Easy Autumn Wall Quilt
No Pattern Needed – Just Get Your Fabrics Right!
We recently read of a quilter who has a space on her wall where she hangs a small quilt that she changes every season. What a nice idea!
This charming little quilt from Pleasant Home would be perfect for her autumn wall hanging, and yours too. The rich fabrics are perfect for the season. Plus, this striking quilt is so easy to put together.
While a pattern is available in the designer’s Etsy shop (see PleasantHome.com), you really don’t need one for this. The quilt is made entirely of squares and half square triangles. Choose your fabrics carefully and you can put this together on your own with perfect results.
The key to this quilt is the value of the fabrics chosen, and their placement. It also helps that fabrics of similar value are also of similar color, and that all fabric patterns are of the same small scale (no large-scale light/dark prints that visually break out of the edges of the squares and triangles).
Start with the values when laying out your quilt. It helps to see value (light to dark) when the color is taken away.
You can easily see that the nearly black triangles are critical to defining the star shape in the center. Notice too that the four blocks in the center of the square are similar in value and color, further defining the star. And, the points of the star are all of similar value and color – orange.
Once you have selected your fabrics, then what?
The quilt is made entirely of squares and half square triangles. You’ll need to cut the appropriate number of pieces in the correct sizes to create a wall hanging of the size that you want.
It’s easy to determine how many squares and half square triangles you’ll need of each fabric by looking at a grid laid over the gray scale quilt.
The quilt is six blocks tall by six blocks wide. If your blocks are 2 inches, then your quilt will be 12″ x 12″. Three-inch blocks will produce an 18″ x 18″ wall hanging. And so on.
Just be sure to include a quarter inch seam allowance on all sides when cutting your blocks! To do that, add 1/2 inch to your finished block size. For example, three-inch blocks would be cut at 3.5″ x 3.5″, and four-inch blocks would be cut at 4.5″ x 4.5″.
What about those triangles?
You’ll find great tips for creating half square triangles here.
Once your blocks are cut and half square triangles made, simply lay out your wall hanging according to the grid, making sure the triangles are pointed in the right direction. Sew the blocks together, bind the edges, and voila! A gorgeous autumn themed quilt for your wall (or table!).
You can easily alter this quilt for any season simply by choosing different fabrics.
For example, the designer created this version for Halloween.
Many seemingly complex quilts are actually quite simply made, and easy to deconstruct when you think in terms of squares and values. If you see a quilt you like, and can’t find a pattern for it, try this method for creating your own. This won’t work with every quilt, but you’ll be surprised how many it does work for!
