Free Pattern - Ohio Star Quilt Block

Today we’re going to sew together an Ohio Star block – maybe you’ve heard of it by a different name like Sawtooth Star, Lone Star – it goes by quite a few names! Usually the star points and center block are the darker colored fabrics but in my example I’ve made the background fabric the dark color and the star points the light. 

Fabric Requirements for an 8" Ohio Star Quilt Block:

• Pink – 1 – 4.5″ square for the center
• Yellow – 8 – 2.5″ squares for the star points
• Black Print – 4 – 2.5″ x 4.5″ rectangles, and 4 – 2.5″ squares

Sewing Directions:

Step 1:

First you will need to make 4 Flying Geese patches. You can find my instructions for a Flying Geese block here: https://fabric-406.myshopify.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-flying-geese-block

Step 2:

The components of the block are sewn together just like a Nine Patch block (https://fabric-406.myshopify.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-nine-patch-quilt-block). Sew the patches into 3 rows or columns. Press the seam allowances away from the Flying Geese patches. Pressing the seam allowances in opposite directions means that when you sew the rows/columns together, the seams will nest together nicely and makes for nice intersections that lay flat.

Here’s the back of the block showing the pressing directions of the seam allowances.

Step 3:

Sew the rows together. Press seam allowances toward the inside of the block and you’re all done! Trim/square up the block to an 8.5″ square if necessary.

Here you can see the pressing directions of the seam allowances.

Variations:

Here are 2 other examples of different layouts for the Ohio Star. In the first picture, I’ve replaced the center 4.5″ patch with a Four Patch made of 2.5″ squares. In the second picture, I’ve replaced the center patch with a 4.5″ Square in a Square patch and changed out the 4 corner 2.5″ squares with matching blue squares. My tutorial for a Four Patch is at https://fabric-406.myshopify.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-four-patch-quilt-block and the Square in a Square tutorial is https://fabric-406.myshopify.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-square-in-a-square-block. 

I hope you've enjoyed this Ohio Star quilt block tutorial!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you liked this post and want to see more quilting tutorials like this, simply click here to sign up for my newsletter and also receive a free PDF quilt pattern.

Happy Quilting!

Elaine