Summer Picnic Fabric Collection by Melissa Mortenson

The Summer Picnic Line is the newest fabric collection designed by Melissa Mortenson for Riley Blake Designs. Inspired by a breezy summer picnic, this line features red cherry and strawberry prints along with vintage-inspired summery flowers. The wicker basket and gingham prints help to complete this picnic-inspired collection.

picnic basket and quilt on bench outdoors

Inspiration for the Collection

Last Spring, our family, like many others, found ourselves at home looking for fun things to do. We have always loved to explore new places, trying to discover new favorite shops and restaurants. Suddenly we could not do any of those things, and we got creative with our family outings.

One of our favorite things to do last Summer was to have a picnic. We’d pack a lunch from home or get take out from our favorite restaurant and find a picturesque place to park and enjoy our food. We also have an RV and loved “camping out” for dinner in an empty parking lot or at a local park.

I started thinking about picnics a lot during that time. I’ve always collected vintage linens and have a particularly soft spot in my heart for vintage tablecloths. I started sketching fabrics inspired by some of my favorite picnic motifs, and slowly and surely, the Summer Picnic Fabric collection was born.

The line is vintage-inspired with a nod to the colors and motifs that I remember from my childhood. It features a large floral inspired by a favorite set of sheets, a tablecloth print, and a polka dot bottle cap print. Because what’s a picnic without a glass soda bottle?

Video Introduction

Prints in the Collection

The collection features 8 different prints in 3 colorways along with 2 additional cheater panels.

Prints:

Vintage Floral
Cherries
Tablecloth Print
Bottle-cap Polka Dot
Tiny Strawberries
Gingham
Wicker Basket
Tiny Bees

Panels

The collection also features 2 cheater panels in two different colorways. These panels are designed to be “stitched” together to create larger cheater quilts.

You can also add a border to an existing panel or cut the panel up and use each print individually.

Quilt Patterns Designed with the Collection

I have 3 quilt patterns that are designed to work perfectly with this fabric collection.

Summer Sugar Quilt Pattern

The main quilt pattern for this line is called Summer Sugar and is probably the result of listening to Harry Styles all last summer, LOL! It features quilt blocks in some of my favorite summer motifs, strawberries, cherries, pineapples, flowers & bumblebees.

The quilt is approximately 60″ x 86″ and is all traditionally pieced. The flower petal blocks are machine pieced as well.

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Picnic Crossing Quilt Pattern

A vintage quilt inspired the Picnic Crossing quilt in my collection! I actually started working on this quilt pattern 7 years ago but put it aside to work on other projects. I’ve taken the block from the vintage quilt and supersized it.

Meet Picnic Crossing:

The blocks are set in a diamond pattern, and the quilt features a top and bottom border. The borders allow you to showcase some of your favorite novelty prints on your quilt!

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Gingham Daydream Quilt Pattern

The Gingham Daydream pattern is one of my all-time best sellers! It’s a fun scrappy take on a simple gingham quilt.

It can be made in 5 different sizes, baby, lap, twin, queen & king. This pattern is quick to piece and is one of my “go to’s” when I want to make a quilt to give as a gift. It would make a beautiful picnic quilt!

The pattern is available now.