Twelve greens and nothing else.
Wonderous Woods is a free fat quarter quilt pattern from Robert Kaufman that finishes at 54 by 72 inches, a generous throw. Every piece in it is one of twelve Kona cotton solids with names like Evergreen, Fern, Kiwi and Grasshopper, and two of the same 12 piece fat quarter bundle make the whole top. There is no background fabric, no border and no second color to rest the eye on.
The quilt is twelve large blocks, 18 inches finished, set three across and four down. Each one is a nine patch of 6 inch squares: four plain squares in the corners, four squares made from two rectangles sewn side by side, and a small strip pieced nine patch in the middle. The pattern tells you to rotate and move the blocks until the color sits well, and once they are turned the plain squares, the bars and the little checkerboards run into each other and the block lines are hard to find.
It was designed by Robert Kaufman Fabrics and published on robertkaufman.com in 2016, and it features Kona Cotton Solids, which is still in production. The cover grades it Enthusiastic Novice, with the line "I am a total beginner and want to learn more!"
Pattern details
- Pattern name: Wonderous Woods
- Designer: Robert Kaufman Fabrics
- Finished size: 54" x 72"
- Size category: Throw
- Difficulty: Enthusiastic Novice
- Block: 18" nine patch, twelve of them, set three across and four down
- Technique: Strip piecing, nesting seams, straight seams
- Fabric: Kona Cotton Solids, twelve greens, two fat quarter bundles
- Price: Free to download
Download the free Wonderous Woods quilt pattern PDF from Robert Kaufman
Five pages: the fabric list, the cutting instructions, three block diagrams and the quilt layout.
Two numbers to check before you cut
We do the arithmetic on every pattern we publish, and two counts in this one do not close. Neither will spoil the quilt if you know about them first.
The first is the plain squares. The cutting list asks for six 6 1/2 inch squares from each fabric in the first bundle, "for a total of thirty-six". Twelve fabrics at six squares each is seventy two. Thirty six is the number that works: twelve blocks need forty eight plain squares, the second bundle gives you twelve, and three from each fabric in the first bundle gives you the other thirty six. Cut three, not six, and keep the rest of the fat quarter.
The second is the nine patch units. A fat quarter strip is 22 inches long, so a strip set of three gives you eight 2 1/2 inch units, and the four strip sets in the pattern give you thirty two. The quilt needs thirty six, three for each of the twelve nine patches. Plan a fifth strip set from the leftovers, which the first count has just handed you.
How the blocks go together
The nine patch in the middle of each block is the only part that is strip pieced. Sew three 2 1/2 inch strips together along the long side, mixing the greens at random, press, and cross cut the set into 2 1/2 inch units. Three different units make one nine patch, 6 1/2 inches unfinished.
The pattern asks you to turn every other unit so the seams nest, and that is the step that makes the little checkerboard line up. When the seam allowances lie in opposite directions they lock against each other at the crossing, and the corners of the tiny squares meet where they should.
The pieced squares are even simpler: two different 3 1/2 by 6 1/2 inch rectangles sewn along the long side, pressed toward the darker fabric. You make forty eight. Then each large block is three rows of three, plain square, pieced square, plain square, with the nine patch in the center.
If the nine patch is the part you have not made before, we wrote a long piece on it: how to make a nine patch quilt block, with the strip set method this pattern uses and the sizes worked out for you.
Fabric for a one color quilt
What makes Wonderous Woods read as a forest and not as a patchwork of green squares is value, how light or dark each fabric is. The palette runs from very dark greens to bright yellow greens, and the darkest and lightest pieces are the ones your eye follows across the block seams. If you build your own set of greens instead of buying the palette, line them up on the table from dark to light before you cut and make sure both ends of the line are well covered. Twelve greens that are all the same middle value will look flat.
We do not carry Kona, and our own solids are whites, blacks and grays, so this is a pattern to shop for elsewhere.
What we can help with is the cutting. Every seam in the pattern is a straight quarter inch seam, and every piece is a square, a rectangle or a strip. A quilting ruler 6 1/2 inches wide and long enough to cross a fat quarter handles every cut in the quilt, and a fresh blade from our rotary cutter blades keeps 96 rectangles the same size.
There are more of these in our free quilt patterns, and plenty of them use more than one color.
