Evergreen Wreath Quilt ~ Easy Pattern for Beginners

This Evergreen Wreath quilt is an easy pattern for a beginning quilter.  Measuring 23” x 23”, this quilt is the perfect size to decorate a tabletop.  Or add a sleeve to the back of the quilt, and hang this pretty wreath up!!

There’s nothing complicated about the pattern.  This quilt can easily be made in just a few evenings or over the weekend!! 

This quilt is great for the holidays or anytime of you want to add a little evergreen to your home.  And it’s a great addition to any farmhouse décor!

Complete directions for sewing the Evergreen Wreath Quilt are included below.  If you’d like to purchase an ad-free PDF of the Evergreen Wreath Quilt pattern it’s available in my Etsy shop!

evergreen wreath pattern image

General Sewing Directions the Evergreen Wreath Quilt     

The directions for this Evergreen Wreath 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 ¼” seam allowance.  I recommend using a special presser foot with a ¼” guide if you have one for your machine.  This will help you get uniform seams, and matching corners!

Follow the directions described below as you press open the seams.  Each individual row is pressed in the opposite direction of the previous row to eliminate bulk and help seams to lay flat.  Rows sewn together are then all pressed in one direction for a uniform look. 

The pattern calls for machine quilting, but this quilt is so small you could easily hand quilt it!

evergreen wreath on wall with crock and berry bush

Fabric Requirements for the Evergreen Wreath Quilt

This pretty evergreen wreath looks best when paired with a white or light cream background.  If the cream background fabric is too dark there isn’t enough contrast to allow the wreath the pop!

Green Fabric: 

The total fabric needed is about ½ yard.  To achieve the scrappy look of this quilt I suggest using at least 6-8 different prints.  Either raid your stash, or purchase a few new fat quarters. 

Light Cream Fabric: 

The total fabric needed is about ¾ yard.  To achieve the scrappy look of this quilt I suggest using at least 6-8 different prints.  Either raid your stash, or purchase a few new fat quarters. 

Backing Fabric: 

You’ll need ¾ yard.           

Binding Fabric: 

About ¼ yard total is needed.

Batting: 

The pattern requires a piece of 27” x 27” thin cotton batting (like Warm & Natural) to make this quilt.

warm and natural image logo

Cutting Directions

Grab your favorite cutting mat, plastic ruler, and rotary cutter and prepare the following pieces to make the Evergreen Wreath!

Green Fabric: 

Cut 16 – 4” squares. 

green fabric squares

Cream Fabric:  

Cut 16 – 4” squares and 49 – 3” squares.

cream fabric squares

Binding:

In total, you’ll need a binding strip that ends up measuring about 98” long (this leaves room for connecting and trimming the ends).  From fat quarters, scrap strips, or full width of fabric cut and sew together enough (this depends on the width of fabric you use!) 2 ½” wide strips to measure the length of binding needed to go around the entire quilt top.  

Trim the ends of each strip at opposing 45-degree angles, pin, and sew together to make the long 98” binding strip. 

cutting end of fabric strip at 45 degree angle

Backing: 

Cut a 27” x 27” square  

Batting: 

Cut a 27″ x 27″ square

Half Square Triangle Blocks

For this pattern you’ll need to make 32 cream/green half square triangle blocks

To make two half square triangle blocks at a time you’ll use 1 – 4” green square and 1 – 4” cream square.

Using a fine pencil, lightly draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the cream square. 

marking diagonal line on fabric square with a pencil and ruler

Now, place a green square and this cream square, right sides together, with the diagonal line facing up.  Sew ¼” along both sides of the line. 

sewing on sides of diagonal line on fabric

Then cut the two blocks apart along the line. 

cutting apart fabric units

Press each block open toward the green side.  Trim the blocks to measure 3” x 3” square.

Use a small ruler to trim the blocks.  Find where the 3” horizontal and vertical lines on the ruler intersect.  Place the ruler over the block, aligning the 45-degree line on the ruler to the diagonal seam and the 3” intersecting point on the ruler to the corner of the block.  Make sure a bit of the fabric extends beyond the 3” lines and beyond the outside of the ruler.  Hold the ruler steady and trim the right and top sides of the block.  This will be very minimal. 

Turn the block around so the corner you just trimmed matches with the 3” intersection point on the ruler and the 45-degree diagonal line on the ruler aligns with the diagonal seam of the block.  Trim the right and top sides of the block.  Again, this will be minimal. 

trimming half square triangle block

Repeat for all 32 half square triangle blocks.

Assemble the Evergreen Wreath Quilt Top

Now that you have all your squares cut out and your half square triangle blocks ready, you want to plan how they’ll be arranged to make up the Evergreen Wreath quilt top. 

I like to lay all my squares on a card table next to my sewing machine and play with arranging them until I get the look I want.  Follow the diagram shown here to obtain the design.  The layout will be 9 squares across and 9 squares down.

squares of fabric for evergreen wreath layout

The Evergreen Wreath quilt top has 9 rows.  Begin stitching squares together (right sides facing) to complete each row. Remember to use a ¼” seam allowance for all seams.  I really like to use my ¼” seam foot to make sure all my seams are exactly ¼”!!  This is especially important when sewing such tiny squares together.  If you don’t have this type of foot, make sure you know exactly where your ¼” sewing line is on your machine, and be careful to follow it!

sewing squares of fabric together for evergreen wreath quilt

As you complete a row, lay it back down on the table in the right placement to make sure you don’t mess up your arrangement of blocks.

Pressing the Blocks and Rows

I wait to press the rows until I have each of them sewn together.  Be careful to just “press” and NOT “iron” the seams in a back-and-forth motion, or your quilt will stretch out of shape. 

Begin by pressing the seams of the first row all in one direction.  Press the seams of the second row in the opposite direction.  Continue to rotate the pressing direction of each row until you have the seams of all rows pressed.  Think…odd rows 1, 3, 5, etc. press the seams to the right.  Even rows 2, 4, 6, etc. press the seams to the left.  

By using this rotating direction of pressed seams, you will have nicely nested seams and less bulk when you sew the rows to each other.  This method of pressing distributes the bulk, which will make you happy when you machine quilt your project!  Bulky seams can lead to bumpy quilting patterns, broken thread, and overall unevenness of your machine-quilted quilt top.

sewing rows together to form quilt top

Now that you have the pieced rows pressed, sew them together!

Pin rows 1 and 2 together, right sides together.  Make sure to line up the seams, and pin to hold them in place.  Remove the pins as you come to them when you’re stitching the ¼” seam.  I like to press each set of rows as I sew them together.  The rows all get pressed in one direction, either towards the top or towards the bottom. 

By pressing them all in one direction it will make for a uniform and smooth quilt top.  Repeat until you have all of the rows sewn to each other and pressed.

Nicely pressed quilt blocks and tops are a work of art, and a skill to develop!  I love how pretty they look from the back too!!

Finishing the Evergreen Wreath Quilt

Now that you have your top sewn together, it’s time to finish the Evergreen Wreath quilt! 

Layering the Top, Batting, and Back

I refer to layering the quilt as “sandwiching”.  You need to sandwich the top and back with the batting in the middle.  For a larger quilt, this process takes a bit more time and steps.  But for this mini quilt, it’s a breeze to sandwich the layers together! 

On a table or countertop, use masking or painter’s tape to tape down the backing fabric.  As you tape the back to the table, you’ll want to make sure the fabric is smooth, without wrinkles.  Also, make sure the right side of the fabric is facing down! 

Get Out All The Wrinkles!

Lay the batting on top of the taped-down quilt back, and move your hands across it to smooth it all over.  This will get rid of any wrinkles in the batting, and help to adhere it to the backing fabric.  This quilt is so small, you don’t need to use basting spray to adhere the layers together.  Just a few pins will do the trick!

Once you have the batting placed on top of the quilt back, center the top of the quilt (the flimsy!) over the two bottom layers.  Right side facing up, of course!  The two bottom layers of the quilt (the back and the batting) should extend about 2” all around the outside edges of the quilt top. 

Move your hands across the quilt top to smooth it all over, and help remove any wrinkles.  This will also help adhere the quilt top to the batting a little bit. 

I Use Pins to Baste My Quilt

Once you have the top of the quilt all smoothed out, use large safety pins to baste all three layers together.  I like to use 1 ½” stainless pins, and I keep them all in a cute old canning jar that was my grandma’s.

pin basted layers of quilt

Put a pin in each corner of the quilt sandwich, in the middle, and around the quilt so the three layers don’t move around when you’re machine quilting this project.  I used about 8-10 pins to hold the sandwich together.  You really don’t want to use more than this or you’ll be needing to stop a lot when you’re quilting to remove pins, which upsets the mojo of your quilting rhythm, lol!

“Quilting” the Quilt

I used a cute, swirly, cinnamon bun design to machine quilt my layers together.

Here is a video showing how to machine quilt using the cinnamon bun design.

machine quilting the evergreen wreath quilt

Use whatever free-motion stitch you’d like, or use a straight stitch to quilt in the ditches or along the seams. You’ll need a darning foot to free-motion quilt, and you’ll need to either be able to lower the feed dogs on the machine or place a special cover over them.  If you’re using a straight stitch to machine quilt you’ll need a walking foot.

As an alternative, you can hand-quilt these layers together too.

Binding the Quilt

When you’ve finished quilting the layers together, it’s time to bind the edges of your quilt!  I’ll do my best to describe the binding process below, but if you’re confused by my directions there are lots of videos on the Internet that will demonstrate the process for you.

Prepare Binding Strip

Take your 2 ½” binding strips that you previously cut and prepare to sew them together.  To do this, fold the strip in half.  Using your ruler, find the 45-degree line and lay it along the bottom of the folded strip.  Now, you can cut a 45-degree angle through both layers.  When you open up the strip each end will have the angle facing in the opposite direction.

Align two strips together perpendicularly along the 45-degree ends.  Who ever thought you’d use those 4th grade geometry skills again, lol!  Pin the ends and sew them together.  Press the seams open. 

Then, fold the binding strip in half (wrong sides together), and press. 

You’ll need a finished strip that is about 90” in total length, you will trim it after it’s sewn to the layers.

Sew the Binding Strip to the Quilt

Begin to sew the raw edge of the binding to the quilt by pinning it along one side.  Be careful to sew the raw edge of the binding strip to the quilt, not the folded edge!

sewing binding strip on edge of quilt

I usually start sewing the binding strip in the middle of the quilt side that I’m starting with.  Start sewing about 5” in from the end of the binding strip, leaving a hanging “tail” on the binding.  You’ll sew this to the end of the binding strip when you finish sewing all along the sides of the quilt.

Stop sewing on the first side ¼” from the corner, use a pin to mark this location and sew right up to it.  Backstitch a bit, and cut your thread but DON’T cut the binding strip. 

stop at end of binding strip to turn corner

Making the Mitered Corner

Now, remove the quilt and binding strip from your machine and fold the binding strip straight up so it’s perpendicular from the side you were just sewing on. 

flip binding strip up on corner

Fold the binding strip back down on itself and match it to the edge of the quilt you just sewed it to, and the next edge of the quilt you’re about to sew it to.  Pin this fold in place, and pin the binding strip to this edge of the quilt and continue to sew it, again stopping ¼” from the next corner and repeating the folding process described above. 

Continue in this manner until you are on the last side of the quilt, the side you started on. 

Connecting the Ends of the Binding

Stop stitching about 4” from where you started.  Backstitch and cut the thread (but not the binding strip, not yet!), remove the quilt and binding strip from the machine.

You now have two “tails” of the binding strip, one from where you started stitching it to the quilt and one from where you just stopped.  You’ll need to join these tails together so that you have a continuous binding strip to finish sewing down to the quilt.  This can be tricky! 

Here I don’t worry about cutting 45-degree angles on each end of the binding strip to sew it together to make a continuous strip.  If you can master this technique, my hat is off to you!!  What I do is measure how much more binding strip I’ll need to finish sewing it to the edge of the quilt. 

meet edges of binding strips

I then cut a straight line along each end of the binding strip, adding ¼” to each end so I can sew the ends together with a ¼” seam (right sides together).  Continue to sew the now continuous binding strip to the quilt.

press seam of binding strip open
finish sewing binding strip to quilt

Trim the Batting and Back

Trim the batting and quilt back to ¼” from the edge of the quilt top.  I use a ruler and a rotary cutter to accomplish this task.  Work carefully, so you don’t cut into your quilted project.

Hand-Stitch the Folded Binding Edge to the Quilt Back

Here is my FAVORITE part of the process, hand-sew the folded edge of the binding strip to the back of the quilt.  When you get to the corner, carefully turn the corner right-side out to make a nice, mitered corner.  I tack a few stitches up the corner to hold it in place, and then continue stitching along all sides and corners until…VOILA!  Your binding is complete!

If you’d like, you can add a label to the back of your Evergreen Wreath quilt. You can even pin or stitch on a bow for the holiday season!

evergreen wreath quilt with a bow pinned onto it pine cones and berries in jar

I hope you enjoy making this scrappy, mini quilt!!

Again, if you’d like to purchase an ad-free PDF of the Evergreen Wreath quilt pattern it’s available in my Etsy shop.

evergreen wreath quilt with a large pine cone

Happy Quilting!!!

~Bonnie

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