You can find the Framed Patchwork Star Pattern here.
The Framed Patchwork Star creates a cheerful quilt with a patchwork, sawtooth star in the center. Each row after that works on framing and drawing your eye to the star while also accenting it with colors and modern elements.
Pulling From My Stash
This year I have been using all fabrics from my stash. It's been good to review all the fabrics I have. There are so many beauties I forgot about and so many I thought, "Why did I buy this?". All of those have been donated to a local school for the deaf in India that needs fabric for school projects. So I guess it all turned out for good in the end. :) Sewing through my fabric stash has been a good way to learn more about myself as a quilter. I realized that I tend toward certain colors and my goal is to add more of a variety of colors to my stash.
This Framed Patchwork Star is a throw size. Throw size are my favorite to make. They are pretty easy to find fabrics from my stash for and they are easy to baste and quilt at home.
I started by finding eight fabrics that I liked together. These would be the Fabric A's of my quilt which are the half square triangles and squares (see images below).
Next, I looked for three fabrics (Fabrics B, C and D) that complimented these eight and would be nice accent fabrics. This was a bit harder because some of the fabrics require more yardage. However, I found my three and was ready to go.
You can see all the fabrics I chose in the picture below.
A Bit About the Pattern
The Framed Patchwork Star Quilt Pattern was inspired by the Patchwork Star Mini Quilt Pattern. You can find that pattern here.
The mini quilt was created for a sew along in 2022. I loved the design and wanted to build off of it to create a full sized quilt pattern.
This pattern was designed as a result. I love how the layers and framing of the quilt draw your eye to the patchwork star in the middle. I also love how the quilt allows you to add lots of color.
Really this would be a beautiful quilt to use scraps with. The directions are not written for adding scraps, but you can easily choose one of the fabrics groups, especially Fabric A, and instead of using eight fabrics, you could use a whole bunch of scraps to get your cuts from.
The Framed Patchwork Star has three sizes:
- Baby (41 in. x 41 in.)
- Throw (66 in. x 66 in.)
- Bed (93 in. x 93 in.)
Each quilt size is exactly the same layout and instructions. The measurements just get larger each size.
This pattern is listed as an advanced beginner quilt pattern. It requires the quilter to have a consistent 1/4 in. seam. This is especially important with the thin star that frames the sawtooth star.
Tips When Sewing on the Rows
After sewing the initial patchwork star and frame, this quilt has lots of sewing on rows, borders or sashing. I'm not sure which one to call it. I'll just call it rows.
When sewing on the rows I suggest you make a small fold in the middle of each strip and a small fold in the middle of the quilt. Pin the middle right sides together first, then each end. After that finish pining down the row.Pining the middle and ends first helps to make sure the row gets sewn on straight and it lays correctly on the quilt. As you add rows on and they aren't sewn on straight the quilt can get a little out of shape and wonky. Nobody wants a wonky quilt.
Basting
I spray basted this quilt on the kitchen table. This is my preferred method of basting. However, it's easier when the quilts aren't so wide. Because this quilt was wider than my kitchen table it made basting it a little hard. I wasn't able to tape down the backing like I would prefer. Because of the basting problems I decided to quilt with a wavy stitch. I was worried the fabric might pucker and this stitch is very forgiving. Also, make sure to use a walking foot! This is life changing with quilting.
If you have problems with basting a quilt, I suggest quilting an easy pattern, preferably one that doesn't cross itself from different directions. When you quilt on your home machine and do a more difficult design it's pretty easy to get frustrated. It's also more likely the quilt will pucker. I was hoping to do a different design on this one. But when the basting didn't go super well I decided to just quilt in one direction. Each line is 1 inch apart.
Binding
I wanted my binding fabric to be one fabric. However, when I looked through my stash I didn't have any that I wanted to use that had enough fabric. So I chose the scraps from this quilt that were all a darker shade.
I like to cut my strips into 2 1/2 inch strips and I use a walking foot to attach it. I tried one time to machine sew on the binding and I just couldn't do it well! It didn't look good. So I like to finish off the binding by hand sewing it to the back side of the quilt. This also means there are no stitches on the front.
The scrappy binding turned out fun and kind of perfect for this patchwork quilt. 
This Framed Patchwork Star Quilt is one of my new favorites. I can't wait to wash it up and spread it out on the couch. The pattern and colors bring me happiness when I look at it. I also can't wait to make more of this pattern. Who wants to join me?
You can get a free coloring page to design your own version of the Framed Patchwork Star Quilt here.
Grab a Framed Patchwork Star Pattern in the shop and let's get sewing!