Free PDF Pattern: Linked Stars Lap Quilt

This pattern has already been on the blog, but I have completely redesigned the pattern, and I took new photos of the quilts! This easy to piece lap quilt comes together fast. It uses only three different fabrics, which makes it easy to choose the colors for your quilt. Nine 12" star blocks are on the quilt, with small and large squares linking them together. Around the stars there is 6" of space, leaving room to show off for some intricate quilting, or to just show off the beautiful fabric. The star blocks are a variation of an Ohio star quilt block. You can view a separate Ohio star block tutorial here.

The method used to make the half square triangles (HST) for the star points allows room for trimming. To choose the size of the squares used to make HSTs, I like to add 7/8" to the desired unfinished size of my squares, instead of 7/8" to the finished size. This adds an extra 1/2" of space after sewing my squares together, making it easy to cut all of the HSTs perfectly square. To allow less room for trimming, reduce square size by 1/4". To allow no room for trimming, reduce square size by 1/2". Reducing the square size by 1/2" goes back to the typical HST square size of adding 7/8" to the desired finished square size, versus adding that 7/8" to the unfinished square size.

The pieces between the star blocks are sewn together using a strip piecing method. This involves sewing together multiple width of fabric long (WOF) strips of fabric, then cutting them apart. It is a very common method used to sew together multiple squares at once. This method is also used to make the corner squares for the star blocks.

I have made this quilt in many different color combinations, and I changed the pattern slightly each time. In the photo on the left, I used 4 different fabrics for the quilt top. Instead of making all the stars the same color, I made 4 stars ivory and 5 stars purple.

In the blue quilt above, I did not change anything about the star blocks, but I did add borders to the quilt top. Normally I add two borders to my quilts; a large main border, with a thin border separating the large border and quilt top. For this one, I decided to add a third border. I love how it turned out, the additional border looks like an extension of the inside of the quilt top, yet it still frames the quilt and contrasts nicely.

Download the Linked Stars Lap Quilt Pattern here:

Click to download the Linked Stars Lap Quilt Pattern




More Free PDF Patterns:

Falling Blocks Baby Quilt

Shattering Stars

Color Spin