The 45″ x 45″ Carnival Baby Quilt Pattern is a fun and fat-quarter friendly pattern! The blocks in this quilt are made up of half square triangle units arranged in diamonds set on point.
This is a beginner-friendly quilt pattern!
The colors in this quilt remind me of summertime at the fair!
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Read the directions below to make this quilt.
Or purchase the Carnival Quilt Pattern on Etsy! The ad-free PDF you’ll purchase also includes an 18″ pillow and a 63″ x 72″ throw!!!
General Sewing Directions
The directions for this quilt are for rotary cutting, machine piecing, machine quilting, and the binding is hand-stitched to the quilt back.
Accurate cutting and sewing enhances your final product. Pin your pieces together before sewing them to ensure proper seam alignment.
Use a carefully followed 1/4” seam allowance to help you get uniform seams and matching corners!
Follow the directions described below as you press the seams.
Fabric Requirements
To achieve the scrappy look of this quilt I suggest using a variety of different light, medium, and dark colored prints, and a cream print for the background.
Fat eighth and fat quarter colored prints work great for this project, or raid your stash!
I fully support my local quilt shops as much as possible!! But sometimes it’s more convenient to shop online. Check out the Fat Quarter Shop or Connecting Threads for easy online fabric shopping!
Use different colors if you’d like, there are no rules!!!
Choose a coordinating fabric for the binding and for the backing.
Colored Prints:
1 1/4 yard total
Cream Prints:
1 1/4 yard total
Binding:
3/8 yard
Backing:
3 yards of 44″ or 1 1/2 yards of 108″, piece and/or trim to 53″ x 53″
Batting:
1 1/2 yards of 90″ or twin size
Cutting Directions
I like to use the Fiskars comfort grip rotary cutter!
Follow the directions below to cut the pieces needed for this quilt.
Colored Prints:
Cut 50 – 6 ” x 6” squares
Cream Prints:
Cut 50 – 6 ” x 6” squares
Binding:
Cut 5 – 2 1/2” x 44” strips
Making the Half Square Triangles (HST)
Make 100 5″ x 5″ HST units.
Use this technique to make two HST at a time using 1 – 6” colored print square and 1 – 6” cream print square.
Two-at-a-Time HST Technique
With a water-soluble marking pen, draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the cream square.
Now, place a colored square and this cream square right sides together, with the diagonal line facing up. Sew 1/4” along both sides of the line.
Then cut the two blocks apart along the line.
Press each HST open toward the colored side.
Use a small ruler to trim the blocks to measure 5” x 5” square. Find where the 5” horizontal and vertical lines on the ruler intersect.
Place the ruler over the HST, aligning the 45-degree line on the ruler to the diagonal seam and the 5” intersecting point on the ruler to the inside corner of the HST.
Make sure a bit of the fabric extends beyond the 5” lines and beyond the outside of the ruler. Hold the ruler steady and trim the right and top sides of the HST.
Turn the HST around so the corner you just trimmed matches with the 5” intersection point on the ruler and the 45-degree diagonal line on the ruler aligns with the diagonal seam of the HST.
Trim the right and top sides.
Repeat for all required half square triangles.
Sewing Diamond Block
Each diamond block is made up of four HST. To lay out the block arrange the HST with the colored triangles facing toward the center. This will form a colored diamond shape surrounded by the cream print corners.
Sew the top two HST together, press seam to the right. Sew the bottom two HST together, press seam to the left. Then sew these two rows together and press the seam open.
The block should measure 9 1/2” x 9 1/2” (unfinished).
Assemble Quilt Top
Lay out the blocks until you are pleased with the distribution of colors in the quilt top.
The quilt top will have 5 rows with 5 diamond blocks in each row.
Nest seams, pin, and sew blocks together to form the rows.
Press the seams of the odd rows (1, 3, 5, etc.) to the right and press the seams of the even rows (2, 4, 6, etc.) to the left.
This way the seams will nest when you sew the rows to each other.
Sew the rows together to create the quilt top.
Press the seams towards the top, towards the bottom, or open.
Finish the Quilt
Use your preferred method to baste, quilt, and bind the layers of the quilt together. For examples, check out my other patterns like the Granny Love or Sweet Pea quilts.
Enjoy!!
