Easy Beginner Quilt Patterns

The Easiest Quilt Patterns for Beginner Quilters

Simple Patchwork Quilt

A classic patchwork quilt is incredibly easy to make and never goes out of style. This popular type of quilt is made by sewing equal-sized fabric squares together.

First, you sew the squares together in a line to create rows. Then, you sew the rows together to make the final grid. Think of it as making big ribbons that eventually assemble your entire quilt. 

Patchwork quilts are also very easy to customize. You can make the individual squares bigger or smaller depending on your aesthetic. You can also increase or decrease the total number of squares in the pattern to create a custom size quilt. This easy beginner quilt sews up very quickly. It’s a fantastic option if you are ready to make your first quilt, but don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. Our advice? Try a baby patchwork quilt. Its small size makes it manageable. Plus, a baby won’t mind too much if your stitching isn’t as neat as you’d like on your first quilting attempt! Your patchwork quilt will still be warm and cozy.

Strip Quilt

A strip quilt is another easy beginner quilt pattern you can feel confident attempting as a quilting newbie. In some ways, a strip quilt is even easier than a patchwork quilt because you don’t need to match any corners. 

For this kind of quilt, you need strips of fabric of different widths but identical lengths. For example, you could use strips that are all nine inches long but vary in width, anywhere from two to four inches wide. You sew the strips together in a random pattern to create your rows. Then, you sew the rows together. Like a patchwork quilt, this type of quilt is easily customized and leaves a lot of room for error. Because this quilt is a hodgepodge of fabrics, nobody will notice if something isn’t as perfect as you intended it to be.

Log Cabin Quilt

A log cabin quilt looks more intricate than a patchwork or strip quilt, but it’s actually an easy beginner quilt pattern to try at home. Traditionally, you use a log cabin pattern with 13 fabric strips of the same width that spiral around a center square.

You sew each strip onto the previous strip in a specific order. The quilter repeats this pattern to create many log cabin blocks and sews the blocks together to create the final quilt. 

Jelly roll bundles are great for log cabin quilts, because they come with many strips of fabric that are all the same width, so you only need to cut the strips to the correct length. The nature of this quilting pattern is forgivable, customizable, and perfect for people who want to start quilting.

Half Square Triangle Quilt

A half square triangle quilt can look simple or complex depending on how you arrange the colors. However, it’s still an easy beginner quilt pattern!

At its core, this type of quilt isn’t tremendously different from a patchwork quilt. The quilt requires you to sew squares together in a grid. The main difference? You create the squares out of two equilateral triangles.

You can make a simple version of this quilt by alternating light and dark triangles. Although, once you feel more confident you can venture into more complex patterns for unique and impressive looking handmade quilts.

Diamond in the Squares Quilt

As the name suggests, the blocks in this easy quilt pattern feature a diamond in the center of a square. Beginners love this pattern because it’s easy to sew a triangle onto each of the four edges of a square. A diamond in the squares quilt is a beautiful pattern for baby quilts to king-sized bedspreads. If you want something funky, try using large animal prints for the center diamonds!

Rail Fence Quilt

A rail fence quilt involves combining thin rectangle strips into squares, then rotating and attaching the squares together with quilt seams. Depending on how you use your colors, the resulting block resembles—you guessed it—a rail fence, or a windmill, perhaps. Like the log cabin quilt, this is another quilt that you can make up quickly with a jelly roll!

Mini Quilt

Mini quilts are a growing trend with beginner quilters. A mini quilt typically measures 9” X 9”, the same size as a single block in a full-size quilt. This means that mini quilts are an excellent way for beginners to practice more advanced quilting skills on a very small scale before trying them on a full-size quilt. The result is a charming quilt that can be framed and hung in your home as a piece of art!

Alternatively, you can make many mini quilts and sew them together to create one full-size quilt, or even turn your mini quilt into a pillow! Mini quilts are a fun and versatile type of quilt pattern for beginners.

Just because you’re new to quilting doesn’t mean you can’t make an amazing quilt! There are many easy beginner quilt patterns like those featured here that you can make with little experience and modest quilting skills. So grab your cutting mat, choose some adorable fat quarters or a jelly roll, and get to quilting!