For the Jane Austen Fan in All of Us
The fabric of Jane Austen’s home life is available for the first time ever. Riley Blake Designs has
reproduced these beautiful floral prints to make this extraordinary part of British history
available to everyone. To make this collection even more unique, we designed fabrics using music
hand-written by Jane Austen, as well as passages from her personal letters.
These treasured pieces of history are owned by Jane Austen’s House – an independent museum and
charity in the UK. Join us in recreating this special Jane Austen coverlet quilt and other
lovely projects for gifting or keeping.
View the Pride & Prejudice collection and its Quilt Kit here.
View the Sense & Sensibliity collection, featuring the Barton Cottage Quilt Kit, here.
Watch a video about Jane Austen's coverlet and the Jane Austen at Home collection here.
View the Jane Austen at Home collection here.
Shop Jane Austen product here.
Helpful Information for Making the Coverlet Quilt
Download the fabric requirements here. Yardage from the Jane Austen
at Home collection is required in addition to the two Jane Austen at Home panels (P10021-Panel and P10022-Panel).
The pattern booklet includes a paper template to cut out the quilt center diamonds, but there is an acrylic template available for purchase
to help make the process more efficient (STT-16109).
Watch a video with Cindy Cloward demonstrating some tips and tricks for making the coverlet here.
Interesting Facts About the Coverlet
♦ Made by Jane Austen, her sister Cassandra, and their mother.
♦ Technically not a quilt, but a coverlet as there is no layer of wadding.
♦ Includes a central panel of 232 smaller diamonds.
♦ Symmetrical across width and length, even down to the tiny diamonds in the border.
♦ Extensive use of fussy cutting in the diamonds.
♦ More than 2500 small diamonds in the border.
♦ Has approximately 12 stitches per inch.
♦ Made using the English Paper Piecing method.
About the Jane Austen at Home Fabric Line
Jane Austen’s House is in the charming village of Chawton, Hampshire, UK. It is the place where
Jane wrote or revised all her published novels and is visited by over 40,000 people each year,
from all over the world. The House contains items that belonged to Jane, including her writing
table and her ring.
One of the most popular exhibits is the quilt made by Jane, her sister Cassandra and their mother.
Strictly it is not a quilt, but a coverlet as there is no layer of wadding, simply a patchwork top
with a cotton backing. It is a medallion quilt measuring 91 inches x 105 inches with a large central
motif in chintz, cut as a diamond. This is surrounded by a central panel of 232 smaller diamonds
interconnected by spotted sashing. The outer edge, 11 inches deep, is composed of tiny diamonds,
each with edges of 30mm. There are over 2500 of these smaller diamonds in the border. All the
patches are joined by very fine whip stitch – there are approximately 12 stitches per inch, which is
quite remarkable given the lighting conditions of the period.
The fabrics used in the central panel are block printed dress weight fabrics and are arranged in
alternating rows of darker and lighter. Those in the outer edge are a mix of block and roller
printed material and include both dress and furnishing fabrics. There are many remarkable things
about this quilt, aside from the fact that it was stitched by one of the world’s favourite authors.
The central panel of diamonds shows fourfold symmetry in their placement and the tiny diamonds in
the outer edge are also placed symmetrically with top and bottom and left and right sides matching.
There is also extensive use of fussy cutting in the diamonds. This was a very carefully planned
quilt. The diamonds are 70° and 110° angles, which is unusual, and the sashing joining the central
diamonds is composed of short pieces, rather than continuous lengths – perhaps fabric left from a
previous project? We have not found another quilt like this anywhere, it is a truly unique piece
(although there are rumours of other quilts made by the Austen ladies, and this was clearly not the
first quilt they had made in terms of the quality of the design).
We do not know the exact date of this quilt, but do know that the Austens were working on a quilt
in May 1811, as Jane wrote in a letter to her sister, Cassandra, “Have you remembered to collect
pieces for the patchwork – we are at a standstill.” Cassandra was staying with her brother Edward on
his estate in Kent, where there would have been many fabric pieces available from the dressmaker who
made clothes for his eleven children.
The quilt was made by the English paper piecing method - how we wish the papers had been left in,
they might have been scraps of letters, or even discarded writings by Jane!
As passionate fans of the writings and handwork of Jane Austen, Riley Blake Designs is delighted to
bring these exquisite designs to fabric. We love the intricate detail and captivating color palette. Our goal is to make this beautiful piece
of history available to quilters and Jane Austen fans worldwide. In the words of Jane Austen,
“What is right to be done cannot be done too soon.” We couldn’t agree more!
View the Jane Austen at Home collection here.
About the Jane Austen Novel Fabric Lines
Riley Blake Designs is releasing new prints that correspond with each of Jane Austen's six novels.
Our new and special edition prints were taken directly from the original Jane Austen quilt.
View the Pride & Prejudice collection here.
View the Sense & Sensibility collection here.
View the Mansfield Park collection here.
Jane Austen Notions
In addition to the Jane Austen at Home fabric collections, Riley Blake Designs also offers beautiful notions and projects
that are great for gifting or keeping.
Shop everything here.