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Quilt Drawing Ideas

One quilt design to draw per press: a named block, a whole layout, a paper square or a quilt.

Quilt Drawing Ideas

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  1. A nine patch blockThree rows of three squares: five dark and four light, taking turns like a small checkerboard.

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Traditional blocks by name 15

  • A basket block Baskets were a favorite from about 1850. Some have handles, some have none, some hold flowers.
  • A cathedral window block Folded plain cloth, in interlocking circles, frames small squares or diamonds of bright cloth.
  • A courthouse steps block A log cabin variation: one hourglass of strips stands upright and another lies across it.
  • A crazy quilt block No two pieces alike and no straight rows. Fancy embroidery stitches cover the seams between the pieces.
  • A double wedding ring block Interlocking circles pieced from small arcs of cloth. Many of these quilts end in a scalloped edge.
  • A Dresden plate block Petal-shaped wedges are joined in a ring, and the finished plate is sewn onto a plain square.
  • A flower garden block of hexagons Only hexagons: one in the middle, six around it for the petals, then a ring of twelve.
  • A flying geese strip Each triangle stands for a goose. Line them up in a row with every point facing the same way.
  • A four patch block Two rows of two squares. Put the two dark squares corner to corner and the two light ones the same.
  • A log cabin block with a red center Narrow strips, the logs, are added around a small center square. By tradition it is red, for the hearth.
  • A nine patch block Three rows of three squares: five dark and four light, taking turns like a small checkerboard.
  • A schoolhouse block A side view of one small building made of plain shapes: a wall, a roof, a door and two windows.
  • A shoo fly block and a churn dash block Both grow from the nine patch. Shoo fly splits each corner square into a light and a dark triangle.
  • A tumbling blocks pattern Three diamonds, one light, one medium and one dark, read as a cube. Every piece is the same diamond.
  • An eight-pointed star block The simplest and best-loved of the star patterns. Rule it with care, because a star shows every slip.

Whole-quilt layouts 15

  • A Hawaiian quilt One large design with the same shape repeated around the center, cut from folded cloth in a single cut.
  • A hit or miss scrap quilt An overall design with no blocks: one small shape repeated, with the colors falling at random.
  • A medallion quilt One ornamental panel in the middle with one or more borders around it. Draw from the center outward.
  • A plain quilt with a border of triangles Leave the middle quiet. Run a row of triangles around all four sides and work out each corner.
  • A quilt of long strips sewn side by side Strip piecing joins long strips along their length. Vary the widths and repeat the colors in the same order.
  • A quilt of rectangles nested one inside the next In the South this is called Pig Pen: bigger and bigger rectangles, each one holding the last.
  • A quilt of squares standing on their corners Turn every square so that it stands as a diamond, then fill the gaps along the edges with triangles.
  • A quilt with one large star Some quilts hold just one large star that spreads from the center. Let its points nearly reach the edges.
  • A sampler of twelve different blocks Pick twelve blocks from this list and give each a square. Hold them together with three colors.
  • A streak of lightning quilt A log cabin layout in which light and dark join into one zigzag after another across the whole top.
  • A whole-cloth quilt drawn in stitching only Its top is a single piece of cloth, so the stitched lines are the entire design. Use dashes, no color.
  • An album quilt with every block different An album quilt is a collection of blocks, each with its own design: baskets, wreaths, birds, buildings.
  • Log cabin blocks laid out as straight furrows Turn the half-dark, half-light blocks until dark lines and light lines run straight, by turns.
  • Nine blocks in three rows with strips between them Strips of contrasting cloth between the blocks make a lattice. Draw the lattice first, then fill the windows.
  • One block repeated twelve times Draw one block, then repeat it three across and four down. Look for the new shapes where blocks meet.

Paper quilts for a class 15

  • A family square The people and animals you live with, drawn as simple shapes that fill the square.
  • A fold-and-cut paper square Fold a square of paper in quarters, cut one shape, unfold it and glue it on a square of another color.
  • A friendship square with a signed center On a friendship quilt each block was made by a friend, with that friend's name stitched in the middle.
  • A goodbye quilt for a classmate who is moving Friendship quilts were often made in secret as a going-away gift. One square from everyone.
  • A handprint square Trace your hand. Fill the hand with one pattern and the background with another.
  • A name square Your first name in fat letters that touch all four edges, each letter filled like a different patch.
  • A paper crazy quilt from torn scraps Tear the scraps, do not cut them. Glue them edge to edge and draw stitches over every join.
  • A plan on squared paper for a whole wall quilt Number the squares, color a tiny map of the wall, and move squares around until no two alike touch.
  • A self-portrait square in four colors The whole class uses the same four colors. Side by side, the faces then read as one quilt.
  • A story quilt with words A story quilt carries words as well as pictures. Write one sentence around the border of each square.
  • A story square from a book the class has read One moment only. Put in order, the squares of the whole class retell the story.
  • A weather square for today Sun, cloud, rain or wind as one bold shape. A month of squares makes a calendar quilt.
  • An alphabet quilt, one letter to a square Old nursery quilts took their pictures from alphabet blocks and nursery rhymes. Add one thing per letter.
  • One paper square each: my favorite thing Everyone gets the same size of square. One big drawing in the middle and a border one finger wide.
  • Squares whose lines carry on into the next square Mark where your lines will cross each edge before you start, and agree the marks with your neighbors.

A quilt as an object 15

  • A barn with a quilt block painted on its side A barn quilt is a quilt block painted large on a barn wall, or on a board fixed to it.
  • A basket of fabric scraps, every print different In the 1920s and 1930s many quilts were made from printed feed sacks. Give each scrap a tiny print.
  • A cat asleep in the middle of a quilt Draw the cat as a loaf or a circle. The quilt dips under it, so curve the pattern lines toward the cat.
  • A needle, a spool of thread and a thimble A thimble protects the fingertip. Draw it as a tiny upside-down cup covered in dimples.
  • A quilt cut through to show its three layers A quilt is a sandwich: the top, a soft middle layer called batting, and the backing.
  • A quilt folded over the back of a chair Draw the chair first. The pattern bends where the quilt folds, so break it at each crease.
  • A quilt fort over two chairs Quilts once did many jobs in a small house: a curtain, a door, a wall. Make this one a roof.
  • A quilt hung over a porch rail to air It hangs in two flat halves with one soft fold along the rail. Let a corner lift in the breeze.
  • A quilt on a bed, seen from the foot The blocks get smaller toward the pillow. Rule the lines that head for the far wall before you draw one block.
  • A quilt over a sleeping shape No face is needed. The blocks stretch over the shoulder and bunch up in the dip behind the knees.
  • A quilting hoop with a half-stitched block in it A hoop or a frame holds the work up off the quilter's lap. Finish half the stitching and stop.
  • A row of quilting stitches, close up Hand quilting is a running stitch: a line of small, even dashes with gaps of the same length.
  • A stack of folded quilts on a shelf Each one is a fat sandwich with a rounded fold. Show a different pattern on every edge.
  • A worn quilt with patches on its patches Fade the colors, round off the corners and let a little stuffing show at one split seam.
  • Seven pairs of hands around one quilting frame At a quilting bee seven or eight people sat around the frame. Draw the quilt first, then the hands.

How it works

A quilt design is a square divided into smaller shapes, then repeated. These quilt drawing ideas start with old blocks by name, go on to whole layouts, and include paper quilts a class can make one square at a time.

Read the full guide

Draw a block on a grid

Most blocks fit a grid. Rule a square and divide it three by three for a nine patch, or two by two for a four patch. Then split some of the small squares corner to corner into triangles, or side to side into rectangles. Color one family of shapes dark and the other light, and the block appears.

  • Pick three colors before you start and use only those. A block reads by light against dark, not by how many colors it holds.

Questions and answers

What is an easy quilt block to draw?

The nine patch: three rows of three squares, dark and light by turns. It is often the first block a child is taught to sew. The four patch is easier still. Easy, under More filters, holds 22.

How do you draw a log cabin quilt block?

Draw a small square in the middle. Add a strip along one side, then turn and add the next, going around until the block is full. Color one half of the strips light and the other half dark.

What is a paper quilt?

A quilt made of paper squares in place of cloth. Each person draws or glues one square of the same size, and the squares are taped or pinned together in rows on a wall.

How many layers does a quilt have?

Usually three: a top, a soft middle layer called batting and a backing. The stitches that go through all three are the quilting, and their lines can be a design of their own.

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