There isn't a single seam to match inside a Chandelier block. You sew a background rectangle to each side of a 5 inch square, you sew a small square to the end of two longer rectangles, and you join three rows. Press everything toward the print and the seams nest on their own. The only points you'll line up in the whole quilt are the ones where the rows meet.
That's why it looks harder than it is. Turned on point, thirty-two plain little blocks turn into rows of floating diamonds, each one with a small square of the same print sitting above and below it, like drops hanging off a light fitting. It's the kind of quilt people stop to ask about, and it's a calm one to sew.
Chandelier is a free quilt pattern by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique, from her book Charm School: 18 Quilts from 5" Squares, published by Stash Books. Her version finishes at 60 by 60 inches. Yvonne made a smaller throw from it in her sewing room, four blocks across and five down, about 50 by 60 inches, using one charm pack and one pack of 2 1/2 by 10 inch strips. Vanessa's pattern is free to download from the Lella Boutique blog.
Pattern details
- Pattern name: Chandelier
- Designer: Vanessa Goertzen, Lella Boutique
- Finished size: 60" x 60" (Yvonne's throw in the video: approx. 50" x 60")
- Size category: Throw
- Difficulty: Confident beginner
- Block: Seven-patch, 8 1/2" finished (9" unfinished), 32 blocks on point
- Technique: On point setting, chain piecing
- Precuts: 2 charm packs in the pattern. Yvonne's throw uses 1 charm pack and 1 pack of 2 1/2" x 10" strips
- Price: Free to print and use
Download the free Chandelier quilt pattern from Lella Boutique
Everything you need to make this quilt
Chandelier Quilt Bundle
Blossom Breeze Collection - Beginner - 50" x 60" Finished
Watch Yvonne make the Chandelier quilt
Yvonne sews her throw on camera, from the first rectangle to the trimmed edge, and the pressing and the setting triangles are much easier to follow when you can see her hands on the fabric.
What the Chandelier quilt asks of you, counted
Yvonne's throw is 242 pieces: 32 squares at 5 inches, 64 small squares at 2 1/2 inches, 64 background rectangles at 2 1/2 by 5, 64 more at 2 1/2 by 7, and 18 setting triangles.
Each block takes six seams, so the 32 blocks are 192 seams, and every one of them is a straight line with nothing to meet. That's where most of your sewing time goes, and it's the part you can chain piece in a long run without looking up.
The matching comes later, when the eight diagonal rows go together. Seven row seams, with the block corners nesting into each other. Press row 1 one way and row 2 the other, keep alternating, and the seams lock together on their own. If you can sew an accurate quarter inch, you can make this quilt. If you haven't checked yours lately, our guide to getting an accurate quarter inch seam is worth ten minutes before you start.
Why the setting triangles are cut big
Every on-point quilt needs triangles to fill the edges, and how you cut them decides two things: whether the edge of your quilt stretches, and whether your block points survive the binding.
In the video, Yvonne cuts the side triangles from 14 inch squares, cut twice on the diagonal. That puts the straight of grain on the long outside edge, where the quilt needs it, and the bias on the inside, where the block holds it still. The exact-fit size for an 8 1/2 inch block would be just over 13 1/4 inches. Yvonne cuts hers bigger on purpose, using the finished block times 1.5 plus 1 1/2, which comes to 14 1/4, so the block points sit about half an inch inside the trimmed edge. The diamonds look like they're floating, and you never slice a point off when the binding goes on.
The four corner triangles are the other way around: 9 1/2 inch squares cut once on the diagonal, so the straight of grain lands on the two outside edges of each corner. The extra is trimmed away when you square up.
Where it goes wrong
A block turned the wrong way. Every block has its two small squares running vertically, one above the diamond and one below. Turn a single block a quarter turn and that column of the chandelier breaks. Before you sew each row, look at it laid out and check every block is pointing the same way.
A seam that flips while you sew. The seams only nest if each one is lying the way you pressed it. Let one flop over under the presser foot and the points drift apart. It happens to Yvonne in the video, and she unpicks it, turns the seam back and sews it again. Clip at the intersections if it helps.
Lining up the pinked edge. Charm squares come with pinked edges. Line them up by the straight woven edge, not by the tips of the points, and your blocks will come out square.
The fabric
The quilt on the cover is Blossom Breeze, forty prints in pinks, corals, aquas, navies and reds. One charm pack gives you the 5 inch squares, and one pack of 2 1/2 by 10 inch mini strips gives you the small squares, cut from each end of a strip. The two packs carry the same forty prints, so whichever 32 squares you choose, the strips that match them are already in the other pack. You can have both packs together in the Chandelier Quilt Bundle.
What you're left with after the small squares are cut is 32 short centers, about 4 1/2 inches long. Yvonne turned those into a pieced border down two sides of her quilt, so the offcuts ended up in the quilt instead of a bag.
For the throw, the background is about 2 1/2 yards of cream or white. It's the fabric that does the work here, so pick one with clear contrast against every print. A background that's too close to your lightest prints will swallow the small squares, and they're what make the chandelier.
For the back, 108 inch wide backing covers this quilt in one piece. Our guide to quilt backing covers the alternatives if you'd rather piece one from standard width fabric.
Before you start
For the throw, pick your 32 favorite charm squares and set the rest aside. Lay the blocks out on a design wall or on the floor before you sew any rows, move them around until the colors are spread evenly, and take a photograph. A repeat is much easier to spot in a photograph than on the floor.
Chain piece every step. All 32 squares get their side rectangles, then all 64 small squares go on their long rectangles, then the rows. Our walkthrough of chain piecing covers the method if it's new to you.
When you're ready to finish the quilt, our step by step guide to quilt binding will see you through.
Chandelier is Vanessa Goertzen's pattern, and you can download it free from Lella Boutique. There's more to sew in our collection of free quilt patterns.
