Nested 3-D Star Quilt Designer

Pick a block, a way to make it, a color scheme and a border. The quilt, the block diagrams, every piece, the cutting list, the yardage and the printable patterns are all worked out for that combination. Blocks marked Original are new designs; Traditional blocks are classic patterns given a 3-D treatment.

Quilt 80″ × 40″ finished 21 blocks (7 × 3), 10″ finished 5″ border White background, up to 6 colors ¼″ seams · WOF = 40″ usable

Finishing the quilt

  1. Quilt center. Sew 3 rows of 7 blocks. Center = 70½″ × 30½″.
  2. Border. Sew the side borders first (30½″ long), then top and bottom. With pieced borders, sew the corner units onto the ends of the top and bottom borders before attaching them.
  3. Layer and quilt. Backing and batting at least 88″ × 48″: 4 yd of 42″ fabric (3 panels of 48″, seamed) or 1⅜ yd of 108″-wide backing.
  4. Bind. 7 strips 2½″ × WOF, joined into one 250″ strip.

The 3-D look depends on value (lightness), not hue: the four shades of the shaded star should step evenly from light to dark. "Check values" shows the quilt in grayscale, the same test as photographing fabrics in black and white.

Designed with Claude, an AI model by Anthropic. Every drawing, piece shape, cutting size, yardage and printable pattern on this page is computed from the block geometry, so any block can be paired with any colors, border and construction method.