Quick Star Quilt Tutorial
This site contains affiliate links from which we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!
Today I’ve got a fun tutorial on how to make a Quick and Easy Star Quilt !
Welcome to Day 2 of the Wish Upon a Star Blog Hop!
I’ve been pretty excited about his hop, because it has motivated me to actually write up a tutorial on the star quilts that I have made and shown you here before…
I can’t actually remember how many I have made! Too many to remember… because some of them were gifts or donation quilts.
This one I made for my mum for mother’s day last year:
And of course last year I taught a class on it when I was still living in Arabia and having fun at Nora’s shop.
Here are the stars my students made:
You can see they look great in a variety of fabrics… and of course in Christmas fabric too!
The great thing about this quilt is that is it very quick – I can get the star part done in an hour! Yes. I timed myself! And once the middle star bit is done you can finish it off with any border you like – or none at all.
So, let’s get on with it!
Quick Star Quilt Tutorial
Choosing your fabric for the quick star quilt:
The best fabric for this quilt is non-directional. I prefer small prints to large prints, and it is good to have some contrast between all three fabrics so that the star stands out better.
What you need to make the quick star quilt:
To make the most basic star you will need three fabrics:
Background fabric:
1 meter (or 1 yard)
Fabric A:
1/2 meter (or 1/2 yard)
Fabric B:
1/2 meter (or 1/2 yard)
*Please note you will have a lot of fabric left over, I have been generous in the requirements in case of cutting mistakes 🙂
These are the fabrics I chose for the tutorial:
For the purpose of this tutorial, the white fabric is the background fabric, the spotty fabric is Fabric A and the cherry fabric is Fabric B.
Cutting Instructions for the quick star quilt:
Cutting is straightforward for this quick star quilt – we just need 10″ squares!
Background Fabric:
Cut eight 10″ squares
Fabric A:
Cut four 10″ squares
Fabric B:
Cut four 10″ squares
Sewing the Quick Star Quilt Instructions:
This quilt is basically made up of half square triangles. I am sure most of you have made these before, so you can see how it is going to be a really quick quilt to sew up!
For beginner quilters or those who have never made a half square triangle before, I am giving you step by step instructions… and if you have any questions, just let me know!
Quick star quilt step 1:
To start with we are going to set aside four of the background squares:
We’ll get back to them later!
So we are going to start working with four 10″ squares of each fabric:
Quick star quilt step 2:
Take all four background squares and two of either fabric A or B – doesn’t matter which one, just choose the lightest color.- I chose Fabric A.
We are now going to draw a diagonal line on the back of each of these six squares, from corner to corner:
Quick star quilt step 3:
This next step is where you need to concentrate a little bit 🙂
Take each of the squares with the lines on the back and pair them up in the following way:
- Pair two white squares with two Fabric A squares
- Pair two white squares with two Fabric B squares
- Pair the remaining Fabric A and B squares together
It should look something like this:
You can see the lines on the white fabric, and with Fabric A and B on the left, the polka dot has the line drawn on it.
Quick star quilt step 4:
Place each pair of squares right sides together and pin.
Background fabric and Fabric A pinned :
Background fabric and Fabric B pinned:
Fabric A and Fabric B pinned:
Quick star quilt step 5:
Time to start sewing! Sew a quarter inch on both sides of the line you drew in step 2:
Do this with all the blocks you paired together.
Quick star quilt step 6:
Cut along the line you drew in step 2 – you can use a rotary cutter and ruler:
Or a pair of scissors if you are more comfortable with that:
Quick star quilt step 7:
If you open up your triangles, you will now have some lovely half square triangle blocks:
Take them all to the ironing board and press them to the dark side…. you should have a bunch of squares a bit like this:
Quick star quilt step 8:
At this stage you can trim them up if you want to – using a square ruler makes it easier:
But you can skip this step if you are happy with the way your blocks have turned out!
Quick star quilt step 9:
Time now to get them up on your design wall to make the star:
My “design wall” is just some batting that is tucked into the top of the doors of my wardrobe!
If you don’t have a design wall, lay them out on a table, bed, or the floor….
You can use the picture above to get the half square triangles in their proper positions….
Now what’s missing?
Yep, the four squares we set aside in step 1! Now is the time to grab them…
Quick star quilt step 10:
Grab your four 10″ squares… if you notice, they are now bigger than the half square triangle blocks.
You will need to trim them up to be the same size as your blocks. My blocks were 9 1/2″ square, so that is what I trimmed my last four background squares to. But depending on your seam allowance and if you trimmed them up, your blocks may be a different size.
So, measure your half square triangle blocks and then trim your remaining 10″ background squares to match them:
Quick star quilt step 11:
Add your last squares to your star:
There you go! It’s all ready to sew!
Quick star quilt step 12:
Sew your blocks together!
Again, using a 1/4″ seam, sew all the blocks together, one row at a time…..
And there you have it! A finished star!
(By the way, with the above photo you can see how my “design wall” works… it’s not ideal, but I am not allowed to put any nails in the wall in this apartment.. this works quite well, until you need to get something out of the cupboard 🙂 )
Borders or no Borders?
I usually put borders on my stars, but I am not going to with this one because I want to keep it smaller. It is going to be a table topper:
After I quilt it, I will just put white binding on it and it will be done….
It really depends on how big you want your quilt to be. Without borders, my quilt finished at 37″ square.
To make it bigger you can add as many borders as you like. I mostly make a 6″ border with cornerstones as you can see in the second picture at the beginning of the post.
Another cool thing about this quick star quilt!
The other cool thing I wanted to say about this method of making a star is that you can of course make it any size you want!
Just pick a size for your blocks – 8″, 6″, 5″.. whatever….. if you make the blocks smaller, you can make more to make a bigger quilt.
Since I am into micro mini quilts at the moment, I tried it out with 2″ squares… which after I sewed them into half square triangles turned out to be about 1 1/2″ squares…
I thought it was quite cute…
I think it finished up to be almost 5″ square, so I added a 1″ border:
That’s it from me folks!
Thanks so much for dropping by!
I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and it all made sense! I also hope you get a chance to make one of these – trust me, once you make one, you’ll want to make more!
Now make sure you head over to see the others who are posting in this blog hop today:
PS If you like embroideries and stitcheries, sign up for my newsletter in the form below! You’ll have access to a free block of the month and other freebies!
PPS I’m linking up to Finish it Friday, & Whoop Whoop!
This is fabulous, thank you for an easy to follow tutorial. I especially love the mini one too. It is lovely to meet you on the blog hop today. x
Cgrear star quilt and thanks for the tute. Enjoy your day
A great, versitile quilt pattern. Thanks for the tutorial.
Thanks so much for the tutorial! I love your star topper.
It’s a wonderful star quilt pattern and a great tutorial. I love the little mini as well.
I love stars and you have explained the star tutorial beautifully!
Sweet! Love this star quilt. I think I will have to make one or 2. I have lots of squares of various sizes–this will be fun to play with to use up my scraps. Thanks for sharing.
Great star, and tutorial. Love the fabrics you used. Thanks for sharing.
What a great tutorial for such a beautiful quilt…thank you, Joy! This quilt would brighten anyone’s day and as fast as it is to put together, it would make such an amazing gift. Oh my stars, that little one is as cute as can be! Thank you for hopping along with us and sharing this wonderful creative star quilt.
Love what you did by keeping it simple. I will definitely be turning out a few of these this year. Thank you so much.
Thanks for the tutorial!! I can see one of these in red, white and blue and hanging on my covered porch for the 4th of July!
Hi Joy,
Thank you so much for sharing all your pretty stars and a tutorial to boot! It looks like a fun to make quilt top and once you get the center made so quickly so can go nuts on borders or whatever else you would like to add!
Happy Tuesday! ~smile~ Roseanne
Lots of pretty stars! Thank you for the tutorial.
I like the name of your blog. I just started following you on Bloglovin’. Thanks for the tutorial. This may seem picky – you say to sew on either side of the diagonal. Don’t I need to sew on both sides of the diagonal in order to get two HSTs? I notice that you give fabric requirements in metres. Do you happen to know if the amounts will still work for yards which happens to be the unit of measure for fabric where I live? Thanks for a great post. I’m thrilled to be following you now.
Thank you Susan for your observations, I have updated the post to try to be more clear 🙂 xx
What a fun post. I loved seeing all those glorious big stars! They are a great way for a new quilter to start too. Bigger is better! LOL!
Ooooh my gosh!! What a great Star project!!! LOOOOVE them all!! You did Super job on each one!! Thank you so much for sharing the Tutorial!! Definitely on my “Gotta Make!!” list 😀
Beautiful stars and a terrific tutorial.
I love your mini star quilt! I, too, love working with little pieces. This would make such a cute mug rug. Thanks for sharing.
Great tutorial Joy, I”m sure anyone could sew one of these quilts from this 🙂
love those big stars
I love your fabric choice. I need to find some time to make some. The tutorial is so easy to follow, thank you. X
I think I need to make some stars. The tiny one is super cute!! I do not need to start anything new. But, they are so quick.
I do not need to make anything new.
I am insane!!
Love these star blocks! They make such great quilts in any size!
Of course, right now I want to jump up to my sewing room and make a Quick Star Quilt using your tutorial! Seeing the variations gets me thinking of making one for every holiday…oh my…what fun! Thanks for taking the time to write the tutorial!
Thanks for the detailed tutorial. I like the idea for the table topper.
I love it Joy – any size would be gorgeous…
Hugz
Hi there Joy. Thanks for the great tutorial. I remember seeing some of these huge stars on your blog a while back and it”s fabulous to see how they go together. If I get the right fabrics in my Island Batik Ambassador box this semester, this could be a contender for the star challenge we will be doing late in the year. 🙂
Oh my gosh thank you so much. What a wonderful, quick baby quilt. I will definitely use this.
Thanks for the tutorial. What a great pattern. I loved seeing all the different color combinations.
Fantastic tutorial … you did a great job. Your star quilt is really nice and thank you for sharing with us! God Bless!
Would make a great table topper very cool ty for idea… happyness04431@yahoo.com
It made perfect sense. I like both of those prints you chose. What a great go-to pattern for baby quilts or table toppers!
Great job on the tutorial and it’s great to see some of your students creations also.
This would make a perfect sized baby quilt!
Well done!!!!! So many comments too. Popular. We are back home after being away, so am on catchup as we had no i’net connection. When will you be back? Take care.
I love the large star quilts. Thank you for sharing the tut for it and additionally for telling us how to make the changes for other sizes. Wonderful.
Makes for a nice topper or throw or baby quilt. Yours are pretty. Thanks for the tut.
A great pattern for a quick quilt. Thank you so much for the tutorial.
These are super fun quilts. Thank you for sharing, Joy. Great tutorial for a quick shining star quilt.
Thanks for this great tutorial!
Oh, stop tempting me with cute things to make! Not really…tempt on. They’re beautiful.
Hi Joy,
Great tutorial! I’ve always loved stars too.
Thank you so much for this one, Joy!
Love your table topper. You’r students also did an amazing job!
I deconstructed some pillowcases to repurpose and I think I found my project. thanks for the tutorial. Great for a beginner like me♥