Free sugar skull quilt pattern: step by step pixel quilt

We love traditional quilts as much as the next person, but if you're looking for a more modern twist on patchwork, give our sugar skull quilt pattern a try!

We love how this quilt creates a cool contrast between the candy colours and the cream background.

Change the mood of your quilt easily by switching up the colour of the background fabric to black, or try using vibrant neon shades instead of pastels. This would make a great Halloween quilt project, or make it for anyone who loves modern quilts.

We've used a jelly roll to speed up cutting the fabric pieces to make this pixel quilt design. Strip piecing makes sewing all those squares a doddle!

This project was designed by Natalie Santini for Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine. See more of Natali's work on her website www.hungryhippiesews.com.

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Fabric requirements

• One (1) Jelly Roll, assorted pastel colours
• Background fabric (white), 2¾yd (shop white cotton fabric on Etsy)
• Backing fabric 60in x 70in
• Wadding – 60in x 70in
• Binding fabric – ½yd
• Sewing machine – see our round up of the best sewing machines for quilting
• Basic quilting supplies

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Finished size

56in x 66in approx

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Notes

• Seam allowances are ¼in throughout.
• Press seams open, unless otherwise instructed.
• A Jelly Roll is a set of 2½in x 42in strips. You will need at least twenty-two strips.
• WOF = width of fabric

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How to make a sugar skull quilt

Cutting out

Preparing the pieces

Step 1

Working with the pastel 2½in x 10in strips, take three strips (use a random selection of colours) and sew together along the long edges, to make a strip set that measures 10in x 6½in. Cut this into four (4) 2½in x 6½in pieces to make four three-square strips (Fig 1). These pieces are Unit A.

Repeat to sew and cut twenty-two (22) sets of three strips, to give you a total of eighty-five (85) Unit A pieces.

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Step 2

Repeat the process in Step 1, but this time using three 2½in x WOF background strips and sew these together. You will need to sew four of these strip sets to cut a total of fifty-two (52) 2½in x 6½in pieces. These pieces are Unit B.

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Piecing the quilt top

Step 1

Following the Layout Diagram, lay out your pieces row by row. To help you arrange the pieces, the diagram is shaded as follows: Unit A shaded pink, 2½in pastel squares shaded blue, and the Unit B and 2½in background squares shaded white.

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Step 2

If you don’t have space to lay out all your pieces at once, work one row at a time, marking off the rows on a copy of the diagram as you complete them.

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Step 3

Sew all the pieces in the first row together, pressing the seams open. Then move onto the next row and so on until all the rows are sewn together.

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Step 4

Once you’ve pieced each row, you can sew the rows together, carefully matching up the seams. Press the seams open or to one side, as preferred.

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Step 5

Sew the 6½in x 44½in border strips to the top and bottom of your quilt top, then sew the 6½in x 66½in border strips to either side of the quilt.

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Step 6

Sew your binding strips together along the short edges into one long length. Press in half, wrong sides together and use to bind your quilt.

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How will you customise your sugar skull quilt?

We love the pastel shades in this sugar skull quilt, but you can mix it up to suit your style. Choose bright bold colours for a more vibrant design, or even go classic with black and white.

More petrifying quilt patterns

Looking for more blood-curdling bedspreads? Find even more eerie inspiration with our 10 favourite Halloween quilt patterns from Gathered.