Quatrefoil Quilt Block Pattern - a Free Tutorial

The Quatrefoil quilt block (also called the Quarterfoil block) is a traditional block that is easy to sew together and it makes a beautiful quilt! Typically it is made with just two colors and a background but I had to add more fabrics - this also gives you an idea of how it would look as a scrappy quilt. I've also done some layout options at the end. Let's get sewing!

Fabric Requirements for a 12" Finished Quatrefoil Quilt Block:

• Light/White: 1 - 4.5" square, and 16 - 2.5" squares
• Medium 1/Blue Floral: 4 - 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles
• Mediium 2/Yellow: 4 - 2.5" squares
• Dark 1/Multicolor: 4 - 2.5" squares
• Dark 2/Green: 4 - 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles

Sewing Directions:

Corner Units:

Step 1:

Using eight of the Light/White 2.5" squares, the Medium 2/Yellow 2.5" squares, and the Dark 1/Multicolor 2.5" squares, sew together 4 Four Patch units as shown in the picture below. You can find the tutorial for making a basic Four Patch at https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-four-patch-quilt-block

Flying Geese Units:

Step 2:

Now you can sew together four Flying Geese units using the rest of the Light/White 2.5" squares and the Medium 1/Blue 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles as shown below. You will find the tutorial for making a basic Flying Geese block at https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-flying-geese-block

Step 3:

Next thing is to sew a Dark 2/Green 2.5" x 4.5" rectangle to the bottom of a Flying Geese patch from Step 2. In the picture below you can see that I pressed the seam allowance away from the Flying Geese patch.

Step 4:

Repeat Step 3 for a total of four Flying Geese units as shown below.

Putting It All Together:

Step 5:

Using the picture below as a reference, lay out the Corner units, the Flying Geese units, and the Light/White 4.5" square.

Step 6:

From here the Quatrefoil block goes together like a basic Nine Patch block. You first sew the patches into three rows as shown below.

Step 7:

Then press the seam allowances away from the Flying Geese units as shown in the picture below.

Step 8:

Then you can sew those three rows together to complete the block!

Step 9:

All that's left is the pressing. Press the seam allowances away from the center of the block as shown below.

Conclusion:

This was a fun quilt block to sew together. The most difficult part is the Flying Geese patches and they're not that hard. I think it would be a nice looking scrappy quilt if you made the same patches within the block the same color fabric but made each block different.

Layouts:

This is cute with sashing and cornerstones.

I hope you've enjoyed this Quatrefoil 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. To print a PDF of this tutorial, check out the free app at https://www.printfriendly.com/. 

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