How to Use Emma The Coles Fabric in Jane Austen-Inspired Quilts
If you love classic literature as much as you love quilting, the Emma collection from Riley Blake Designs was made for your sewing room. Emma The Coles is a 100% cotton quilting fabric, 43"/44" wide and sold by the yard. The Emma collection is part of Riley Blake Designs' collectible series honoring Jane Austen's six published works, and it is an official licensed product. The collection is described as great for quilting, apparel and home decor — and this print, named for a family Austen readers will recognize from the novel Emma, is a lovely place to start a literary-inspired project.
What This Fabric Is
This is a standard quilting-weight cotton at the familiar 43"/44" width, which makes it easy to combine with the other prints in the Emma collection and with other Riley Blake quilting cottons in your stash. Because it belongs to a coordinated collection, the colors and scale are designed to work alongside its companion prints, so you can build a whole quilt top from one collection or pull in a single yard or two to give an existing project that Austen touch.
As part of a collectible series, Emma fabrics also make meaningful gifts for book lovers, librarians, and teachers.
Best Uses for Emma The Coles
- Quilt tops: Use it as a feature print in patchwork blocks, as sashing or borders to frame blocks made from companion prints, or as the main fabric in a simple wholecloth-style lap quilt that lets the print shine.
- Apparel: Quilting cotton at this width suits easy gathered skirts, aprons, and lined tote-friendly tops and accessories where a crisp cotton is what you want.
- Home decor: Try pillow covers, table runners, placemats, and book-sleeve or reading-pillow projects — a natural fit for a fabric honoring a beloved novel.
Cutting and Piecing Tips
Start by giving the fabric a good press before you cut. Standard-width quilting cotton cuts cleanly with a rotary cutter, ruler, and mat; measure twice and cut your strips across the width of fabric as your pattern directs, then sub-cut into squares, rectangles, or strips. Keep a consistent 1/4" seam allowance as you piece, and press seams as your pattern suggests — to one side for most patchwork, or open where bulk needs to be reduced.
If you are mixing this print with other Emma fabrics, lay all your pieces out before sewing and check the balance across the quilt top. A helpful approach is to repeat each print in at least three places in the quilt, which helps the eye travel and keeps one fabric from feeling like an afterthought. For borders, cut long strips carefully and measure through the center of your quilt top rather than along the edge, so the finished quilt stays square.
Color Pairing Ideas
Because Emma is a coordinated collection, the safest pairings are right inside it: combine The Coles with the collection's other prints for the feature fabrics, then ground them with quiet solids or small-scale basics in matching tones. If you are pulling from your stash instead, audition fabrics in natural light, look for one shared color to tie pieces together, and include a mix of scales — one larger print, one medium, and one small — so the quilt reads clearly from across the room.
Care
Care follows the instructions given for this fabric: machine wash cold and tumble dry low. Washing gently and drying on low helps your finished quilt, garment, or home decor piece keep its color and feel through repeated use. As with any quilt, washing less often and storing it folded out of direct sunlight will help it last.
Whether you are building a full Austen-themed quilt or adding a literary accent to a reading nook, Emma The Coles gives you a quality quilting cotton with a story behind it.
Shop the Emma The Coles 43"/44" Fabric Per Yard at Linda's Electric Quilters.
