Thirty six red eight point stars, set between squares of toile.
That's Toile Stars, a free star quilt pattern by Darlene Zimmerman for Robert Kaufman. It finishes at 56 by 68 inches, a throw size, and the toile does half the work: squares of a red and cream scenic print sit between the stars and wrap around them again as a wide border. The cover rates it experienced intermediate. Every star is 6 inches finished and every star point is cut with the Tri-Recs tools, so most of the care goes into the cutting. Below you'll find the download, how the star goes together, how the quilt is set, and what we found when we checked the numbers.
Free Toile Stars Quilt Pattern PDF Download
Four pages, free, designed by Darlene Zimmerman and published by Robert Kaufman Fabrics. It features her Betsy's Basket collection.
Pattern: Toile Stars
Brand: Robert Kaufman Fabrics
Designer: Darlene Zimmerman
Finished size: 56 x 68 inches
Size: throw
Difficulty: experienced intermediate, printed on the cover
Block: an eight point star, 6 inches finished, on a 3 by 3 grid of 2 inch units; 36 stars, 32 in the center and 4 in the border corners
Technique: Tri-Recs units, alternate plain squares, a narrow inner border, a wide border with star cornerstones
Colors: five red prints for the star points and centers, four light prints and stripes for the star backgrounds, a red and cream toile
Precuts: none. The pattern is cut from yardage
You'll also need: the Tri-Recs tools from EZ Quilting, which the pattern lists
Download the Toile Stars pattern PDF
The Star Block
Each star is a nine patch of 2 inch units. A red square goes in the center, four background squares go in the corners, and the four sides are Tri-Recs units. Each Tri-Recs unit is a background triangle cut with the Tri ruler, with a long red triangle cut with the Recs ruler sewn to each side of it. The two red triangles meet at the top of the unit, and the four units around the center square give the star its eight points.
The Quilter's Bible calls this kind of piece a triangle in a square unit, and describes it as the basis of many star blocks, including the Eight-point Star. Its own Eight-point Star is pieced from eight diamonds. This one gets an eight point star with no diamonds and no set-in seams.
Each star uses four matching Tri-Recs units, so one red print makes all eight points of a star and its center square. The backgrounds come from four light fabrics: two stripes, one in red and one in indigo, and two cream prints with small red motifs. Each background fabric makes nine stars.
Cutting With the Tri-Recs Tools
All the points are cut from 2 1/2 inch strips. Recs triangles are always cut in pairs, one facing each way, and each Tri-Recs unit uses one pair. The pattern calls for twenty eight pairs from each of four red prints and thirty two from the fifth, which is 144 pairs for 144 units.
The Tri triangle has what the pattern calls a "magic angle" at its bottom corner, and you line the Recs triangle up with it when you sew. Fons and Porter's lesson on the same tools explains the Recs side of this: there's a small tip cut off each Recs triangle along the end of the ruler, and that tiny notch makes a real difference when the pieces go together. Sew the first Recs triangle to the right side of the Tri, press toward the Recs, then sew the second to the left side. The pattern's tip is that the points of the two Recs triangles should meet at the top of the unit.
The pressing in the block goes toward the Recs triangles in the units, and the row seams are pressed in opposite directions, as the diagram on page 3 shows, so the rows nest when you join them.
Setting the Quilt
The stars alternate with plain 6 1/2 inch squares of the toile. Five rows start and end with a star, four stars and three toile squares each. Four rows start and end with toile, three stars and four toile squares each. Alternate those nine rows and the stars and toile squares sit like a checkerboard.
The center finishes at 42 by 54 inches. A 1 inch red inner border frames it, and then the toile comes back as a 6 inch outer border. The last four stars are the cornerstones of that border: they're 6 inches square, exactly the border's width, so they sew to the ends of the side borders like a cornerstone would.
The side borders are cut along the length of the fabric, 60 inches long, so they have no seam. The top and bottom borders are pieced from strips cut across the width.
We Checked the Arithmetic
We check the numbers of every pattern we publish, and this one adds up exactly.
The size is right. Seven 6 inch blocks across make 42 inches, the inner border brings it to 44 and the outer border to 56. Nine blocks down make 54 inches, then 56, then 68.
The pieces count out with nothing spare. The rows need 32 stars and 31 toile squares, and with the 4 border stars that's 36 stars in all. Thirty six stars need 144 Tri-Recs units, and the pattern cuts 144 Tri triangles, 144 pairs of Recs triangles, 144 background squares and 36 center squares. Each of the four red prints makes exactly seven stars and the fifth makes eight. Since nothing is spare, a triangle cut wrong is a trip back to the strip, so cut carefully.
The binding depends on how wide your fabric is. The quilt measures 248 inches around, and Yvonne adds an extra 20 inches to that for turning the corners, as she shows in our straight binding tutorial. That's 268 inches. The pattern cuts seven 2 1/4 inch strips. With 42 inches of usable width, seven strips joined with diagonal seams give about 279 inches, which is enough. If your fabric is closer to 40 inches once the selvages are off, seven strips come to about 265, just short, so cut an eighth. The binding fabric has room for it.
The backing is comfortable. The pattern asks for 3 5/8 yards, which is two lengths of about 65 inches sewn side by side. With the seam running across the quilt, that covers it with about 8 inches to spare at the top and bottom and about 4 1/2 at each side.
Fabrics and Palette That Suit This Pattern
The pattern dates from 2016, and Betsy's Basket may no longer be on sale, so treat the SKU list in the PDF as a record of what Darlene Zimmerman used rather than a shopping list. Every piece is cut from fabric by the yard, so you can choose your own toile and reds.
The toile is the fabric to choose first. It takes up most of the quilt, in the alternate squares and the wide border. The one in the original is a red scenic print on cream. Cut into 6 inch squares, the scenes break up into fragments, and that's fine: what matters is that the toile reads as a light background, so the red stars stand in front of it.
The stars need red prints that read as solid red from a few feet away. The original uses small prints in deep red. The star backgrounds sit between the toile and the red, so they want to be light, but with a little texture: in the original, two of them are stripes, and they keep the stars from melting into the toile. If you're unsure how light or dark a fabric is, our guide on fabric value, color and texture explains why value matters more than color.
If You Like This One
Darlene Zimmerman also designed Mahogany, a diamond quilt in Kona reds that uses the same Recs ruler, and Weather Vane, a throw size quilt with 720 triangles. For an eight point star built the traditional way, from diamonds with set-in seams, see Grand Gardens.
There are more in our free quilt patterns.
P.S. Make one star before you cut all 144 pairs of Recs triangles. If it doesn't measure 6 1/2 inches square, check your cutting and your seam now, while it's one star and not thirty six.
