My grandaughter is almost 6. She would like a rainbow quilt. She was very specific in her "directions". She wants to see rainbows from pieces. Not blocks of color......not rainbow fabric. Does anyone have any ideas on making a curved rainbow? :) :?:

One idea that comes to mind is to use a plate or a saucer to get your curved pieces. I never tried it but have used plates and saucers for scallops so why not a rainbow? Worth a try!

What a great time to hit the scrap basket and pick up your tonal material!
Those 4" squares never looked so good! You could try making a medallion quilt that has the rainbow in the center. Why not put multi like shades together in strips and then cut your arc from the colors. If you fuse or machine applique each color group onto muslin you can shape the rainbow to whatever size you want. If you use multiple patterned fabrics in the rainbow colors....you could make several different rainbow squares. Draw it onto muslin and then sew it down. :D oooohhh the possibilities are endless. Have fun. Ask her for her ideas...does she have a quilt building in her mind... could she draw a picture of what she is thinking? Would she want to help you? what a great way to get her into this wonderful arena. So lucky!

I made a similar lap quilt once. It was fun, but I'm not sure it goes by her specifications. It was six lines of color that made each block and you made 4 of those. 2 tone on tone prints of each rainbow color in each line. Kinda like this

Aa-purple
Bb-blue
Cc-green
Dd-Red
Ee-Orange
Ff-Yellow

Each block could look like this (Only one strip per line of each color, I just use the letters to show length of strip)

AAAAAAAAAaaa
BBBBBBBbbbbb
CCCCCccccccc
DDDdddddddd
EEeeeeeeeeee
Ffffffffffffffffffff

Then you turn them in different ways once all four are finished and it gives you a rainbow effect with no partial circle seams. Not sure if it's what you are looking for, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

Melissa

You could make your own pattern with a 36" X 36" piece of paper- freezer paper, tissue, craft, shipping, or whatever you have on hand & can piece together- a pencil, piece of tape, and a piece of string. (I believe most of us learned this as an elementary school art lesson??) Tie one end of the string around the pencil, and make a knot in the other end to stick under the tape. Lay your paper out on a hard flat surface, tape the knot down at one corner of your paper, keeping the string tight, draw the semi-circle. Shorten your string a bit (however wide you want your strips to be plus seam allowance if needed depending on your applique or piecing method) and draw the inside semi-circle. Depending on the size of your rainbow, this can be your complete pattern per color row, a half pattern placed on the fabric fold, 1/4 pattern placed on double folded fabric, etc.

I used this method on freezer paper one year to make a tree skirt, but instead of drawing the inner semi-circle, I made a small one 3" in from the "anchor" corner and cut out the "pannel" to iron to each fabric used in the skirt. (I believe it took 6) It was a very large tree skirt, but we have a large tree and an even larger family. I also discovered this pannel would make a GREAT quilted cape. Anyway, hope this helps. It is really easier than I am describing it... I promise.

I made this rainbow baby quilt a few years ago - all the rainbow stripes are 1/2 square triangles, the background I cut strips to make the length I needed - basically just made it as I went along! It was more of a pain than I expected, I always forget about that point-matching part! LOL Somehow I think your granddaughter might be looking for a more 'traditonal" curved rainbow, but you could show her this one & see what she says. Otherwise, Carla's sounds good to me - make your curved rainbow & applique it onto a sky background? And to remember the rainbow color order: ROY G. BIV (Red-Orange-Yellow-Green-Blue-Indigo-Violet)!

Good Luck Ruth!
:D
sue

Pain in the rump, but well worth the effort!!! That is so cute!!!

Ok I have a rough draft if a pattern. will color it up and put it on in a few days. Your answers were great, took a little from each of you.Quilters are the best

Cool! Can't wait to see what you came up with. I am sure she will love it as it comes from you. :D

This is my rough draft.....colors may change