Picnic Square: Free 3 Yard Quilt Pattern

Sew a beautiful throw quilt reminiscent of stepping stones in a park! This free quilt pattern requires just three 1-yard cuts of fabric and I’ll show you how to pick three that will coordinate perfectly. The large squares set on-point are perfect for featuring a beautiful large print that will also shine on the border.

There are two classic quilt blocks featured in the Picnic Square Quilt. The block with a square set on point is called the ‘Art Square Block’ and the block featuring a diamond with a hollow center is sometimes called ‘Mosaic Number 1’.

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.

How Big is a 3-yard Quilt?

This particular quilt finishes at 49” x 59”, which is an excellent throw-size quilt. You’ll have enough fabric to finish the quilt top, including 20 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. You can also make a darling baby quilt with quilt patterns like this. 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.

Your couch or wall is going to look gorgeous with a Picnic Square quilt on it!

There are 10 Art Square quilt blocks and 10 Mosaic Number 1 quilt blocks to add movement and the feeling that the squares are echoed.

How to Choose the Right 3 Yards of Fabric for this Star Quilt

I have discovered the perfect ‘formula’ for picking fabrics for all your 3 yard quilts. 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.

In the example above, I wanted a to use a floral fabric that I found on one of my trips to Mood Fabrics in New York City. Sorry – I can’t tell you the name of the fabric.

After you have chosen your focus fabric, choose one coordinating fabric that is lighter and one coordinating fabric that is darker. My darker coordinating fabric is from the Moda Grunge Hits the Spot collection. The lighter fabric is Ruby Star Society’s Speckled in White Gold.

Another fun way to use this pattern is to fussy cut the fabrics for the Art Square blocks. Look how gorgeous the quilt could be with Kaffe’s peony fabric. I have some of this leftover 108” wide fabric that I want to use soon. I imported a picture of it into my EQ8 Quilt Design Software to see what it would look like. The coordinating fabric is Blue Strawberry Thief from the  Kaffe Fassett x Morris & Co. collection.

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.

Except for the strips, all of the dies I used for this quilt were in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block set.

Picnic Square Three Yard Quilt Pattern

This free quilt pattern includes instructions for a 10” (finished) Art Square Block and a 10” (finished) Mosaic #1 Block. There are 20 quilt blocks in this quilt.

The finished throw or lap quilt is approximately 49” x 59”. It’s perfect for hanging on your wall, snuggling on the couch, or donating to Project Linus or another worthy organization.

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 pieces 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 background fabric or the focus fabric)
• ironing board and iron
• pencil or fabric marking pen

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

• 3 yards of backing fabric (or enough to piece together a 54” x 64” quilt back)
• a piece of quilt batting at least 54” x 64”
• 1/2 yard of fabric for the binding

You’ll also need this template for cutting triangles:

Cutting:

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

• 10 squares 7 5/8” x 7 5/8”
• 5 strips 4” x WOF (width of fabric – for the outer border)

Optional Accuquilt cutting instructions:

Some extra fabric will be required.

• The 4” strips may be cut with strip cutter die 55085

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

• 40 squares 3” x 3”
• 5 strips 1 1/4” x WOF (for the inner border)
• 9 strips 2 1/4” x WOF”

Optional Accuquilt cutting instructions:

Some extra fabric will be required.

• The 3” squares may be cut with die 55804 (available separately or in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block set.)
• The 2 1/4” strips may be cut with strip cutter die 55053 (I use this one for binding, as well)

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

• 40 squares 3 3/8” x 3 3/8”
• 9 strips 2 1/4” x WOF”

Optional Accuquilt cutting instructions:

Some extra fabric will be required.

• Instead of cutting 3 3/8” squares, cut 80 2 1/2” finished HST triangles with die 55807 (available separately or in the GO! Qube Mix & Match 10″ Block set)
• The 2 1/4” strips may be cut with strip cutter die 55053

Quilt Piecing

For this quilt it is especially important to use a scant 1/4’’ seam allowance. See the tips below for testing your seam allowance when you sew your first strip set.

How to Sew the Mosaic Number 1 Quilt Block

Sew 9 strip sets and Subcut into 80 Triangles

1. Sew a Fabric B and Fabric C strip together and press the seam open or toward the darker fabric.

Important: A scant 1/4” seam allowance is necessary for your blocks in this quilt to turn out the right size. After sewing your first strip set, measure the height. If the strip set is not consistently 4” tall, unpick it and sew again. 🙂

Repeat to make nine 4” tall strip sets.

2. Download and print the triangle pattern template found above. Be sure to print at 100% – do not enlarge or reduce the size of the template.

Tip: The triangle template is 4 1/8” tall. Use a ruler and rotary cutter to trim off the top 1/8” of the triangle template so that it is exactly 4” tall – the same size as your strip sets.

3. Use the triangle template to cut 80 pieces from the strip sets. It is very important to follow the diagram above for cutting the triangles. You need to have an equal number of triangles that have a wide strip of Fabric B and a wide strip of Fabric C. The orientation of the triangles relative to the strips is very important.

Assemble the Mosaic Number 1 Quilt Blocks

1. Select one triangle with a wide strip of Fabric B and one triangle with a wide strip of Fabric C. Sew the pieces together along the long edge. Press.

Repeat to make 40 pieces.

2. Lay out 4 pieces as shown. Be sure to arrange the pieces so that there are Fabric C triangles in the center. Sew the pieces together in two rows. Press. Sew the rows together to make a block. Press.

Repeat to make 10 blocks.

How to Sew the Art Square Block

Make 80 Corner Triangle Pieces

1. Cut all of the Fabric C 3 3/8” x 3 3/8” squares in half diagonally.

If you are using AccuQuilt-cut fabric pieces, you will need 160 half square triangles (2 1/2” finished size) cut using die 55807.

2. Sew a Fabric C half square triangle piece to a 3” x 3” Fabric B square as shown. Press. Trim away the small dog ear corner at the bottom edge, if desired.

3. Sew a Fabric C half square triangle to the lower edge of the Fabric B square as, as shown. Press.

Repeat to make 80 pieces.

Assemble the Art Square Quilt Blocks

1. Sew triangle pieces to the sides of a Fabric A 7 5/8” x 7 5/8” square. Open and press. Trim away the dog ear corners at the top and bottom edges.

Tip: Before sewing, mark a center line across each Fabric A 7 5/8” square. This is really easy to do by folding each square in half and pressing the fold lightly with your iron. Then you can use the marked line to help you center each triangle on an edge of the square.

2. Sew triangle pieces to the bottom and top edges of the Fabric A square. Open and press. Trim away the dog ear corners.

Assemble the Picnic Square 3 Yard Quilt

1. Arrange the 20 quilt blocks in 5 rows with alternating Art Square Blocks and Mosaic Number 1 Blocks.

2. Sew the blocks together in 3 rows.

3. Sew the rows together.

Finishing the Picnic Square Three Yard Quilt Pattern

1. Cut or piece together a 54” x 64” 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.

4. Cut 5-6 binding strips from a coordinating fabric of your choice and bind using your favorite method. This is my favorite quilt binding method.

xoxo,