Lunar Eclipse Quilt Pattern - Modern Curves Quilt in Spectratastic II

Lunar Eclipse Quilt - Modern curves quilt featuring Spectratastic II fabrics by Giucy Giuce | Shannon Fraser Designs #moderncurvesquilt

The Lunar Eclipse quilt is here and ready for instant download!

This modern quilt pattern featuring quarter circles is juuuuust what the quilty doctor ordered to kick start your sewjo!

Curves bring movement, dimension and an organic feel to your quilts that squares, half square triangles and other linear blocks just don’t have.

Whether curves are new to you or you’ve been pedal to the metal pumping out the curvalicious beauties, the Lunar Eclipse quilt pattern is right for you!

Why?

Because she’s beginner friendly, but is jam packed with options to bring your own quilty touch through your fabric choices or the alternate layouts (more on that in a minute!). 

Lunar Eclipse quilt by Shannon Fraser Designs featured in Spectratastic II fabric collection #quiltsinthewild

*This post contains affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission. 

PATTERN FEATURES

Bring on the curvy fun!

I know curves can be intimidating for some but trust me when I say there’s nothing to them!

First, they’re super fun and offer lots of movement and detail to your quilts. Plus, knowing how to sew curves opens up a whole new world of quilty possibilities! This is the just the starting point and the Lunar Eclipse quilt pattern will see you rocking those curves in no time!

Here are just a few things my testers had to say about quilting curves:

“As a newbie curve sewer, your pattern is so easy to follow and a joy to construct!” Lisa

“This quilt came together so quickly after the cutting and curve sewing. Honestly this is a brilliant wonderful stunning pattern.” Kacie

“I was a bit nervous to sew those curves...but after the first one I was a bit addicted!” Frieda

If quilting curves has you curious then the Lunar Eclipse quilt is a great introduction for you!

There’s lots of quilty goodness packed into the Lunar Eclipse quilt pattern, including: 

8 quilt sizes to choose from:

Baby
Crib
Lap
Throw
Twin
Double
Queen
King

 

Step by step graphics for visual cues at each step of the piecing journey

Templates are 100% scaled to size so you don’t have to worry about your printer settings.

Video tutorial on how to cut and work with paper templates 😉.

Colouring page to plan your own design.

Block labels to keep your quilt pieces and blocks organized.

8 colourways to give you lots of fabric and colour inspiration.

4 alternate layouts so you can make the pattern more than once and always come out with a new quilt!

Links to tutorials for added help and guidance.

Fabric cutting diagrams to maximize your fabric usage.

Strip piecing makes for quick assembly.

NEW – track your progress! Yes! The quilt journey can be a long process and remembering where you left off can be a challenge! You can now track your progress at each step of the quilt journey, so you know exactly what still needs to be done! Every one of my pattern testers commented on how amazing this new feature is! So simple, yet so genius! And it’s entirely interaction so if you’re viewing the pattern digitally, you can tick the box off and save your file to pick back up where you left off!

If you’ve never pieced drunkard’s path quilt blocks before, you’ll be a quilty rock star at them by the end of making the Lunar Eclipse quilt 😉

Grab the Lunar Eclipse quilt pattern in the shop and dive in!

Lunar Eclipse quilt featuring Spectratastic II fabrics | Modern curves quilt pattern by Shannon Fraser Designs #modernquiltpattern

Big stitch hand quilted details on the Lunar Eclipse quilt - the Spectratastic II version by Shannon Fraser Designs #handquilted

STORY BEHIND LUNAR ECLIPSE QUILT PATTERN

What’s fun about the Lunar Eclipse design is that she stems from one of the mini quilts I made during my #100daysofsfDminis.

Picture this, we’d just fled the city after the first wave of COVID shutdowns and found ourselves self-isolating up at the lake. The decision to the leave the city was very last minute and was prompted due to the fact that we were having a tough time sourcing food. So, we packed all the food we had in the city, some clothing and hit the road. The car was packed with essentials and that meant there was no room for my sewing machine and gear.

Blergh – turns out food trumps sewing – ha!

While I had some projects that I brought with me for hand quilting, I wasn’t able to create new projects. I turned to designing quilts on the computer so that I’d have lots of inspiration and projects to tackle once I was reunited with my machine.

I was inspired to look back through my 100-days of sfD minis and thought it could be fun to turn some of them into quilt designs. Shattered Star was the first that I released, but Lunar Eclipse was the first that I designed! Funny how the order in which I design them isn’t always the order in which they get released 😉

This one took a minute to come to life as I was on the hunt for the perfect fabrics to really showcase the design of the pattern and the theme I was going for.

Shannon holding her Lunar Eclipse quilt out in the summer wild #quiltsinthewild

LUNAR ECLIPSE – THE SPECTRATASTIC II VERSION

When it came time to selecting fabrics for my Lunar Eclipse quilt, I was on the hunt for something bold, modern, and with an intergalactic feel.

I’d been eyeing Giucy Giuce’s fabric collections for Andover Fabrics and when I saw *Spectratastic II come out I just knew the collection would be perfect for the Lunar Eclipse quilt.

The challenge was narrowing down my colourway from all the fab colours in the collection. I opted to go with primary colours in blue and yellow and then balanced them out with some analogous colours.

One fun element of this pattern is that there’s no official background fabric. That was intentional as I wanted to leave it up to you to decide how you wanted to interpret the background colour. There’s a few options to play with and each will result in a different look with emphasis on different elements in the design.

Here’s a mock-up I did for one of my testers and it shows how just switching Colour 9 for a light colour to a dark one really changes the look of the quilt. This is a great way to build interest in your quilts.

Lunar Eclipse quilt featuring purple kona cottons by Shannon Fraser Designs #modernquilt

Lunar Eclipse quilt featuring purple and pink Kona Cotton solids by Shannon Fraser Designs #quiltmockup

This one’s for you if you love playing with your fabric layouts!

Lunar Eclipse quilt block featuring drunkard's path blocks stitched in Spectratastic II fabric collection by Giucy Giuce for Andover Fabrics | Modern curves quilt by Shannon Fraser Designs #drunkardspathquiltblock

QUILTING & BINDING

When it came time to quilt her I had originally planned to machine quilt, but when I started quilting the curves with my walking foot, I wasn’t loving the effect.

This was a skills issue! My curves were a little jagged, especially on the smaller curves, so I decided to incorporate some big stitch hand quilting.

Most of the quilt is machine quilted in 40wt Aurifil Thread in the colour Spring Green. And the smaller curves are hand quilted with pearl cotton thread in size 8 in the colour Cheddar.

I do love how the mix of quilting adds even more texture and detail to the final quilt!

To finish her off, I added a turquoise binding with big stitch hand binding to up the quilty texture even more 😊

Here’s a tutorial on how to big stitch hand bind your quilts

Quilting details on the Lunar Eclipse quilt - Spectratastic II version by Shannon Fraser Designs #quilting

Machine quilted and hand quilted stitch details on the Lunar Eclipse quilt - a modern curves quilt pattern featuring Drunkard's path blocks #quiltingcurves

MATERIALS FEATURED

Here’s everything I used to bring the Lunar Eclipse lap size quilt to life:

*Blue 
*Lime 
*Gray 
*Navy 
Pearl Cotton thread for hand quilting (*available in this kit
Pearl Cotton thread for hand binding (*available in this kit
*Iron 
*Pins 
Drunkard’s Path Rulers *small and *large (if you prefer working with rulers instead of templates)
*Needle – for hand quilting & hand binding

 

Cut quilt block pieces for the Lunar Eclipse quilt - the Spectratastic II version by Shannon Fraser Designs #quilt

FABRIC BUNDLES

Sometimes picking fabrics can be tough, am I right?!

If narrowing down a colourway for your quilts is stress inducing, then the following fabric bundles might just be what you need!

Lisa, from Sew Curated has pulled together two options for you:

RISE & SHINE BUNDLE

Bring the sunshine indoors with the Rise & Shine Lunar Eclipse Quilt Kit Bundle featuring these gorgeous Art Gallery Fabrics PURE Solids in sunny yellows. I can this one being so uplifting when winter rolls around 😉

Rise & Shine Lunar Eclipse quilt kit bundle from Sew Curated #quiltkit

GOODNIGHT MOON BUNDLE

For a moodier version with calmer vibes grab the Good Night Moon Lunar Eclipse Quilt Kit Bundle featuring these stunning Art Gallery Fabrics PURE Solids and Kona Cotton Solids in shades of blue and gray.

Lunar Eclipse Goodnight Moon quilt kit bundle from Sew Curated #quiltingcotton

If working with prints is more your quilty jam, then check out Modern Vintage Handmade's beautiful Lap size bundle.

LUNAR ECLIPSE QUILTS IN THE WILD

Before releasing patterns to you, they always go through lots of testing, and I couldn’t do that without my fabulous pattern testers! They knocked it wayyyyy out of the park with all the gorgeous versions they stitched up.

PUCCIESQUE

If stitching with solids makes you think humdrum, then I challenge you to revisit that concept after seeing Kacie’s gorgeous quilt top. As Kacie from @whoop_ingcrane put it “This is the absolutely fabulous totally Pucci Lunar Eclipse Quilt!” and I couldn’t agree more!

Lunar Eclipse quilt - the Pucciesque version stitched by Kacie | Shannon Fraser Designs #quiltsinthewild

PICNIC TIME

If you’re looking for inspiration featuring fabric prints in your Lunar Eclipse quilt, then this one is uber inspiring! This one has me wanting to pack up a yummy basket full of goodies for a picnic in the fields! Proof that the current maximalist trend works for quilts too!

Alicia from @modernvintagehandmade has pulled together a few kits featuring these prints:

Cotton + Steel: Prickly Pear Collection and their basics line. 
Art Gallery: Luna and Laurel Collection and Pollinate collection. 
Riley Blake: Land of Liberty Collection, Confetti Cottons and Blossoms. 

 

Lunar Eclipse quilt stitched by Modern Vintage Handmade featuring Cotton and Steel, Art Gallery Fabrics and Riley Blake Fabric | Shannon Fraser Designs #modernquiltpattern

PURPLEFECTION

Frieda is one of my longest pattern testers and I’m always so inspired by her fabric selections. She’s been on a purple kick and this purple, gray and pink ombré Lunar Eclipse quilt in Kona Cotton solids is just purplefection! Evidence that following your instincts and what’s calling you to play with leads to fun quilty results!

Lunar Eclipse quilt stitched by Frieda featuring shades of purple and pink kona cotton solids | Shannon Fraser Designs #moderncurvesquilt

BOLD FLORAL 

This bold floral version stitched by Kathleen from @cowdenquiltschool has me wanting to frolic in a field! Can you believe this was Kathleen’s first-time sewing curves – say whaaa?   

Lunar Eclipse quilt in the wild featuring a bold floral with solids stitched by Kathleen from Cowden Quilt School | Shannon Fraser Designs #drunakrdspathquilt

SERENITY

What is it about blue quilts that just bring instant serenity?! These watery hues Sanne from @sewbysanne featured in her crib quilt are instantly soothing. Lucky little one that gets to run their hands over those yummy hand quilted stitches.

Lunar Eclipse Quilt featuring shades of blue and turquoise for serene vibes | Modern quilt pattern | Shannon Fraser Designs #quilt

DEEPLY HUED

The alternate layouts in the pattern are there to get your creative juices flowing and Kim from @javagoddess89 took that next level with her gorgeous green and purple version. Gotta love a pattern with lots of options 😉

Lunar Eclipse quilt in the wild featuring an alternate layout in green and purple fabrics | Shannon Fraser Designs #modernquilters

BEACH VIBES

Having a fun modern baby quilt pattern in your repertoire is always super handy! I love this nautical inspired Lunar Eclipse crib quilt made by Gillian from @sewgolly. It gives me all the seaside vibes and has me craving saltwater taffy – ha!

Lunar Eclipse crib quilt on the beach | Shannon Fraser Designs #moderncribquilt

TEXTURED WALLS

On top of the alternate versions featured in the pattern, there’s lots of other variations you can dream up. Take a cue from Ally from @alsterdeeluxe who opted to go with a modern wall hanging for her place. These soothing shades of watery blues are perfect for bringing the calm indoors. Plus, how can you resist that yummy texture she added in with the big stitch hand quilting. Ally was clever and added taps to both the top and bottom to be able to hang it with the moons up or moons down – loveeeee!

Lunar Eclipse quilted wall hanging featuring big stitch hand quilting by Alsterdeeluxe | Modern Quilt Pattern by Shannon Fraser Designs #quiltedwallart

Lunar Eclipse quilt featuring Spectratastic II fabrics in navy, blue, turquoise, teal, yellow and ochre by Shannon Fraser Designs #modernquiltpattern

The Lunar Eclipse quilt may look complex, but it’s super easy peasy to quilt her up! Whether this is your first-time piecing curves or you’re a seasoned quilter looking to dive into a fun colour exploration, this modern quilt pattern is for you!!

Grab the Lunar Eclipse quilt pattern, dive into a fun curvy quilt journey and see a whole new world of quilting motifs open up to you!

Happy quilting!

xo,

Shannon

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1 comment

  • Such an amazing blog post! Packed full of so much information and inspiration!!! Well done Shannon and thanks for the shout out! People will be knocking your door down to get this pattern!

    Ally

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