The inspiration for this design came from my son – in fact, he did the drawing and I did the pattern writing! I have involved both of my children in different aspects of my quiltmaking and it has led to some very interesting collaborations. This time I showed my son these very dramatic batiks from the Broken Glass line by Banyan Batiks which will be making an appearance in your local quilt store this month.

Banyan Batiks Broken Glass fabric
I knew Halloween was coming up, but while we were trying to decide what to design it was still summer which was showcasing some beautiful sunsets. To be honest, the fabrics remind me of the sunsets from my son’s favorite train show when he was younger. I shouldn’t have been surprised when he wanted to design a night skyline with these fabrics. I gave him my graph paper and set him to it.
I also laid out the fabrics to help him keep his design simple enough for me to quilt; just enough details to make different buildings but nothing too fancy. He did still design a highrise and another building with solar panels on the roof!

Original sketch of wall hanging.
Once he was done designing I matched some of my pencil crayons to the fabrics so he could help me color code the design. He wanted to design a whole bed quilt with rows of skylines, but I convinced him that one was enough. He can use it as a background when filming his train videos.

Broken Glass batiks with matching pencil crayons.
Let’s get to making the wallhanging!
Fabric requirements
- half meter Black 81500-49
- fat quarter Blue Gray 81500-44
- fat quarter Dark Blue 81500-48
- fat quarter Gray 81500-77
- 10″ square Bright Blue 81500-42
- 2½″ x 7½″ Purple 81500-85
- 5″ x 21″ strip Bright Pink 81500-23
Cutting Instructions
Black 81500-49
- four – 1½″ x 16½″ strips
- one – 9½″ x 16½″ rectangle
- one – 5½″ x 8½″ rectangle
- one – 5″ square
- one – 4½″ x 6½″ rectangle
- one – 3½″ x 4½″ rectangle
- three – 3″ x 6″ rectangles
- one – 4½″ square
- two – 2½″ squares
- two – 2″ squares
- ten – 1½″ squares
Blue Grey 81500-44 (sidewalks, highrise,solar panelled building)
- four – 1½″ x 16½″ strips
- five – 1½″ x 4½″ rectangles
- one – 3½″ x 4½″ rectangle
- one – 2½″ x 4½″ rectangle
- one – 2½″ square
- two – 1½″ squares
- reserve leftover for backing
Dark Blue 81500-48 (houses, highrise)
- five – 2½″ x 4½″ rectangles
- five – 2½″ squares
- seven – 1½″ x 2½″ rectangles
- six – 1½″ x 4½″ rectangles
- three – 1½″ squares
reserve leftover for backing
Grey 81500-77 (doors, roofs)
- three – 3″ x 6″ rectangles
- one – 2½″ x 4½″ rectangle
- nine – 1½″ x 2½″ rectangles
reserve leftover for backing
Bright Blue 81500-42 (solar panels, windows)
- two – 2″ squares
- two – 1½″ x 2½″ rectangles
- one – 1½″ square
Purple 81500-85 (bottom of solar panelled building)
- one – 2½″ square
Light pink 81500-21 (moon)
- one – 5″ square
Bright Pink 81500-23 (road lines)
- eleven – 1½″ x 2½″ rectangles
- one – 2″ strip (for backing)

Batik night skyline
The Broken Glass fabric by Banyan Batiks has potential for all kinds of designs. Keep following along this week as we turn these moody batiks into a stunning night skyline.
This is part 1 of 5 in this series.
Go to part 2: Perfecting your Half Rectangle units to make rooftops
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10 comments
Awesome design!
I really like the fabrics.
Thanks for commenting, Cassandra. The Broken Glass fabric line featured in this project are in quilt stores starting this month! Hope you can find some to enjoy in your own project 🙂
I love the fabrics and the idea of city scapes!
Looks like a fun project for sure! I can see some thread painting perhaps to represent Northern Lights? It is fun when you can include the family in your passion! Thank you for sharing your journey 🙂
Thanks, Carol! I like your idea of adding the Northern Lights. You’ll see later in the week how the batik fabric inspired my quilting on this project 😉 My family are my biggest supporters and I’m grateful for that. Thanks for commenting!
How cool! Love the solar panels! Very forward thinking!
Thanks Cindy! I think the batiks really help make it look like the panels are working too 🙂
Great patterns and tips
Thanks Linda! I hope you build along with me this week 🙂