9 Free Quilt Patterns and Tips

Quilting is a great way to make something beautiful and useful out of stuff that has otherwise outlived its usefulness. Enjoy this collection of free quilt patterns for every level of quilter.

One of the great things about quilts is that you can make them from recycled fabric. Take the good parts of old sweaters or other materials that have seen better days.

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You can mix these fabric pieces in with brand new ones, or wait until you have enough old scraps for an entire quilt. You’re only limited by ideas and creativity, so here are lots of ideas to get you started.

If you’re looking for a new sewing machine, check out this lightweight Brother sewing machine.

Free Quilt Patterns

1. Molly’s Sketchbook: A Trip Around the Wool

This is more than a pattern. It’s a tutorial that shows you from start to finish how to sew this beautiful wool quilt. This one is great for beginners.

It’s a big job, but she breaks it down into simple straightforward steps. She includes lots of pictures so you can be sure you’re going about it the right way. Note that some of the color squares are out of place: she did this on purpose, to give it a unique and homey feel.

2. French Floral Quilt Pattern Patricia C. Elkovitch

This is a beautifully detailed pattern is intricate and wonderfully old-fashioned. It’s a very classy pattern that will fit in with a number of different decor styles.

3. Whimsical Quilt pattern

This beautiful pattern features offset squares and rectangles. It’s intricate, yet simply geometric.

4. Chain links

This is a lovely pattern of squares and rectangles that seem to form chains. It’s reminiscent of Celtic knots or an elegant tile pattern.

5. Honey Bee

Here’s a sweet little floral pattern that looks like bees feeding on flowers. This one involves some applique work. It’s especially lovely in shades of green, pink and beige.

6. Rose of Sharon

This one is a quilt applique pattern. It features four individual roses surrounded by a rose border. The linked page breaks down a number of techniques for putting these quilts together. It also has some slightly different patterns you can choose from.

7. Minnesota Stars

It’s a very intricate pattern. This is the sort of quilt where you can marvel at the optical illusions and sense of depth it creates. It’s almost like a fractal, and yet perfectly old-fashioned.

8. Big Block

Here’s one for beginners. It has very simple big blocks with borders. It’s easy to put together, but with the right material, it’s gorgeous. Check out the linked page for examples of how it looks with different types of patterned materials.

9. Snowflake Quilt [pdf link]

This pattern creates the illusion of a snowflake. Triangular blocks form a pattern against a dark background. This one may be even better as a table cover than it is as a blanket!

Learning to Quilt

If you need more guidance than just the patterns, check out these learning resources:

• Victoriana has a library full of useful quilting tools – charts to help you calculate how much fabric you need to cut, tips, explanations about tools you need and more.
• If you’re new to quilting, or just want to learn some new techniques, there are lots of helpful quilting videos on YouTube.