I have a fun, modern star quilt pattern for you today – it’s called In The Stars. (I know, I’m getting really imaginative with these titles. It seriously is the hardest part of making a quilt pattern – choosing the name.)
I’m excited about this star quilt pattern for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, it’s a fat quarter friendly quilt pattern
I’m really keen to reduce my stash and I know plenty of you are too! Fat quarters must surely be the most hoarded fabric cut of all, so it makes sense for a stash busting quilt to make use of them.
It’s pretty easy to figure out how many fat quarters you’ll need – it’s one per star. So my baby size In The Stars you see here with its 12 blocks used 12 FQs. In this case (because I had half yards on hand) I used 2 FQs of 6 different colours rather than 12 different FQs.
Secondly, it’s a mix and match quilt pattern
The instructions take you through cutting all the pieces of a star block from one fat quarter. Once you’ve done that for all your fat quarters you can have fun mixing and matching to create individual star colour palettes. This is definitely my favourite part of the whole process.
Thirdly, there are no points to match
No, that’s not a typo. There are stars here, stars there, stardust triangles flying out everywhere and none of those points need to be matched. That’s not a coincidence – that’s me not needing an ounce more stress in my life than is necessary at the moment. I really didn’t feel like having to fuss around too much with this one.
The pattern has instructions for 5 sizes:
- baby: 42½” x 55½”
- throw: 55½” x 68½”
- twin: 68½” x 94½”
- queen: 94½” x 94½”
- king: 107½” x 94½”
I’ve sewn up the baby size here – 12 blocks. I chose plain old white for the background fabric and some gorgeous fabrics from Ruby Star Society for my stars. You can find these Ruby Star Society Spark basics fabric here on Etsy* and also at the Fat Quarter Shop*. In Australia, The Next Stitch has a great selection.
As I mentioned previously, I decided to use 2 FQs in each of 6 colours for this one. I was a little nervous about that caramel brown fabric as it’s not a colour I’m used to sewing with. I did consider only using one FQ of the brown and subbing in another colour for the other FQ, but in the end I decided to go with two. Turns out caramel is pretty cool!
The backing fabric for this one is a Moda Grunge wideback (plenty of them here on Etsy* or at the Fat Quarter Shop*).
I sent this one to Lyn’s Quilt Cottage for quilting and it came back with a fabulous orange peel pattern all over it. I really love this one.
My binding was more Ruby Star Society basics – this time a print called Add It Up in lavender. I sewed a machine binding for this one as I was impatient to get it finished.
But wait, there’s more…
Once I had finished sewing this one up I couldn’t help but think how good this would look with all the star backgrounds the same, with multicolour (rainbow) stars. Or maybe with all the stars the same colour with the different coloured backgrounds. Or just everything the same!
And so I had to go and work all that out. So now the pattern has an addendum which shows you how to bulk cut each part of the star (for the all the blocks in that quilt size) from yardage, if you so choose. So you can go crazy with the fat quarters or you can rein it in by keeping one (or all) of the parts of the star block the same across the whole quilt. It’s up to you!
If you’d like to make your own In The Stars quilt you can find the pattern here in my shop. It’s a great one to get that stash out of your cupboard and into a fun modern quilt where you can enjoy it every day.
You can also head over to this blog post to see a Blue and Green version of this same pattern.
Have fun and happy sewing!
Kirsty
*affiliate link. Thank you for your support of Bonjour Quilts
I like to order the pattern. Kirsty is always helpful & accommodating with my limited computer skills so I’m addicted with her patterns now. Her instructions are very precise & any quilter can easily follow – novice or experienced.
Thank you, Virginia, I’m so happy you’re enjoying them.
I love the pattern, would like to make one, especially since I have way too many FQ’s right now. But I’m scared of all the triangles…they are definitely my nemesis, can’t seem to make a flying goose that matches with the next one! Any advice?
Hi Karen, don’t worry, this one was designed so that none of the triangle points have to meet (this is what usually causes problems). It’s very hard to mess up!
This looks very pretty combination of rainbow colours. And it looks easy & doable, I hope it is. Will like to order?
What beautiful quilts! I love the colorful one and the three color one!
The bonus for me is not having to match points! You did good designing it that way. I, too, am ready to just have fun and not get tied up in knots worrying about points. It makes me crazy!
In a related issue, I have concluded that before I got into sewing a “scant 1/4” seam”, I was doing just fine. Then, I started obsessing about the scant 1/4” and my points were not matching and my blocks would turn out too big because my seam was too small! Especially troublesome when doing a group quilt. I have concluded that I was doing it right all along before I heard about scant 1/4”. I would always sew my seam so I could see the 1/4” line, never beyond it, and that was scant 1/4”. O.k., my rant is over! Thank you for listening! Happy quilting!
Thank you, Arlene! I hope you have fun not matching any points :)
Scant seams – they can be tricky. I do think it’s very particular to a person, a sewing machine, even a particular sewing foot. I’ve noticed sewing at night changes my seam – I have a harder time seeing the edge of the fabric. I say just do what works for you. If your blocks come out the way you want them to then that’s the right way!
Yes, I have read that the scant 1/4” is unique to the person, machine, and foot. So now I keep all those things the same throughout the piecing process. It brings the fun back into quilting!
Dear Kirsty,
I could not wait for Thursday after seeing your email earlier!
Love the new pattern. I love your designs with bright colors ( I lean to blues and greens, too)
And after sewing all through the pandemic, I have lots of scraps!
But, I love that you give information about the fabrics that you chose and the links ( I am still not confident about fabric selection)
Love the website, Jan in Texas
I’m so glad that’s helpful, Joan. There can be a lot of fabric out there to wade through so a direct link can be a time saver. You could definitely get some scrappy stars in there too!
Love this sparkly pattern! Just purchased my copy. Thank you!
Just got the pattern – lots of really good tips as well! I’m off to the quilt shop – this deserves special fabrics.
Oh that’s exciting! I’m happy to be the excuse for new fabric :)
MUST HAVE THIS PATTERN!!!! So festive! Love the colors you picked as well.
Thanks for continually bringing new fun things to the table!
What a fun pattern- I’m a sucker for stars and stash busting!
Plenty of that here! I think it’s fun how the stardust triangles appear to float into the sashing.
Just to clarify: I meant the whole, sewn and quilted quilt would be the donation quilt. I understand that the pattern is not to be shared with my guild or anyone else. We had an attorney as a guest speaker, explaining copyright laws, many years ago, at our guild. We fiercely respect copyright laws and listing credits for designers and websites when we show our quilts. Chris H.
Thank you :)
Love this design. Great work, Kirsty. Off to buy it now!
Thank you so much, Karen!
You had me at “there are no points to match”. I can see this as becoming a favorite pattern for donation quilts to my guild, if it’s as fun as it looks.
I know, right? I just don’t need that in my life right now! Maybe by 2022 I’ll be ready for point matching again :)
I love the addition of the Stardust triangles!
Is this pattern also pre-cut friendly? 5 inch squares, 2 1/2 inch strips?
Unfortunately not, Judy (well, not without a fair bit of waste). FQs are definitely the best cut for this one.
What a great way to use fat quarters! Buying this, because Lord knows I have tons of fat quarters! Thank you!
FQs seem to multiply very quickly! Hopefully this will help clear some out for you :)
It’s such a creative pattern with those little triangles.
Thank you, Karla. That’s the stardust :)