Contemporary patchwork quilt pattern

Look forward to Sunday morning lie-ins with Lynne Goldsworthy’s contemporary patchwork quilt.

Try 6 issues of your choice of craft magazine from just £9.99

Lynne Goldsworthy

Published: November 9, 2020 at 8:22 am

If you’ve never given quilting a go before, this Nordic-feel project is a great place to start. Not only does it tap into this winter’s trend for all things Scandi, it’s also a beautiful heirloom make. Start it now and give to someone special as a thoughtful (and seriously impressive) Christmas gift.

Made using the traditional morning star quilt block in fresh, contemporary fabrics, you’ll piece together triangles and squares using basic quilting techniques that are easy to master. Lynne used a Handmade by Bonnie and Camille for Moda Fabrics fat quarter bundle for the top, back and binding, then Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Snow for the background. But, you can mix and match fabrics of your own if you prefer, or switch up the colour scheme – we like the idea of using a selection of solid brights against a wintery grey base.

This project was created by Lynne's for Mollie Makes magazine – for more easy-make craft projects and creative inspiration, subscribe to Mollie or click here to find out more.

Materials

Background fabric, 2.5m (23⁄4yrds)

Scrap fabrics, 2.6m 7 (2 /8 yrds) total or 12 fat quarters

Backing fabric, 3.5m (33⁄4yrds)
Binding fabric, 0.5m (1⁄2yrd) or 2 fat quarters
Wadding, 1.7m (68") square
Paper for templates
Templates from issue 71 which you can download here
Quilt chart

contemporay patchwork quilt 01detail

Contemporary patchwork quilt pattern chart

contemporay patchwork quilt chart 1

Contemporary patchwork quilt pattern

You will need:

Fabric
Wadding
Templates

Cutting

Step 1

Cut the print fabrics into twelve 11cm (41⁄2") squares for the small star centres, thirteen 16.5cm (61⁄2") squares for the large star centres, twelve 16.5cm (61⁄2") squares for the small star HSTs (half square triangles) and thirteen 21.5cm (81⁄2") squares for the larger star HSTs.

Step 2

Cut the background fabric into sixteen 6cm (21⁄2") WOF (width of fabric) strips and cut those into forty-eight 6cm (21⁄2") squares, twenty-four 6 x 21.5cm (21⁄2 x 81⁄2") strips and twenty-four 6 x 5cm (21⁄2 x 121⁄2") strips. Then cut five 9cm (31⁄2") WOF strips and cut those into fifty-two 9cm (31⁄2") squares, cut two 16.5cm (61⁄2") WOF strips and cut those into twelve 16.5cm (61⁄2") squares and cut three 21.5cm (81⁄2") WOF strips and cut those into thirteen 21.5cm (81⁄2") squares.

Step 3

Sew the two binding fat quarters end to end and cut into six 6cm (21⁄2") WOF strips.

Step 4

Cut the backing fabric into two equal lengths.

Making the quilt top

Step 1

contemporay patchwork quilt step 6

contemporay patchwork quilt step 6

Photocopy twelve small HST templates and thirteen large HST templates. Pair together print and background fabric squares with right sides (RS) together to make the eight HSTs in each of the blocks – 16.5cm (61⁄2") squares will be used with the small HST templates and 21.5cm (81⁄2") squares will be used with the large HST templates.

Pin a pair to a HST template with the background fabric and reverse of the template together, making sure the fabric overhangs by at least 0.5cm (1⁄4") all round.

Step 2

Shorten the stitch length on your machine to 1.5 to make removing the paper easier, then sew along the green lines.

Step 3

contemporay patchwork quilt step 7a

contemporay patchwork quilt step 7b

Trim any excess paper and fabric and cut along the blue lines, through both the template and fabric, using a rotary cutter. Trim along the red lines to clip the corners, then press the HSTs open – do this before removing the paper to get a straighter seam.
contemporay patchwork quilt step 7c

contemporay patchwork quilt step 7c

Step 4

contemporay patchwork quilt step 8a

Tear away the paper from the back of the HSTs, then with RS and matching fabrics together, sew along the side of one white triangle and press open.

contemporay patchwork quilt step 8b

Step 5

contemporay patchwork quilt step 9

Sew two of these HST pairs to a star centre square and sew background fabric squares to the ends of two more of these pairs as shown above – 11cm (41⁄2") print and 6cm (21⁄2") background fabric squares will be used for the twelve smaller stars and 16.5cm (61⁄2") print and 9cm (31⁄2") background fabric squares will be used for the thirteen larger stars. Press seams away from the HSTs in each section.

Step 6

contemporay patchwork quilt step 10

Sew the three rows together to complete a morning star block, pressing the seams towards the centre of the block.

Step 7

contemporay patchwork quilt step 11

Sew 6 x 21.5cm (21⁄2 x 81⁄2") background fabric strips to both sides of each of the smaller star blocks, then sew 6 x 5cm (21⁄2 x 121⁄2") background fabric strips to the top and bottom of each of the smaller stars.

contemporay patchwork quilt step 11b

Step 8

Sew the star blocks into five rows of five as shown in the diagram on page 84 and press the seams away from the larger star blocks in each row. Sew the five rows together to finish the quilt top.

Finishing

Step 1

Sew the two pieces of backing fabric together along the length using a 0.5cm (1⁄2") seam. Press the seam open.

Step 2

Layer the backing RS down, wadding and finally quilt top RS up and tack together. Top stitch as desired – we quilted diagonally across our finished patchwork using a walking foot.

Step 3

Sew the binding strips together in one continuous length, then press in half along the length with wrong sides together.

Step 4

With the quilt RS up, attach the binding to the first edge starting halfway along, leaving 10cm (4") unattached at the start. Stop sewing 0.5cm (1⁄4") from the edge of the quilt, then turn 45° and sew to the corner. Remove from the machine and rotate to the next edge.

Step 5

Pull your binding strip up away from the quilt in line with the raw edge so it forms a 45° angle at the corner. Hold the fold in place then bring the binding strip back down along the edge of your quilt, aligning the edges. Pin in place and begin stitching the next seam from the top edge.

Step 6

Continue around the four edges in the same way, stopping 10cm (4") away from the starting point. Fold back the two ends of the binding at 45° so they touch, and mark with a pin. Open out the binding and join the ends with a diagonal seam. Trim to a 0.5cm (1⁄4") seam and press it open, then refold and finish stitching the binding in place.

Step 7

Fold the binding over to the back of the quilt and slip stitch in place by hand. At the corners, fold the edges over in the opposite order to the front to mitre them neatly.

contemporay patchwork quilt

contemporay patchwork quilt 08detail

We hope you enjoyed making Lynne’s project. Share a picture of your contemporary quilt with us on Instagram using #molliemakers, and don’t forget to subscribe to Mollie Makes to get creative inspiration delivered to your door every month!

contemporay patchwork quilt Lynne Goldsworthy

Lynne Goldsworthy

Lynne is a modern British quilt designer who goes by the name of Lily’s Quilts. She’s written three quilting books, her most recent being Quick and Easy Quilts, is a regular UK quilting magazine contributor and designs beautiful quilts for several different quilting fabric companies.

Lynne Goldsworthy

Quilt designer and author

Lynne Goldsworthy is a modern British quilter who over blogs at Lily’s Quilts (so called because her Welsh husband calls her Lily). She’s a prolific quilt designer and co-founder of The Thread House. Her work is regularly featured in Today’s Quilter and Love Patchwork and Quilting magazines. She’s authored books including 500 Quilt Blocks and Quick & Easy Quilts and co-edited Fat Quarterly E-zine. Sewing since she was a little child, on a business trip to America she fell in love with American quilts and tried her hand at the craft. Then life and family happened and she didn’t pick up another one for a few years, until she discovered Flickr, blogs and online shopping, and immediately ordered some pre-cuts, started her own blog and has never looked back! Find her on Instagram @lilysquilts