Star Quilt Patterns: 15 Star Quilts from Easy to Advanced

What are the most popular star quilt patterns?

The most popular star quilt blocks are the sawtooth star, the Ohio star, the friendship star and the LeMoyne star. The table lists all fifteen star quilts in this post, with the skill level and the units each one uses. Patterns with a link open in Patchwork, where you can recolor them and get the cut list for your size.

How are star quilt blocks built?

Star blocks are built from a center, points and corners. The center is usually a plain square. The points are made from flying geese, half-square triangles or quarter-square triangles. The corners are plain squares of background. Change the unit used for the points and you change the star.

Flying geese are rectangles with a large triangle in the middle. They make points that reach out from the middle of each side, like the sawtooth star. Half-square triangles (HSTs) are squares split corner to corner into two triangles. They make points that spin, like the friendship star.

Quarter-square triangles (QSTs) are squares split into four triangles. They make the eight points of the Ohio star, two on each side. Diamonds make eight-point stars like the LeMoyne. They need set-in seams, which is why they are harder.

All of these except diamonds are pieces in the Patchwork Quilt Builder. Its cut list uses standard methods. HSTs come from squares cut once on the diagonal, and QSTs from squares cut twice. Flying geese use sew-and-flip corners: you sew a square onto each end of a rectangle, corner to corner, and trim.

What is the easiest star quilt block?

The sawtooth star is the easiest star block. It is one large center square, four flying geese and four corner squares, sewn in three rows like a nine patch. With sew-and-flip flying geese, you never cut a triangle. You sew squares onto rectangles and trim.

1. Sawtooth star. For a 12" finished block, cut one 6½" center square and eight 3½" squares from the star fabric. From the background, cut four 3½" × 6½" rectangles and four 3½" corner squares. Sew two star squares onto each rectangle, corner to corner, and trim to make four flying geese. Then sew three rows. The top and bottom rows are corner, goose, corner. The middle row is goose, center, goose. Skill: beginner. Best for: any size, especially 12" blocks for a bed quilt.

2. Ohio star. A nine-patch star with eight points. For a 12" block, cut two 5¼" squares of star fabric and two of background, and make four quarter-square triangle units. Cut one 4½" center square and four 4½" background corners. Each QST unit has star triangles on two opposite sides, which become the points. Skill: beginner, once you have made one QST. Best for: throw to queen.

3. Friendship star. Four half-square triangles spin around a center square. For a 9" block, cut two 3⅞" squares of star fabric and two of background and make four HSTs. Cut one 3½" star center and four 3½" background corners. Turn the HSTs so the star triangles chase each other around the center. Skill: beginner. Best for: baby quilts and scrappy throws.

4. Cherry Gingham Stars. Cherry red sawtooth stars with white points, set in pink-and-white checkered sashing. The sashing is just squares, so it adds a second pattern with very little extra work. Skill: beginner. Best for: throw.

5. Marigold Stars. Four big sawtooth stars in amber, gold and orange, each with a cream diamond at its heart. Only four blocks, so it goes together fast. Skill: beginner. Best for: baby or wall quilt.

What star quilts are good once you know the basics?

Once you can make a sawtooth star and an Ohio star, try something a little harder. These quilts mix stars with other blocks, use scrappy fabric, or put one star inside another. These five use the same units as the easy stars, but more of them, or smaller.

In Patchwork these quilts draw star points as pairs of half-square triangles. A pair of HSTs side by side looks the same as one flying geese unit, so you can sew the points either way. The cut list plans HSTs. If you prefer sew-and-flip geese, cut one rectangle and two squares for each pair.

6. Homestead Stars. Scrappy Ohio-style stars in barn reds, homespun creams and slate, each with a square-in-a-square center. With scrappy fabric, keep every star clearly darker or lighter than the background. Skill: intermediate. Best for: throw to king.

7. Sampler Stars. Four big star blocks: red stars framed in camel, and blue stars in a red-and-white checkered border. Good practice for keeping large blocks square. Skill: intermediate. Best for: wall quilt or throw.

8. Coral Constellation. Coral stars and two-tone blue stars on navy, linked by dashed lines of orange squares. Built on a 1½" grid, so the pieces are small and accuracy matters. Skill: intermediate. Best for: throw.

9. Ember Stars. Big sawtooth stars in a scrappy mix of oranges and corals, sitting on half-square triangles in every blue. The background is pieced too, which doubles the triangle count. Skill: intermediate. Best for: throw to queen.

10. Market Stripe Stars. Sawtooth stars inside white stars, each block framed in a different striped fabric. Two sizes of star points per block. Skill: intermediate. Best for: throw.

What are the hardest star quilt patterns?

The hardest star quilts are the ones made from diamonds, such as the LeMoyne star and the lone star. Diamonds have bias edges that stretch. Joining them usually needs set-in seams, also called Y-seams. That is where three pieces meet at one point, and you stop sewing exactly ¼" from the edge.

11. LeMoyne star. Eight 45° diamonds meet in the center to make an eight-point star. Four corner squares and four triangles are set in between the points. It is the classic test of precise piecing. Skill: advanced. Best for: large single blocks, 12" and up.

12. Lone star. One giant eight-point star fills the quilt. Each of its big diamonds is strip-pieced from many small diamonds. Also called the star of Bethlehem. Skill: advanced. Best for: queen or king, as a single medallion.

13. Carpenter’s wheel. A star of diamonds inside a ring of smaller stars, so the block looks like a wheel. It combines diamonds with half-square triangles and squares. Skill: advanced. Best for: a large block repeated four times, or a single medallion.

14. Starry Patchwork. Scrappy squares in berry, rose, gold and navy, with white eight-point stars where the squares meet. The stars are made from half-square triangles instead of diamonds. That avoids set-in seams, but there are a lot of points to match. Skill: advanced. Best for: throw to queen.

15. Sunset Medallion. A charcoal star in the middle, framed by nine-patches and big fuchsia squares inside a checkered border. Medallion quilts are built from the center out, and each border has to fit the one before exactly. Skill: advanced. Best for: throw to queen.

What is the difference between a sawtooth star and an Ohio star?

A sawtooth star has eight points, made from four flying geese, around a large center square. The center takes up half the block width. An Ohio star also has eight points, made from quarter-square triangles. Its center is smaller, one third of the block width. Both are sewn as three rows of three units.

How do you set star blocks into a quilt?

Set star blocks side by side, with alternate plain blocks, with sashing, or on point. Each setting changes how the stars read. Side by side, the star points touch and can form new shapes where four blocks meet. With alternate blocks, each star has room to breathe. With sashing, each star is framed like a picture.

Sashing (strips between the blocks) is the most forgiving setting. The strips hide small differences in block size and keep points from bumping into each other. Cherry Gingham Stars uses checkered sashing, which adds a second pattern for very little extra work. Cornerstones, small squares where the sashing strips cross, are another place to add an accent color.

Setting blocks on point, turned 45°, is common in antique quilts. It needs setting triangles to fill the edges. Cut them from squares twice on the diagonal. That way the straight grain, the threads that do not stretch, runs along the outside of the quilt.

What colors make star quilts stand out?

Star quilts stand out when there is strong contrast between the star and its background. That contrast is in value, light against dark, more than in color. A red star on a pink background can vanish, while a navy star on cream jumps out from across the room.

Keep the background quiet: one solid or a low-contrast print. Put your boldest fabric in the star points, since the points are what make it look like a star. For scrappy stars, every star fabric should be clearly darker (or clearly lighter) than every background fabric. Try Starry Night for a classic navy and cream, or Barn Star for red, white and slate. More advice is in quilt color palettes.

• Starry Night#FAF1E0 · #0A0A0A · #183746Try it on a quilt
• Barn Star#2E2E44 · #EDF0F3 · #E31B3BTry it on a quilt
• Sunrise Flying Geese#3D3590 · #7B7BEA · #F6B710 · #EF8A12 · #EE5E12Try it on a quilt
• Fourth of July Picnic#7A0B0B · #BF1D24 · #FBEFD3 · #0F3349 · #6A9DBBTry it on a quilt

How do I design a star quilt in Patchwork?

Open any of the star quilts above from Quilt Explorer and pick a palette. The builder opens with it laid out and colored. To draw your own star, set a grid in the Quilt Builder and place a large Solid Square in the middle. Add Flying Geese on each side and squares in the corners. Then save it as a block and stamp it across the quilt.

Use Shuffle colors with "Matching blocks" to see every star in the same colors, or "Scrappy blocks" to give each star its own. The yardage step lists the flying geese rectangles and sew-and-flip squares separately, so your cut list is ready to go. For other blocks to mix with your stars, see the quilt block library. For more quilts, see the quilt patterns guide.

Questions

What is the easiest star quilt block?

The sawtooth star is the easiest. It uses one center square, four flying geese and four corner squares, sewn in three rows. With sew-and-flip flying geese you never cut a triangle.

How do I get sharp points on my star blocks?

Sew an accurate ¼" seam. Sew with the flying geese or triangle unit on top, so you can see where the point is. Aim to sew just through the "X" where the seams cross on the back. Make units slightly large and trim them to size. Press seams so they nest, or lock together, at each point.

What is the difference between a sawtooth star and an Ohio star?

A sawtooth star has a large center and points made from flying geese. An Ohio star has a smaller center and points made from quarter-square triangles. Both are sewn in three rows of three, but the Ohio star has bias edges to handle.

What size should star quilt blocks be?

Star blocks are usually 8" to 12" finished. Twelve-inch sawtooth stars and Ohio stars are good for bed quilts. Their units come out at easy sizes: 3" × 6" geese for the sawtooth and 4" QSTs for the Ohio star.

Are eight-point stars hard to make?

Eight-point stars made from diamonds, like the LeMoyne star, are hard because they need set-in seams. Eight-point stars made from half-square triangles, like the ones in Starry Patchwork, avoid set-in seams but have more points to match.