Hello Sunshine! Free 3 Yard Quilt Pattern

There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of finishing a quilt in a single weekend—except maybe doing it with just three yards of fabric and a whole lot of style. The darling Hello Sunshine! 3 Yard Quilt Pattern is bright and cheery, designed to let those bold beautiful fabrics you’ve been saving finally step into the spotlight.

Hello Sunshine features a fun half-star quilt block that brings to mind the sun peeking up over the horizon or over a mountain side. My favorite thing about these half star blocks is the fact that half of the block is uncut fabric – which means you can sew them in half the time as the traditional sawtooth star quilt block.

The Half-Star Quilt Block that is featured in this quilt is easy to sew and fast to make because we’ll use a shortcut method to make four flying geese units at once. There are 16 blocks in this square quilt, narrow sashing with cornerstones, and a single border. Let me show you how to choose 3 fabrics from your stash to make a 51” x 51” throw quilt or baby quilt with 10” quilt blocks.

The blog post below is totally free to read, print, and sew! Just hit CTRL +P on your computer to print. There is an optional PDF download offered at the end of the post. Join our Sewing Bee Community for access to over 300 PDF patterns (including this one), live workshops, premium video courses, and more.

How Big is a 3-yard Quilt?

Your Hello Sunshine Quilt will finish at 51” x 51”, which is a great throw quilt size. The design makes it a great baby quilt too. Three yards is enough fabric to finish the quilt top. More fabric will be required for the binding and quilt back.

Most 3-yard quilts are throw quilts or lap quilts because they don’t require very much fabric. Many would also make a darling baby quilt. 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 using straight line quilting, wavy line, or crosshatch quilting with your sewing machine’s walking foot.

You can use your AccuQuilt Go!

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. Many of the pieces in this quilt may be cut using dies in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block Set.

Remember, this is optional, so don’t worry if you don’t have an AccuQuilt.

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. This could be a fabric that really sings to you – or that makes you think of the intended recipient of the quilt. For this one, I picked a sun-shiny yellow polka dot fabric from Tilda.

After you have chosen your focus fabric, choose one coordinating fabric that is medium value or darker and one coordinating fabric that is light, such as a blender. I auditioned lots of different coordinating fabrics for the triangles that would form the other half of my star blocks, and settled on a cheery red polka dot from the same Tilda collection. While these two fabrics are the same print, the colors contrast and compliment each other so well that I love the combination. The lighter fabric is Ruby Star Society’s Speckled in White Gold.

Wouldn’t this quilt look beautiful in softer colors too? I almost made this quilt in Tilda Wallflowers fabric with a denim-looking solid.

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.

What is the Half Star Quilt Block?

Let’s break it down! This Half Star Quilt Block is sewn from our 3 different fabrics. Each block has 2 Flying Geese Units that we’ll make first. Then we’ll build each block by adding various sized half square triangle pieces and a single small square. This quilt block is 10” square when finished.

Hello Sunshine! Three Yard Quilt Pattern

The Half Star Quilt Block is the only block design you’ll need to learn – simply make 16 blocks, add sashing and a border and you’re done!

You can sew this beautiful quilt in a day or so!

Important notes:

Even though this is a beginner level quilt pattern, it requires attention to your scant quarter inch seam allowance because of the flying geese, half square triangles, and narrow 1” (finished) sashing.

This pattern squeezes as much as possible out of each yard of fabric. The width of the lighter background fabric 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 length and 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 coordinating 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 1/4 yards of backing fabric (or enough to piece together a 56” x 56” or larger quilt back)
• a piece of quilt batting at least 56” x 56”
• 1/2 yard of fabric for the binding

* More fabric will be required if you are using an AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutter.

Cutting:

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

• 8 squares 5 7/8” x 5 7/8”
• 32 squares 3 3/8” x 3 3/8”
• 5 strips 3 1/2” x WOF (width of fabric)

Optional Accuquilt cutting instructions:

• Instead of cutting 5 7/8” x 5 7/8” squares, cut 16 half square triangles (5” finished) using AccuQuilt Die 55805 (found in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block Set)
• Instead of cutting 3 3/8” x 3 3/8” squares, cut 64 half square triangles (2 1/2” finished) using AccuQuilt Die 55807 (found in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block Set)
• The 3 1/2” border strips may be cut with the 3 1/2” strip cutting die 55032

Fabric B is the coordinating medium value or darker fabric. From this fabric, cut:

• 8 squares 10 7/8” x 10 7/8”
• 25 squares 1 1/2” x 1 1/2”

Optional Accuquilt cutting instructions:

• The 1 1/2” squares may be cut with the 1 1/2” strip cutting die 55024

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

• 8 squares 6 1/4” x 6 1/4”
• 16 squares 3” x 3”
• 16 squares 3 3/8” x 3 3/8”
• 40 strips 1 1/2” x 10 1/2”

Optional Accuquilt cutting instructions:

• Instead of cutting 6 1/4” squares, cut 32 – 5” finished QST triangles with die 55806 (in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block Set)
• The 3” squares may be cut with die 55804 (in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block Set) or the 3” strip cutting die 55084
• Instead of cutting 3 3/8” x 3 3/8” squares, cut 32 half square triangles (2 1/2” finished) using AccuQuilt Die 55807 (found in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block Set)
• The 1 1/2” sashing strips may be cut with the 1 1/2” strip cutting die 55024

Quilt Piecing

For this quilt I highly recommend using a scant 1/4’’ seam allowance. This is, of course, according to preference and finished block accuracy for your sewing machine.

How to Sew a Half Star Quilt Block

A scant 1/4” seam allowance is recommended. Press after each step.

How to Sew Flying Geese Units, 4 at a Time

1. Use the fabric marking pen or pencil to draw a diagonal line on the back of four Fabric A 3 3/8’’ squares.

This is a cutting line.

2. Place two of the print squares right sides together on a 6 1/4’’ Fabric C square, aligned with opposite corners. The smaller squares will overlap and the drawn lines should make a single diagonal line across the larger square.

3. Sew a scant 1/4’’ away from the drawn line on either side. Cut the piece apart along the line.

4. Fold back the smaller triangles and press. Place another one of the smaller squares on each piece, aligned with the remaining corner as shown. Stitch a scant 1/4’’ away from the drawn line on either side.

5. Cut apart the pieces along the line. Fold back the triangles and press to make 4 flying geese units (in total). Trim the flying geese units to 3’’ x 5 1/2’’.

6. Repeat this process with the remaining 6 1/4” Fabric C squares and the 3 3/8” Fabric A squares. You will need 32 flying geese units in all.

Assemble the Half Star Blocks

1. Cut all of the Fabric C 3 3/8” squares, Fabric A 5 7/8 squares, and Fabric B 10 7/8” squares in half diagonally.

2. Sew a Fabric C triangle to a flying geese unit. Pay close attention to the orientation of the pieces as shown above.

This will be a ‘star points side’ piece. Make 16.

3. Sew a Fabric C triangle to a flying geese unit. Pay close attention to the new orientation of the pieces as shown above.

This will be ‘star points top’ piece. Make 16.

4. Sew a Fabric C 3” square to the left side of a ‘star points top’ piece.

Make 16.

5. Sew a ‘star points side’ piece to the left side of a Fabric A triangle, as shown above.

Make 16.

6. Sew a ‘star points top’ piece to the top of the Fabric A triangle, as shown above.

7. Sew a Fabric B triangle to the half-star piece, as shown.

Make 16 half star blocks. Trim and square the blocks to 10 1/2”, if desired.

Assemble the Hello Sunshine! Quilt Top

1. Sew 4 blocks into a row with 1 1/2” x 10 1/2” Fabric C sashing strips in between each block and sashing strips at the ends of the rows. Press the seams toward the sashing strips.

Make 4 rows.

2. Sew five 1 1/2” x 10 1/2” Fabric C sashing strips with 1 1/2” x 1 1/2” Fabric B squares in between and squares at the ends. Press the seams toward the sashing strips.

This is a sashing row. Repeat to make 5 sashing rows.

3. Sew the quilt block rows together with the sashing rows in between. Sew sashing rows to the top and bottom of the quilt top as well.

Measure and Sew the Borders

1. Sew all of the Fabric A 3 1/2” strips together to make one long strip. You will cut pieces from this to make the border.

The expected length of the side border pieces is 45 1/2”. 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. Cut two strips for the side borders. Attach the side border pieces.

2. The expected length of the top and bottom border pieces is 51 1/2”. Measure your quilt and cut two strips for the top and bottom border. Attach the top and bottom border pieces.

Finishing the Hello Sunshine! 3 Yard Quilt Pattern

1. Cut or piece together a 56” x 56” piece of 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.

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

xoxo,