What are Medallion Quilts?
Often a motif was appliqued in the center. The early appliqued centers and borders were usually done in the broderie perse style that involved cutting out images from printed fabric then sewing them onto the quilt’s center and borders. Appliqué was dominant on medallion quilts until the latter 1700s.
The medallion style is one of the first round robin styles that I sewed along with others when I first started. That is, I helped design and then sew borders around the center.
Here are a few that are free on the blog and you can sew if you are interested: http: //www.patchworkposse.com/round-robin-collection-free-quilt-patterns/
Busy Body Medallion style quilt along. This one is a crazy bunch of fabric…with a pieced center, not applique. But the idea is the same. Each step was sewn around the center of the quilt.
There are a few stop borders and they are symmetrical (meaning they are the same all the way around). This style is great for making sure your quilt is square, not wavy and lets you practice the same block a couple of times. Not just once and done and then you’ll never remember how to sew it again!
In the past I have teamed up with others and designed some medallion style quilts– called Round Robins.
A round robin quilt is one that travels from one person to another- each one adding something to the original. Well, since we don’t live close enough to each other and really it’s so fun to see others designs who are on a different continent– I decided to do this just a little differently. The quilt didn’t travel, but there were designers for each part of the quilt.
So the centers were designed by someone, and then the next border by another. We all ended up with the same quilt layout– but the fabrics were different. It was so fun to see them!
Here are the ones that are in a medallion layout– free for you to sew as well if you are interested.
Round Robin #2 – this was a whimsy style of medallion quilt. There is a mix of patchwork and applique. Love the fun colors and whimsy, funky, fun kind of design!
Round Robin #1— this one is more traditional with the basket center and the outer patchwork borders. I believe this was the first one we did. Turned out perfect. It’s one of my favorites for sure.
You can check out more free quilt patterns here– but they are different layouts and designs.
Interested in more medallion quilts? Here is a great Pinterest Board to keep you in the loop.

Becky Jorgensen is the creative quilter behind Patchwork Posse, the Patchwork Planner and her online quilt group Patchworkers Plus. You can find her patterns in books, magazines, and her quilt membership. Gather your quilting supplies, organize your sewing space, explore the process of disappearing quilt blocks, or finish a free quilt pattern. I'll help you use what you have, finish what you start and make your quilting journey fun!
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