How to Create an Easy Version of Dolly Madison's Star Quilt Block

By: Elaine Huff

Today let's look at a simple version of the traditional Dolly Madison's Star quilt block. This version is easy to sew together and looks great! The traditional block is very difficult to sew together - lots of triangles inside the star points - so we're going to use the simplified version. Let's get started!

Fabric Requirements for a 9" Finished Dolly Madison Star Quilt Block:

Light/White: 1 - 4.5" square, 4 - 3.5" square, and 5 - 1.5" squares
Medium/Blue: 1 - 4.5" square
Dark 1/Navy: 4 - 1.5" squares
Dark 2/Navy Floral: 2 - 4.5" squares

Sewing Directions:

Hourglass Units:

Step 1:

Using the Light/White 4.5" square, the Medium/Blue 4.5" square and the two Dark 2/Navy Floral 4.5" squares sew together four Hourglass units as shown in the picture below. Trim the units to 3.5" square. You will find my tutorial for making these three-color hourglass units at https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-hourglass-or-quarter-square-triangle-block

Center Unit:

Step 2:

Sew together a Nine Patch unit using the Light/White 1.5" squares and the Dark 1/Navy 1.5" squares like the one below. You can find a tutorial about different ways to make Nine Patch blocks at https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-nine-patch-quilt-block

Putting It All Together:

Step 3:

Lay out the Hourglass units, the Center unit, and the four Light/White 3.5" squares as shown in the picture below.

Step 4:

From here the Dolly Madison goes together like a basic Nine Patch block. Sew the patches together into three rows as shown below.

Step 5:

Press the seam allowances away from the Hourglass units as you can see in the picture below.

Step 6:

Now you can sew the three rows together to complete the block. Easy peasy!

Step 7:

All that's left is to press the seam allowances toward the center. You're done!

Layout Ideas:

Here's your basic 4 x 4 layout.

Here is the same layout but with sashing and cornerstones added.

This example has a simple chain block in coordinating colors as an alternating block.

This version uses holiday colors and a Nine Patch block as an alternating block. It kind of gives the illusion of plaid.

This is an on-point layout with a single color chain block as an alternating block and plain background setting triangles. This is my favorite setting!

Here's another on-point layout with sashing and cornerstones in a coordinating color and background fabric for the setting triangles.

Conclusion:

I was ready for an easy block to put together and this star block fit the bill! Looks great and is so much easier than the traditional block.

I hope you've enjoyed this Dolly (or Dolley) Madison's Star quilt block 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 called Chained Weathervane.

Happy Quilting!

Elaine

P.S. You can purchase this block pattern by clicking this link: Easy Dolly Madison PDF.

P.P.S. To figure out yardage for a quilt, check out this post: https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-much-fabric-do-i-need