Dream House: 3 Yard Quilt Pattern

Sew up the fun Dream House 3 Yard Quilt Pattern with just 3 yards of fabric! I love seeing the quilts that people are making with my free 3-yard quilt patterns. They are easy to make and so popular. If you have three 1-yard pieces of fabric in your stash and are feeling creative, you can make a quilt. This easy quilt uses a ‘Dream House’ collage quilt block to make a 49 1/2” x 59” throw quilt pattern with 9 1/2” quilt blocks.

This blog post has been converted to an optional PDF that’s optimized for printing. Find it here. The free Dream House 3 Yard Quilt Pattern is included in the blog post below and is free to read, print, and sew! Just hit CTRL +P on your computer to print. The PDF download is inexpensive and optional. Did you know you can get ALL the Optimized for Printing PDF files organized in a library to access anytime you want? 

How Big is a 3-yard Quilt?

This particular quilt finishes at 49 1/2” x 59”, which is an excellent throw-size quilt. You’ll have enough fabric to finish the quilt top, including 30 blocks and 2 borders. More fabric is required for the binding and quilt back.

Most 3-yard quilts are throw quilts or lap quilts because they don’t require a lot of fabric. Many of them would also make a darling baby quilt with 3 yards of fabric. Since this type of quilt isn’t very big, you can finish it quickly and give it as a gift or use it in your home. Because of the size, throw quilts like this one are easy to quilt on a domestic sewing machine.

Even though this quilt pattern has just one block, a collage block, sewing the same block with different fabrics makes secondary patters appear.

Can you see Barbie’s dream house stairs? This appears to have sashing in between the blocks. The sashing is actually part of the blocks, so we’ll only have to include sashing (or a partial border) to two sides after sewing the blocks together.

If you love to use your AccuQuilt fabric cutter like I do, I’ll share the optional cutting die numbers to make this pattern Accuquilt-friendly. Using an Accuquilt is optional, but I love it! See all my Accuquilt-friendly quilts. Look under the cutting dimensions below for a list of fabric-cutting dies you may use instead.

How to Choose the Right 3 Yards of Fabric

All my 3 Yard Quilt Patterns make it really easy to pick your fabric. First, find a beautiful ‘focus fabric’ in your stash or at your local quilt shop. For this one, I picked a beautiful lavender colored fabric from my quilt shop. Sorry, I don’t have the name!

After you have chosen your focus fabric, choose one coordinating fabric that is lighter and one coordinating fabric that is darker.

My darker print is from ‘Firefly’ by Sarah Watts from Ruby Star Society.

Wouldn’t this quilt pattern in earthy fall colors too?

I used my EQ8 Quilt Design Software to see what this quilt would look like using the Hibernation collection from Tilda. It makes me want to snuggle up on the couch with someone!

If you follow these instructions for choosing your fabrics, you can’t go wrong, and you probably already have 3 fabrics in your stash that will make a beautiful quilt.

Dream House Free Three Yard Quilt Pattern

This free quilt pattern includes instructions for a collage block, which you’ll make 2 different variations of. There are 20 easy blocks in this quilt, and each block finishes at 9 1/2”.

Including the borders, this finished throw quilt is 49 1/2” x 59”. It’s perfect for snuggling on the couch, gifting to a friend, or donating to Project Linus or another worthy organization.

Let’s get creative and sew a beautiful quilt today!

Important note: This pattern squeezes as much as possible out of each yard of fabric. The width of each piece must have 42” of usable fabric. Most fabric printed in the last 5-10 years will work great because it’s 44” wide, including the selvages so it is 42-43” wide after you cut off the selvage. Please measure the width of your fabric pieces before getting started to make sure and follow the cutting charts below carefully.

You will need:

• 3 one-yard cuts of fabric (a main focus fabric, one darker fabric, and one lighter fabric)*
• a rotary cutter acrylic ruler, and mat
• sewing machine
• thread (I suggest thread matching the lighter fabric)
• ironing board and iron

To sew the quilt top into a finished quilt, you will also need:

• 3 yards of backing fabric (or enough to piece together a 55” x 64” or larger quilt back)
• a piece of quilt batting at least 55” x 64”
• 1/2 yard of fabric for the binding

Cutting:

Fabric A is your focus fabric. From this fabric, cut:

• 10 rectangles 9” x 3”
• 10 rectangles 5 1/2” x 3”
• 10 squares 5 1/2” x 5 1/2”
• 5 strips 3” x 42” for the outer border
• an extra strip 3” x 11 that you may need for the outer border

Note: Depending on the width of your fabric, you may need to cut a little more fabric for the outer border. There will be enough, as shown in the diagram.

Optional Accuquilt cutting instructions:

• The 3” x 5 1/2” strips may be cut with die 55810 (available separately or in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block)
• The 5 1/2” x 5 1/2” squares may be cut with die 55803 (available separately or in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block)
• Strips may be cut with the 3” strip cutter die 55084

Fabric B is the darker fabric. From this fabric, cut:

• 10 rectangles 9” x 3”
• 10 rectangles 5 1/2” x 3”
• 10 squares 5 1/2” x 5 1/2”
• 5 strips 3” x 42” for the inner border

Optional Accuquilt cutting instructions:

• • The 3” x 5 1/2” strips may be cut with die 55810 (available separately or in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block)
  • The 5 1/2” x 5 1/2” squares may be cut with die 55803 (available separately or in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block)
  • Strips may be cut with the 3” strip cutter die 55084

Fabric C is the lighter fabric. From this fabric, cut:

• 20 rectangles 1 1/2” x 10”
• 40 rectangles 1 1/2” x 9”
• 20 rectangles 1 1/2” x 5 1/2”
• 3 strips 1 1/2” x 42” for the partial border

Optional Accuquilt cutting instructions:

• Strips may be cut with the 1 1/2” strip cutter die 55024

Quilt Piecing

Use an accurate or scant 1/4’’ seam allowance, according to preference and finished block accuracy for your sewing machine

How to Sew the Dream House Collage Quilt Block

1. Sew 1 1/2” x 9” Fabric C rectangles to both sides of each 3” x 9” Fabric A and Fabric B rectangle. You will make 20 pieces.

2. Sew a 1 1/2” x 5 1/2” Fabric C rectangle to one side of each 3” x 5 1/2” Fabric A and Fabric B rectangle. You will make 20 pieces.

3. Sew a Fabric A 5 1/2” square to the Fabric C edge of a Fabric B/C piece as shown above. Make 10 pieces.

4. Sew a Fabric B 5 1/2” square to the Fabric C edge of a Fabric A/C piece as shown above. Make 10 pieces.

5. Sew a Fabric C/B/C piece to each Fabric B/C/A Piece as shown above. Make 10 Pieces.

6. Sew a Fabric C/A/C piece to each Fabric A/C/B Piece as shown above. Make 10 Pieces.

5. Sew a Fabric C 1 1/2” x 10” rectangle to the top edge of each block, as shown (both color variations). Make 20 blocks.

6. Press the block flat. Trim to 10” square, if desired.

You should have 10 blocks in each color variation.

Assemble the Dream House 3 Yard Quilt Top

1. Sew 4 quilt blocks into a row that contains alternating blocks in each color variation, as shown, starting with a darker block. Make 3 rows like this

2. Sew 4 quilt blocks into a row that contains alternating blocks in each color variation, as shown, starting with a lighter block. Make 2 rows like this.

3. Sew the five quilt block rows together in an alternating pattern as shown.

4. Use the 1 1/2” x 42” strips of the light fabric (Fabric C) to make partial border pieces for the right side and bottom edge of the quilt top.

Piece together a 1 1/2” x 48” strip. Sew this strip to the right edge.

5. Cut and sew a 1 1/2” x 39 1/2” Fabric C strip to the bottom edge.

Measure and Sew the Inner Border

1. Sew all the 3” strips of the light fabric (Fabric C) together to make one long strip. You will cut pieces from this to make the inner border.

The expected length of the side border pieces is 49”. I highly recommend measuring the quilt top and cutting all border pieces to the correct size. See how to cut the correct size quilt borders. Attach the side borders.

2. The expected length of the top and bottom border pieces is 44 1/2”. Measure your quilt and cut two strips for the top and bottom border. Attach the top and bottom border pieces.

Measure and Sew the Outer Border

1. Sew all the 3” Fabric A strips together to make one long strip. You will cut pieces from this to make the outer border.

The expected length of the side border pieces is 54”. Measure the quilt top with the inner border and cut two strips for the side edges. Attach the side borders.

2. The expected length of the top and bottom second border pieces is 49 1/2”. Measure your quilt top with the inner border and cut two strips for the top and bottom edges. If you need extra fabric for the outer border, you can use the remaining 3” x 11” strip of Fabric A.

Finishing the Dream House Three Yard Quilt Pattern

1. Cut or piece together a 55” x 64” or larger piece of quilt backing fabric and make a quilt sandwich with the backing, batting, and top.

2. Baste together with fusible batting, pins or basting spray.

3. Quilt as desired. Straight line quilting or cross hatch quilting with your walking foot would be fast and easy. Trim away the extra backing fabric and batting.

4. Cut 5-6 binding strips and bind using your favorite method. This is my favorite quilt binding method.

As always, I love seeing the quilts you make with my free sewing patterns. Please post a picture to Instagram and tag me @sewcanshe so I can take a look!

xoxo,

Every day we feature a different tutorial and let you download the Optimized for Printing PDF for free!

Dream-House-3-Yard-Quilt-Pattern-Optimized-for-PrintingDownload

Thank you for subscribing to the SewCanShe Newsletter! Only our subscribers know what the featured tutorial is so they can grab the PDF for free.

Did you know you can get ALL the Optimized for Printing PDF files organized in a library for you to access anytime you want? Check it out.