Christmas Tree Mini Quilt Pattern

I have a Christmas Tree mini quilt pattern for you today!

Christmas quilt patterns are always top-of-mind this time of year for me. Unfortunately they aren’t very practical in the Southern Hemisphere where December falls in summer. Nary a roasted chestnut or a sleigh-bell to be seen around these parts; we’re more likely to spend Christmas morning taking a quick dip at the beach.

So to satisfy my seasonal craving for a Christmas quilt I will settle for a Christmas Tree mini quilt pattern for the wall, a door, or maybe as a runner on the coffee table. It would also make a great Christmas cushion as well.

The Christmas Tree mini quilt tutorial I have for you today is for a scrappy little Christmas tree with a brightly shining star. Hopefully it will prove useful whether your holiday season involves snow or air-conditioning!

Let’s get started, shall we?

General instructions before you start

• The scrappy Christmas Tree mini quilt pattern finishes at approximately 18½” square         
• FQ (fat quarter) = 18″ x 21″
• F8 (fat eighth) = 9″ x 21″
• RST = right sides together
• All seams are a ¼” unless stated otherwise
• Arrows in diagrams indicate pressing directions

Materials required for the Scrappy Christmas Tree Mini Quilt Pattern

• Star: 4″ fabric square and 3½” square of iron-on double-sided fusible web* (used for appliqué)
• Light Yellow: (1) 3½” square, (3) 3″ squares and (1) 2½” square
• Dark Yellow: (5) 3″ squares and (2) 2½” squares
• Light Blue: (5) 3″ squares and (8) 2½” squares
• Background: (4) 3″ squares and (26) 2½” squares
• Green: (1) 3½” square and (26) 3″ squares
• Planter Pot: (1) 6½” x 2½” rectangle
• Binding: FQ (cut 5 strips 2¼” or 2½” x 21″, as preferred)

Sew Split Quarter-Square Triangle (SQST)

The trickiest part of this Christmas Tree is the topmost unit (and that’s not very tricky, to be honest). Let’s sew the SQST that will form the tip of our tree.

Take the 3½” Light Yellow and Green squares. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the lighter of the two squares with a pencil. Place the squares RST and sew a scant ¼” seam on both sides of the diagonal pencil line. Cut on the drawn line to yield 2 HST units. Only 1 HST unit will be needed; press this unit toward the Green fabric.

Take the HST unit sewn in Step 1 and a 3″ Light Yellow square. Draw a diagonal line in pencil on the back of the HST unit, perpendicular to the seam (ensure the line is perpendicular, even if it slightly misses the corners of the block). Place the HST and the square RST and sew a scant ¼” seam on both sides of the diagonal pencil line. Cut on the drawn line to yield 2 SQST units.

Only 1 SQST unit will be needed; press this unit toward the Green fabric. Trim unit to 2½” square, making sure the center point remains 1¼” from the edges of the unit and the diagonals bisect the corners. For more tips on sewing and trimming all variants of QSTs (including a downloadable QST chart), check out my Quarter-Square Triangle information post.

Sew Half-Square Triangle (HST) Units

Take a 3″ Light Yellow and a 3″ Dark Yellow square. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the lighter of the two squares with a pencil. Place the squares RST and sew a scant ¼” seam on both sides of the diagonal pencil line. Cut on the drawn line to yield 2 HST units. Press 1 unit toward the Light Yellow and the other toward the Dark Yellow and trim both to 2½” square.

Repeat the HST method to sew another 2 Light Yellow/Dark Yellow HSTs. Press the units in alternate directions again.

Repeat the HST method with the remainder of the 3″ squares to make the following HST units:

• 1 Dark Yellow and 1 Green square to give 2 HSTs, press toward Dark Yellow
• 2 Dark Yellow and 2 Light Blue squares to give 4 HSTs, press toward Light Blue
• 2 Light Blue and 2 Background squares to give 4 HSTs, press toward Light Blue
• 22 Green squares to give 22 HSTs, press toward either fabric
• 1 Light Blue and 1 Green square to give 2 HSTs, press toward Green
• 2 Green and 2 Background squares to give 4 HSTs, press 2 toward each fabric

Sew Stitch-and-Flip unit

Take the 6½” x 2½” Pot rectangle and two 2½” Background squares. Draw a diagonal on the wrong side of both squares in pencil. Match the squares with the rectangles, RST, as per the orientation shown below. Sew along the pencil lines, trim a ¼” seam at each corner and press the seam toward the Background fabric.

Assemble Your Christmas Tree Mini Quilt

Here we go! Lay out all the HST and square units as shown below. Seam directions for HSTs are shown where they impact on seam nesting. If an HST doesn’t have an arrow then the seam direction does not impact on nesting and can be oriented in either direction.

Sew the units together into rows. Press each subsequent row in alternate directions to enable seam nesting. Sew the rows together and press as preferred (I chose open to reduce bulk).

Put a Star at the Top of Your Christmas Tree

Draw a 5 point star on the paper backing of the 3½” square of iron-on double-sided fusible webbing with a pencil. My favourite way of doing this is to search for a five point star silhouette with Google and then play with the size until it just fits into the fusible square.

Then (very lightly, so it doesn’t damage the screen) use a pencil to mark all the points of the star and any other points where the lines pivot. Once I have those dots I move back to my table and use a ruler to connect them and form the star.

Another idea would be to use Powerpoint or the ‘shapes’ function in Word to drop and drag a star to the size you want. You can then either trace from your screen or print it out and trace from your paper.

Of course, if you’re so inclined you could also break out your compass and protractor and draw one from first principles!

Once you’ve drawn your star in pencil (make sure you don’t use pen as it will melt and run when you iron it), follow the manufacturer’s instructions to fuse the webbing square to the wrong side of the 4″ Star fabric square.

Cut out the star shape, remove the paper backing and position the star at the top of the tree. When happy with the placement, iron the star in place. The edges of the star can then be machine or hand stitched, or the star can be quilted over to hold permanently in place.

I like to sew a line around the perimeter of the star, just to be sure it won’t budge.

Quilting Your Christmas Tree Mini Quilt

You’ve now completed your Christmas Tree Mini Quilt pattern – you can go ahead and baste and quilt it.

I chose a simple cross-hatch quilting style for mine. It’s such an easy choice for a quilt with so many squares – no need to mark any lines, just eyeball it. The more quilting the better with mini quilts. It gives them some substance so they keep their shape better on the wall or wherever you choose to use them.

I could have sewn another set of lines between these to make it sturdier but time was getting away from me.

If you have any long background fabric scraps they are perfect for a scrappy binding.

I referred back to my zigzag binding tutorial and machine sewed this binding down. It goes so fast, I love it!

It’s always very satisfying to create something from your scrap pile. This Christmas Tree mini quilt pattern is perfect for a table decoration, front door decoration or a cushion cover. I’d like to do a snowy tree version too, with a mix of white fabrics or maybe a white grunge.

Prefer a PDF?

If you’d prefer to have this tutorial in a printable, PDF format then I have it available for you in the shop. As well as the instructions you see above it also includes instructions for a slightly larger version, finishing at 23″ square.

You can see the two version together below to get a feel for the two sizes compared to each other.

The larger version is not scrappy (except for the tree). Therefore the instructions show a quicker way to cut all your fabrics in larger shapes, given it’s not made from individual squares. What the second version lacks in scrappiness it makes up with speed – it is quicker to cut and to sew together.

I’ve got my 23″ version up on my splash back, adding some colour to my primarily white kitchen. It matches nicely with the tomatoes and Haas avocados! (My bananas need to ripen a little to match the star-glow.)

You can find the PDF for the Christmas Tree Mini Quilt patterns here in the shop.

Happy sewing and happy holiday preparation!

And don’t forget, I have a couple of other holiday themed patterns in the shop:

Christmas Candles quilt blocks (blog tutorial here or PDF pattern here):

Candy Christmas mini quilt pattern (PDF pattern here).

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