the original pinwheel baby quilt

Sep 7

The original Pinwheel Baby Quilt was written as a tutorial in 2009 for the Moda Bake Shop. You can still find the photo tutorial on the Moda Cutting Table blog HERE.

The original pinwheel quilt was made using the fabric line Snippets from American Jane.

It was the first quilt pattern I had written. I had to chuckle a couple times when I was rewriting the tutorial to create this PDF. I’d like to think my pattern writing skills have improved!

You can absolutely visit the Moda Cutting Table blog and use the tutorial there to make this quilt. Or you can use the downloadable free PDF of the original tutorial, just refreshed a bit! The link for the PDF is at the end of this post.

This is probably my most popular quilt pattern. Google ‘pinwheel quilt’ and you will see it all over the Internets! It’s super simple and sews together pretty quickly.

Some have expressed concern over the bias edges. I have personally made this quilt a dozen or more times, and I have never had an issue.

Here are a few tips for sewing on the bias:

1) Pre-starching the fabric will help. So If you starch your fabrics, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. But definitely look at the next tips, if you’re still a little uneasy.

2) Don’t pull or push your fabric when sewing. Let the sewing machine/feed dogs do the work.

3) Using plenty of pins can help

4) Press your seams; don’t iron them. Set the iron on the seam and press; don’t move or drag the iron across your fabric and seams.

5) Try using a walking foot—I haven’t done this, but I’ve heard it helps.

6) Don’t stress over it too much. Cut a couple blocks out of scrap fabric, and see how it goes first.

Also: There should be enough excess to be able to square up & trim your pinwheel blocks to compensate for any wonkiness that might happen. You might also consider using a scant 1/4” seam allowance to give yourself extra fabric for squaring up and trimming the block