Star quilt patterns: pick a block, then make the throw

Our star blocks side by side

The friendship, Ohio and sawtooth stars can all be made at 12 inches finished, so they mix in one sampler quilt with no resizing. The LeMoyne also trims to 12 inches, as the pattern below does. Sister’s Choice finishes at 12½, so give it its own quilt or add a half-inch of sashing. If you need a size that is not in the table, the quilt block resizer works out the pieces for the Ohio and sawtooth stars. Our patriotic star throw and Christmas star table runner use the sawtooth star and need only flying geese.

Free pattern: LeMoyne star throw, 56 × 71 inches

Each star has four red and four navy diamonds on a cream background. The math follows our LeMoyne star block page: 3-inch diamond strips give a block of about 12.07 inches, and trimming it to 12½ inches unfinished gives a 12-inch block. That trim takes about ⅛ inch off each side and leaves the star points a little under ¼ inch from the edge, which is enough to keep them. The whole quilt is calculated rather than sewn, so check your cut pieces against the block page as you go.

The size also fits the Quilts of Valor range of 55 × 65 to 72 × 90 inches, though check the Foundation’s rules before you make one for a veteran.

Fabric

Yardage assumes 42-inch quilting cotton with 40 inches usable.

Cutting

Check the counts. Eight diamonds fit on a 40-inch strip because each 45-degree cut moves along the strip by 3 × 1.414 = 4.24 inches, and the first cut wastes one 3-inch corner: (40 − 3) ÷ 4.24 = 8.7, so 8. Twelve blocks need 48 diamonds of each color, which is 6 strips. The border math gives 228 inches of strip (2 × 57½ + 2 × 56½), which is exactly 6 strips of 38 usable inches, so the pattern calls for a seventh as slack for the joins.

Make the blocks

1. Cut the diamonds from the 3-inch strips, the 4⅜ inch corner squares and the 6½ inch squares. Starch the strips first; the diamond edges are on the bias.
2. Mark the ¼-inch dots on every diamond and background piece, then sew each block following the set-in seam steps on the LeMoyne block page: pairs, halves, the center seam, then corner squares and side triangles.
3. Press, then trim each block to 12½ inches square with the star centered. Make 12 and check that all measure the same.

Assemble the top

1. Sew a row of three blocks with a 3½ × 12½ inch sashing piece between them. Make four rows, each 42½ inches wide. Press toward the sashing.
2. Join the rows with the three 42½ inch sashing strips between them. The center is now 42½ × 57½ inches.
3. Add the 57½ inch side borders first, then the 56½ inch top and bottom borders. The finished top is 56 × 71 inches.
4. Layer with the backing and batting, baste (see how to baste a quilt), quilt, then bind it. Our sashing calculator and border calculator will check the strip counts if you change the layout.

For a smaller quilt, cut the same stars with 2½ inch diamond strips (9⅝ inch blocks) and follow the table on the block page for the other pieces. Use the same steps and recompute the sashing and border lengths.

Making the choice

If you want your first star quilt to come together fast, the sawtooth stars in the patriotic throw need only straight seams. If you want the pointed eight-diamond look, practice a single LeMoyne block first and keep the quilt for the second try. Every block on the site is in the quilt block library, and all our free patterns are in one list.

You might also like

• Patriotic star throw quilt20 red and navy sawtooth stars in a 58 x 70 in throw, sized to fit the Quilts of Valor range.
• One-layer-cake throwAll 42 squares of one layer cake plus a border, a 64 x 73 in throw in an afternoon of sewing.
• Modern plus quiltBold plus signs floating on plenty of plain background, the simplest modern quilt there is; 30 blocks for a 60 x 72 in throw.
• Ohio star quilt blockAn eight-point star from quarter-square triangles, cut for 6, 9 and 12 inch blocks.