How to Sew a Star Quilt Using Square Panels: Free Quilt Patterns

Do you have square fabric panels that you love but you don’t know what to make with them? Here’s the perfect quilt pattern for that! This easy quilt pattern will make your square panels look beautiful when you turn them into a gorgeous sawtooth star quilt.

This free quilt pattern is perfect for beginners. It’s designed to use six printed fabric panels that can be trimmed to 10 1/2” before sewing. You’ll learn how to make big flying geese units and sew them into rows with your square panel pieces.

If you love machine embroidery, you can use this pattern to sew a beautiful star quilt with machine embroidery blocks instead of printed panels. Here are some very similar quilt patterns that you might also like:

• This Super Star Quilt Pattern will prove that you are a superstar quilter because the super sized stars make it super fast!
• My Easy Panel Quilt Pattern can be used with ANY size fabric panel. 

This blog post has been converted to an optional PDF that’s optimized for printing. Find it here. The free Star Quilt Pattern for Square Panels is included in the blog post below and is totally 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 for you to access anytime you want? Check it out.

You don’t have to save this quilt pattern for Christmas panels, but I think they work perfectly together. I found these square panels in Moda’s Good News Great Joy fabric collection and absolutely fell in love.

What Size Will the Panel Quilt Be When Finished?

This quilt pattern makes a 57” x 67” throw quilt. It doesn’t really matter what size your fabric panels are, as long as you can fussy-cut them to 10 1/2” x 10 1/2.” After sewing, the panel pieces will be 10” x 10”.

Wouldn’t matching throw pillows be darling?

I used 6 fat quarters of coordinating Christmas fabrics that matched my square panels. A scrappy version of this quilt would work well too. Mix and match any 6 panel images or machine embroidered blocks with fabric pieces from your scrap bin.

It doesn’t matter if you are making a quilt for someone young or old, to hang on your wall, or to snuggle on the couch, it’s perfect for anyone who loves star blocks. I can’t wait to see all of the star panel quilts that my readers make!

Free Square Panel Star Quilt Pattern

You will need:

• 6 square fabric panels, trimmed to 10 1/2” x 10 1/2”
• 3-6 fat quarters (or 3/4 yards) of coordinating fabric to make the stars
• 2 3/4 yards of background fabric (mine is Moda Grunge in Maven Onyx)
• 3 1/2 yards of fabric for the back of the quilt (or enough fabric to piece together a 62’’ x 72” quilt back)
• a piece of quilt batting at least 62’’ x 72’’
• 1/2 yard of binding fabric (6-7 binding strips)

You will also need:

• a rotary cutter, acrylic ruler, and mat
• sewing machine
• thread (I suggest thread matching the background fabric)
• ironing board and iron
• a pencil or fabric marking pen

Cutting Instructions

These cutting instructions (like the fabric requirements) assume that you have already trimmed your fabric panels to 10 1/2” x 10 1/2.” I used 6 different coordinating fabrics (one for each star), but feel free to use fewer fabrics if you like.

1. From six different coordinating fabrics (or for each star), cut:

• 4 squares 5 7/8” x 5 7/8”

2. From the background fabric, cut:

• 6 squares 11 1/4” x 11 1/4”
• 2 rectangles 10 1/2” x 20 1/2”
• 2 rectangles 5 1/2” x 35 1/2”
• 8 rectangles 5 1/2” x 10 1/2”
• 2 squares 5 1/2” x 5 1/2”
• 6 strips 4” x 42” (for the border)

Make Four Flying Geese Units for Each Star

Use a 1/4” (or scant 1/4”) seam allowance throughout this quilt pattern. This method makes 4 flying geese units at a time. You will love it!

1. Use the pencil or fabric marking pen to draw a diagonal line across the wrong side of four 5 7/8” print fabric squares for a star. This is a cutting line.

2. Place two 5 7/8” squares right sides together on a 11 1/4’’ background fabric square,  aligned with opposite corners. The squares will overlap and the drawn lines (from Step 1 above) should make a single diagonal line across the larger square.

3. Sew 1/4’’ away from the drawn line on either side. Cut the piece apart along the line. Fold the small triangles up and press.

4. Place another 5 7/8” square right side down on each piece, aligned with the remaining corner as shown. Stitch 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. Press. Trim the flying geese units to 5 1/2’’ x 10 1/2’’.

Make 4 matching flying geese that will be sewn around a square fabric panel piece to make a sawtooth star.

Then repeat this step with the 5 other fabrics, making a total of 24 flying geese units, 4 to go around each fabric panel piece.

Sew the Flying Geese and Other Fabric Pieces into Rows

1. Arrange the flying geese pieces and all of the remaining background fabric pieces (except the border strips) on a quilt design wall, a large table, or a bed. Make 7 rows as shown.

• Row 1 has 1 – 5 1/2” square, 1 flying geese unit, and 1 – 5 1/2” x 35 1/2” rectangle.
• Row 2 has 3 flying geese units, one 10 1/2” square fabric panel piece, 1 – 5 1/2” x 10 1/2” rectangle, and 1 – 10 1/2” x 20 1/2” rectangle.
• Row 3 has 5 flying geese units, 1 – 10 1/2” square fabric panel piece, and 3 – 5 1/2” x 10 1/2” rectangles.
• Row 4 has 6 flying geese units and 2 – 10 1/2” square fabric panel pieces.
• Row 5 has 5 flying geese units, 1 – 10 1/2” square fabric panel piece, and 3 – 5 1/2” x 10 1/2” rectangles.
• Row 6 has 1 – 10 1/2” x 20 1/2” rectangle, 1 – 5 1/2” x 10 1/2” rectangle, 3 flying geese units, and one 10 1/2” square fabric panel piece.
• Row 7 has 1 – 5 1/2” x 35 1/2” rectangle, 1 flying geese unit, and 1 – 5 1/2” square.

2. Within each row, there are flying geese units that must be sewn to fabric rectangles or to other flying geese units before you can assemble each row. Only the first two of these are shown using diagrams.

• In Row 2, sew the last flying geese unit to the fabric rectangle above it.
• In Row 3, sew the first two flying geese together to make a black diamond in the center, and the last flying geese unit to the fabric rectangle above it.
• In Row 4, sew the two flying geese in the center of the row together to make a black diamond in the center.
• In Row 5, sew the first flying geese unit to the fabric rectangle above it and the last two flying geese together to make a black diamond in the center.
• In row 6, sew the first flying geese unit to the fabric rectangle below it.

3. Sew pieces in each row together.

4. Sew the seven rows together to make the quilt top.

Measure and Sew the Border Pieces

1. Sew all the 4” strips of background fabric 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 60 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. Attach the side borders.

Finishing the Quilt

1. Cut or piece together a piece of quilt backing fabric at least 62’’ x 72’’. The batting should be the same size as the quilt back. 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. Trim and square up the quilt, removing extra backing and batting. Cut the needed amount of binding strips and bind using your favorite method. This is my favorite quilt binding method.

xoxo,