Jane Austen at Home by Riley Blake Designs Coverlet Quilt Kit

Hi everyone! In September, I published a post about the Jane Austen at Home Collection by Riley Blake Designs. Even though I showed off all the things I own from the collection in that post, I still wanted to write more detailed posts about each quilt kit I own. I planned on doing this earlier this month, but things didn’t work out like I planned. Instead, I’m publishing the posts now!

The first kit I wanted to talk about in more detail is the Coverlet Quilt Kit. This kit creates something called a coverlet. (I’m still going to address this kit as a quilt kit for the rest of this post. I decided to do this because the kit can be adapted to become a quilt. I’ll talk more about that later in the post.) If you never heard of a coverlet, it is not actually a quilt, nor it is a bedspread. It is a lightweight blanket that can be used in the summertime and by anyone who feels hot while sleeping. If you want to read more information about coverlets, I found an article about coverlets on the blog House Beautiful here.

Even though a coverlet is not a quilt, this quilt kit is inspired by a patchwork coverlet that was made by and once owned by Jane Austen herself. (She also made the coverlet with her sister, Cassandra, and their mother) The coverlet is currently on display at The Jane Austen House in Chawton, England and is the best preserved of all the quilts Jane Austen created while she was alive. Riley Blake recreated the fabric designs used in the coverlet and created this quilt kit.

Before I talk about the kit and what I think of it, I wanted to share some links about the original coverlet that may help explain the history of the coverlet better than I can! And before anyone wonders, no these links are not affiliate links.

• Jane Austen’s House Official Website The official website of the Hampshire house where Jane Austen used to live and wrote her novels. It is now a museum and is where the patchwork coverlet is on display.
• Jane Austen’s House Page Dedicated to the Coverlet The page includes information about the patchwork coverlet.
• Riley Blake Designs’ Official Page for the Coverlet Kit Official page for the kit on the Riley Blake Designs website.
• Did You Know Jane Austen Made a Quilt? A blog post by Amy Smart of the blog Diary of a Quilter about the coverlet and the quilt kits by Riley Blake Designs.

Ok, now on with the kit!

The kit comes in a beautiful box. It looks like this from the front…

The kit looks like a book from the outside. It also has a beautiful, metallic design on the “cover” portion of the box. The box also opens and closes with a flap. The flap is magnetic, which makes it really nice! I am very impressed with the box alone. I plan to keep the box as a display box once I make the quilt.

This is what the box looks like when it is open…

Inside the box, there is the fabric and the instructions to make the coverlet. All the fabric in the box is pre cut. Here is what some of the fabric in the kit looks like…

The designs and colors of the fabric are beautiful and bright. I love how faithful the fabric designs are to the ones in the patchwork coverlet!

Fabric included in the kit are for the quilt top and binding, a quilt panel, and borders panel. The fabric for the quilt top and binding pre cut into three different sizes. I believe this was done in order to allow for more space in the box for the pieces of fabric that need to be larger than others. Both the quilt panel and borders panel are similar in style to a cheater quilt, but are supposed to be combined with the cut and sewn diamond design. They also help speed up the process to make the coverlet. To make the coverlet, the maker will need both a middle panel, border panels, fabric to make the patchwork diamond design, and fabric that creates the boarder between the diamonds. When fully assembled, the quilt will measure 80 inches by 100 inches.

The instructions look like this from the front…

(Sorry for the blurry photograph!)

And this from the back…

On page two of the instructions, there is a photograph and a summary about the original patchwork coverlet…

And, finally, there is the pattern printed on one of the instruction pages…

There is no diamond pattern made out of acrylic. Only a paper design is included in the kit. If you want an acrylic pattern, it can be purchased separately. As for the paper version, the back of the pack it is found on is left blank. That way it can be cut out without creating problems due to instructions located on the reverse side.

The instructions in the kit are very detailed. They not only explain how to make the coverlet, the instructions include where to cut the diamond pieces out of fabric.

I am very pleased with this kit. Even though the kit creates a coverlet, and the instructions reflect that, it can be easily adapted to make a quilt. (Just put a piece of batting between the top and the backing. Then quilt it.)

That’s all for now! Thank you for reading!