dimension, I quilted tons of horizontal lines across the surface. The thread on the top is white and then I alternated the color in the bobbin so the thread on the backing was multi-colored in a rainbow. It's VERY subtle. Too subtle to be worth it, I'd say. In photos it looks particularly lame. In person you can kind of see, but you really have to look for the color change. If I did it again I would probably just use all one color or even just white.
The finished quilt is about 55×55 inches though it will shrink a bit when I wash it. I bound it in gray stripe but black and white stripe would have looked awesome too.
Overall – it's one of my top ten favorite projects. I'm taking Ellerie to the park tonight for a picnic to break it in.
And now! The giveaway! As mentioned, I have enough fabric for four quilt tops and I only made one. So I have THREE stacks of rainbow squares that are already cut to 10×10 inches. You'd need your own batting, binding and backing fabric but you'd be at least partway there if you won. Please leave a comment if you're interested. I'll draw three winners by the weekend and will ship anywhere.
GIVEAWAY CLOSED, drawing winners now and will announce Saturday AM.
enJOY it 
1,233 responses to “super simple rainbow quilt.”
Love, love, love this! I love the horizontal line quilting! I am going to do it on a quilt I am working on right now. Thanks for sharing and doing something just because you wanted to!
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I think this is amazing! I’ve never made a quilt, but I would love to try with this. Gorgeous!
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Great giveaway! Thanks for the chance to win!
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This would be awesome! I’m still an amateur on my sewing machine — this would be a fun project!
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Would love this fabric 🙂
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I’d love to make a quilt like that… I think my sewing abilities could just about stretch to it!
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You have really inspired me to quilt! Heading to the fabric store this weekend!
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I would be very interested in making my first quilt! Great give away.
It looks absolutely beautiful!
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I love this quilt and the colors you chose. I’m still a beginner but would love to try and make this. I think embroidering initials on one of the corner pieces would be delightful.
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I love this quilt! Great work, and I can’t believe how quickly it seemed to come together via Instagram! I’d love a chance to snag one of these bundles.
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Pick me, pick me! Who doesn’t love a good rainbow? 🙂
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this is just rainbow awesome! love that you find something you love and just do it — inspiring for sure — now i want to make a rainbow quilt too 🙂
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I have never made a quilt, it’s on my creative to-do list. I would love for this to be first delve into quilting. As a lover of color and rainbows, this has stolen my heart.
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Just got a sewing machine from my in-laws and my son loves a rainbow…we’d love to make a rainbow quilt (it’ll be our first project). Thanks! Love the colors in yours!!
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You have the best giveaways! “Make a quilt” is one of those things that has moved from to-do list to to-do list for, what seems like, as long as I can remember! I’ve never made one before, but would love to learn!
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omg already cut and everything?! would love to win 🙂 great job elise!
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SO FUN! I’ve never quilted before because it intimidates me. This, however. Totally not intimidating.
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i would love to make this quilt.
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i would love to make this quilt.
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perfectly inspiring – would love to have a go:)
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Yes, I think the Rainbow Quilt would be a great picnic quilt. My 6 year old has been bugging me about a sewing project. Maybe this would be a good one! Look great!
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fun giveaway! Thanks for sharing!
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I have ALWAYS wanted to try quilting but have issues with my hands. Thanks for the chance to win some already cut squares!
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I would love to make a similar quilt! Thanks 🙂
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Oh man! This quilt is gorgeous and has inspired me greatly. Thank you for sharing as always 🙂
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I’m IN LOVE with this and so inspired to try!
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What a fun quilt! I would love to make one for my littles. Thanks Elise!
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Elise, this is inspirational as usual! Not only for the results, but for the attitude: hmmm, I fancy making a rainbow quilt… Three days later: rainbow quilt!!
I’d love to win the giveaway – it’d be perfect as my first quilt and I’d love to try stitching the rainbow columns with thread in the same sequence but “offset” by one column, so that the red squares are stitched with purple thread, the orange squares with red, the yellow with orange and so on. It would keep the rainbow sequence but allow for some contrast. The colours are so great in this project 🙂
Thanks for the generous giveaway and for sharing your process, particularly the bits you feel were tricky or didn’t turn out ‘perfectly’ (I know I’m not alone in loving how you do that – it teaches more and improves all our efforts).
Best wishes,
xx Jane
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Oh my goodness the quilt is so beautiful. Love, love, love…and secretly hoping I’ll get one of the stacks!
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So in for this! I’ve been planning a similar quilt for a friend who is expecting!
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This is beautiful! Would love to win the fabric! 🙂
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Yes please.
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man oh man. i haven’t made a quilt since elementary school (first and last time haha), but you’ve got me seriously tempted. so simple and beautiful!
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I would LOVE to win these!! So beautiful!
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Wow… this looks amazing! Been looking for a reason to break out my sewing machine again!
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i have been debating trekking across tokyo to the fabric store to get rainbow fabric since you started posting about this quilt, but winning some would save me a trip! 😉
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I’d love to win! Cutting fabric is the worst part for me. This would speed my start to finish quilting time up on this one a ton! Plus it’s not something I’d normally do for myself so it’d be fun to change it up from my usual color scheme!
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Your quilt turned out great. Great giveaway. Thanks!
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This is a quilt I could really get done..especially since you’ve done the bit I hate..cutting out the squares. I’m in!
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Love how the quilt turned out!
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Love this! (And I’d love to win the fabric!) 🙂
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Adorable! Want one for myself. 😊
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So beautiful. Would love to win a rainbow
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The quilting is right on point. Good job.
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Yea! It’s beautiful. I love to quilt, but don’t have tons of time for all the cutting-out part! This is perfect. Thanks for the give-away!
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This quilt is beautiful- I’d love to make one too!
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That’s so fun!! Cutting fabric is my least favorite part – so this would be amazing!!
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Gorgeous! I would love to try and make my own beautiful rainbow quilt 🙂
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Such a fun quilt – thanks for the chance to win!
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Beautiful!
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