Today is class #29 in our ongoing series of quilting workshops for beginners. We are now doing quilting projects, and today’s project is a Houndstooth quilt pattern for a lap quilt. The last two workshops we experimented with doing smaller quilting projects for the kitchen, such as Fall leaf potholders, coasters and table runners.
Today’s project is physically as large as one of the larger projects for which we used to take several weeks earlier in our quilting workshop series. But, this is still very much a beginners quilting pattern, and it is superfast as it benefits from design repetition and sewing simplicity. While the houndstooth looks like an irregular shape, it essentially consists of alternating colorblocks and stripes. Can you see that? That’s why we can make this large quilt in a record time!
HOUNDSTOOTH TREND ALERT !!
Hello. This is really a trend alert. Houndstooth is increasingly in fashion! Not just as part of your Fall / Winter outfit, but also in home décor.
In beautiful, contemporary home decor places, ranging from Pier 1, to Nordstrom to One Kings Lane, you’ll find houndstooth chairs, houndstooth ottomans, houndstooth wall paper, rugs, cups ‘n’ saucers and all kinds of personal objects and home décor accents with the houndstooth pattern. So, this quilting class is going to help you to be really trendy !!!
Like this ottoman? I do.
Houndstooth Quilt Pattern Free
One of my favorite winter coats of all time was a gorgeous, timeless classic with a black/white houndstooth pattern and golden buttons. I adored that coat and it loved me back: I looked great in it. It was wool and warm. And it still looked brand-new, even after 14 years of wear! I could still be wearing that exact same winter coat today, and all my life, for that matter. But, when we emigrated out of Canada to Italy, I felt it was time to ‘lovingly’ pass the coat on to a friend. I have to confess, now years later, I still miss it. I guess I grew attached to that pattern. Ever since, I love the houndstooth pattern.
So, when I came across this houndstooth quilt pattern, I was overjoyed!!!! Working on this is not going to give you a boring granny-type quilt. It’s going to become a beautifully elegant and timeless quilt – a piece that you will LOVE to have as part of your room décor.
Ideal Color Schemes for this Houndstooth Quilt Pattern
My preferred color scheme for houndstooth is simple black/white. However the video tutorial works this pattern in navy blue and white. You will also love this in chocolate and cream- colors; gold and off-white; or black and white or cream. Using red (/bright pink) and white will give this quilt a cheer and a holiday feel.
Not only do I love this design, I love this particular quilt pattern, because it’s so easy and it takes advantage of all that the quilting world has to offer. What do I mean?
The secret to this Houndstooth Quilt Pattern lies in the set-up.
This Houndstooth Quilt Pattern is using charm packs (pre cut 5″ squares) and yardage. There’s hardly any prep work to do, as for the colored squares, you simply use pre-cut charm packs! How simple and fast is this! Perfect. And the tooths are made with strips. Again, easy!
A good rotary cutter, a self-healing cutting mat and a quilting ruler with a 45 degree indicator. These three can be purchased cheaper as a set. Here’s a high quality set for a low price:
Houndstooth Quilt Sewing Instructions
Prep
The strips needs to be cut at 2 1/4”. Cut 16 of the darker fabric and 16 strips of the lighter fabric.
You are going to cut 16 blue ones and 16 white ones.
Step 1
Sew a black and white strip, right sides together, allowing for a 1/4” seam.
Lay your dark color on top. Now iron the strip open, and be sure to iron the seam over to the dark size, so that it won’t be showing on the back of your light fabric.
Do this twice.
Step 2
Sew both strips together, laying the blue on top of the white side and the white side on top of the blue side, and sew the long sides of the strips together.
Step 3
With a 45 degree ruler, cut triangles out of your double strip. You should be 10 or 11 triangles.
Now iron these triangles open, again making sure that the seams are folded below the darker fabric. And voila, you now have striped squares! Fabulous.
Step 4
Lay out your quilt in alternating rows. Start with a row of black square, striped square, black square, striped square, etc.
Your second row is of striped square, white square, striped square, etc.
Pay special attention to the direction of the striped squares. Between rows they should form little butterflies. Collectively they should form the classic houndstooth pattern. Be sure to have a close look at the quilt image above so you’ll get your pattern right.
Step 5
Sew the squares together into rows.
Sew the rows together.
Step 6.
Add borders, batting and backing, as per our other quilt instructions.
For more info, see the video!
Free Video Tutorial on how to make a Houndstooth Quilt
The perfect video quilting tutorial that teaches you how to make a Houndstooth quilt.
If you don’t see a video with your Free Quilting Tutorial for Houndstooth Pattern, you can click here.
Many thanks to Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company for her excellent quilting video tutorial. All quilt image credit goes out to Jenny.
Rose
First published on November 20, 2014. Updated October 24, 2023
, or navy blue:
, or snow, or natural, or tan… as you wish… just a solid, light, high-contrast color.
.
is the most popular one in all of the US. However, I have a Janome Sewing Machine similar to this one
, and love it. Both are good basic machines suitable for a wide range of sewing projects.
Here’s a high quality set for a low price:
