Midnight Circus: September Fabric Selection
- vafibrearts
- Sep 3
- 5 min read
Hello Friends and Welcome!
My apologies for the delayed posting of this year's quilt along pattern.
Unfortunately, while drafting this post, the editor went offline and I wasn't able to get it back up and running until this morning. Luckily, most of the post was drafted and saved before this happened!
Thank you all so much for your patience, now please enjoy Midnight Circus!
With the arrival of September over the weekend, I'm excited to finally share this year's quilt along pattern; Midnight Circus!
Midnight Circus features a combination of large star blocks and pieced sashing, arranged in an en pointe layout. The pattern uses a variety of common quilt units, including four patches, flying geese, and quarter square triangles, but also has a lot of corners to be matched.
With this in mind, I would classify this pattern for adventurous beginners, or intermediate level quilters. You know your own skills better than I do, but I believe that, as long as you've made a quilt before and have confidence in your abilities, anyone can make this pattern!
Now with that little introduction out of the way, let's take a look at Midnight Circus!
Quilt Reveal
After so many months sharing little peaks at the design, it's so exciting to be able to share the full Midnight Circus quilt!
While planning this pattern, I did my best to consider the feedback I got during last year's quilt along; I wanted to use larger blocks, or blocks with larger pieces, to make the pattern a little more accessible for beginners, and wanted to use sashing as an accent in the design!
I had also hoped to incorporate more negative space in this year's pattern, but my own personal love of piecing drew me in a different direction.
As I worked through the design of this pattern, I was inspired by two traditional quilt blocks. The background and sashing motif was inspired by the traditional Maple Star block, which I put my own twist on. Layered over top of that is a field of Sawtooth Star blocks, which obscure the underlying pattern and create an interesting sense of depth.
All together, I'm really happy with how the pattern turned out and hope you're just as excited as I am to try your hand at piecing it!
Schedule
The Midnight Circus quilt along will run in a block of the month format, with new instructions being released on the first Tuesday of every month.
It begins today, on 02 September 2025, and final instructions will be released to assemble the quilt top on 05 May 2026. All instructions for this free pattern will remain available on the Fibre Arts blog after the conclusion of the quilt along.
September
To start off this quilt along, we will spend the month of September considering fabric selection!
Quilt Size
The Midnight Circus pattern is available in three sizes; small at 36" x 36", medium at 60" x 60", and large at 82" x 82".
The pattern is enlarged through the addition of more blocks, which means a larger version of the quilt will take more time and more materials to assemble.
Consider your available budget and schedule, as well as the intended use of the finished quilt, when choosing which size to make.
Colour Scheme
With a quilt size selected, take some time to think about what colours to use in your Midnight Circus quilt!
The original version of the quilt uses a six colour scheme;
Fabric A - Background - Navy
Fabric B - Sashing Dark - Copper
Fabric C - Sashing Medium - Orange
Fabric D - Sashing Light - Yellow
Fabric E - Star Background - Off White
Fabric F - Star Main - Blue
These colours were chosen because they contrast well with each other, showing off all parts of the pieced design. However, if there is a particular element of the pattern you wish to accent, consider using a mix of colours the have high and low contrast!
There are several examples of different colour schemes and ways the colours can be rearranged in the downloadable PDF below the fabric selection section!
Fabric Selection
Finally, after deciding on quilt size and colours, it's time to acquire fabric!
I recommend using small and non-directional prints, or solid fabrics for this pattern. Large and busy prints are likely to be broken up by the piecing, obscuring the design of the quilt.
Using fabric that's already in your stash is a good way to save money on a quilt project. Fabric requirements are rather generous, leaving extra length for cutting errors, so if you have a length of fabric that's close to the yardage needed, it will likely work for this pattern!
Or, to use precut fat quarters, assume each fat quarter is equal to 0.25m of yardage. If the pattern requires 0.7m of fabric, three fat quarters would be needed.
All details for fabric requirements, including a few additional notes, can be found in the PDF below:
Midnight Circus Sample Quilt
After being optimistic that I might have a finished quilt to show today, August became the busiest month ever and I wasn't able to dedicate as much time to this quilt as I had hoped.
Regardless, I did find some time to work on it and have completely pieced the central row of the quilt!
Because this pattern was designed en pointe, this row actually runs corner to corner rather than side to side, which is why it has pointed ends! This makes it look more like a table runner than a full sized quilt, but I'm excited to see it grow into something more!
As I was working on this row, I was able to get started on some of the quilting!
I've been using the quilt as you go method to assemble the centre of my Midnight Circus quilt, and have picked out some fun walking foot quilting motifs to use in the blocks and background!
I haven't completely settled on the design for the pieced sashing, but I plan to reference the designs from the star blocks in some way!
And for the quilt backing, I've been using remnants of navy blue material from my stash!
I assembled most of these prints in November 2023 for a mystery quilt along that I didn't end up having time to participate in, so it's great to see them finally becoming a quilt!
Friends, I am so excited to get started on another quilt along journey with all of you! I can't wait to see the unique twist that each of you puts on the Midnight Circus pattern, and to watch each of your units, blocks, and quilts come together over the next few months!
When you've picked out your fabric, I would love to see what you're planning to use! Please share your progress with me in the comments below or on social media using #midnightcircusquilt!
And, if you have any problems along the way, I'm always happy to help! You can ask questions in the comments so everyone can learn together, or we can chat privately via email!
I can't wait for all of us to be swept away by the Midnight Circus together!
I'm excited to participate this year! I like the look of the 2 tone. I am thinking a scrappy navy/black for the background and a solid cream for the design