How to Sew a Friendship Star Quilt – Free Throw Quilt Pattern

Sew an easy Friendship Star Quilt using my free quilt pattern! Let me show you how to make half square triangle units two at a time. Then you’ll sew them together with some squares and viola… A Friendship Star block. Put the blocks together with some easy sashing and you’ll have this 72” x 72” throw quilt in no time at all.

I placed a downloadble PDF of this quilt pattern in my PDF library of All SewCanShe Printable Blog Tutorials and Patterns. If you wish to print this free quilt pattern without purchasing the library, simply hit CTRL+P (everything you need is included in this blog post). You can get a free PDF file for the Friendship Star Block pattern only here.

After I wrote the instructions for the classic friendship star quilt block, I realized that this block would make an easy throw quilt that is:

• totally easy patchwork
• perfect for beginner quilters making their first quilt
• great for a last minute housewarming or birthday gift
• a good size to practice free motion quilting on a regular sewing machine

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 Sew a Friendship Star Quilt

Finished quilt dimensions: 72’’ x 72’’. Finished block size: 12” x 12”.

You will need:

• 4 1/4 yards background fabric (suggested: white or light gray fabric)
• 1 yard turquoise fabric
• 1 3/4 yards navy blue fabric
• 5/8 yard deep coral colored fabric
• 1/2 yard binding fabric
• 4 1/4 yards backing fabric, or enough to piece together a 76” x 76” square
• a 76” x 76” piece of quilt batting
• a rotary cutter, acrylic ruler, and mat
• sewing machine
• thread (I suggest thread matching the background fabric)

Cutting:

Light Gray (or other background fabric):

• cut 32 squares 5” x 5”
• 24 sashing strips 4 1/2” x 12 1/2”
• 2 strips 6 1/2” x 60 1/2” for the side borders
• 2 strips 6 1/2” x 72 1/2” for the top and bottom borders

Turquoise:

• cut 32 squares 5” x 5”

Deep Coral:

• cut 24 squares 4 1/2” x 4 1/2” (for the star blocks and the cornerstone squares)

Navy Blue:

• cut 64 squares 4 1/2” x 4 1/2”

Binding fabric:

• cut 6-7 strips 2 1/2” x width of fabric (40-42’’)

instructions:

Use a scant 1/4’’ seam allowance and a medium stitch length such as 2-2.5.

Use the Background Squares and Turquoise Squares to Make Half Square Triangle Units

1. Place one background square and one turquoise square right sides together. Use a pencil or fabric pen to draw a diagonal line across the light gray square. This is a cutting line and should be drawn on the wrong side of the fabric if you are not using solids.

Pin the squares together. Repeat with all of the background squares and turquoise squares.

2. Sew a scant 1/4’’ away from the cutting line on on both sides of the drawn line. Sew all of the pinned together squares the same way.

3. Cut the pieces in half diagonally along the line. 

4. Open and press the half square triangle (HST) units. Press the seams toward the darker (turquoise) fabric.

Trim each HST to 4 1/2’’

Make a total of 64 HST units.

Sew 16 Friendship Star Quilt Blocks

1. Arrange 4 HST units together with 1 deep coral fabric square and 4 navy squares as shown in the layout diagram above.

2. Sew together in 3 rows. Sew the rows together to make a Friendship Star Block.

3. Trim the block to 12 1/2’’ square, if desired.

Tip: I love my 12 1/2” square ruler for squaring up blocks this size.

Repeat to make 16 friendship star quilt blocks.

Assemble the Quilt Top

1. Sew four blocks together with 4 1/2” x 12 1/2” sashing strips in between. Press the seams toward the sashing strips. This is one row.

Repeat to make 4 rows.

2. Sew four 4 1/2” x 12 1/2” sashing strips with 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch cornerstone squares in between. Press the seams toward the sashing strips. This is a sashing row.

Make 3 sashing rows.

3. Sew the quilt block rows together with the sashing rows in between.

4. Sew the two 6 1/2” x 60 1/2” border strips to the sides of the quilt top.

5. Sew the two 6 1/2” x 72 1/2” border strips to the top and bottom of the quilt top.

Finishing the Friendship Star Throw Quilt Pattern

1. Cut or piece together a 76’’ x 76’’ 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 with your walking foot would be fast and easy.

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

The Friendship Star Quilt Block is part of our Kitchen Sink Quiltalong

Get ready to sew all your favorite quilt blocks this year! This is the year that we are going to sew everything but the kitchen sink in our Kitchen Sink 2022 Quiltalong.

This bold graphic quilt is perfect for learning new quilt making skills that build on one another, or for putting skills you already have into a big beautiful quilt.

Learn more about our Kitchen Sink Quiltalong.

xoxo,

P.S. Sew through your fabric stash with all my free quilt patterns.