Using Fat Quarters for the Nordic Star Quilt

One of the questions I field the most is whether Nordic Star is fat quarter friendly. The short answer is no. The long answer is, yes, you can use fat quarters for the Nordic Star quilt, but it’s complicated.

Nordic Star was written to use yardage. The ombre version is a gradient and each color gets used more than once. So as written, the pattern is not fat quarter friendly.

However, if you wanted to use one fabric per block, you could make it FQ friendly! You’ll just need to alter it slightly. Let’s dive into how to use fat quarters for the Nordic Star quilt.

Block Construction:

When constructing Nordic Star, you make 4 HSTs per block (A), and then 8 units that are created using the stitch and flip method (B & C). In order to get all your cuts out of a fat quarter, you will not cut out the pieces needed for the HSTs. DO NOT CUT A PIECES. Instead, you’ll use the offcuts from the stitch and flip pieces to construct the HSTs needed for the corners of the block.

Doing this means you won’t have enough fabric leftover to make the bonus quilt Wonderie. However, you can use the remaining offcuts to make a smaller bonus quilt, throw pillows, or save them for another project in the future.

Here’s what your FQ cutting diagram will look like. Please reference your pattern for the size of each of the pieces:

Skip the instructions for constructing the HSTs and head straight to the information on how to make the stitch & flip units. Use the offcuts from sewing pieces B to create the HSTs needed for the corners of the block. You’ll have 4 extra HSTs for another project. There’s very little trimming on these units so make sure you’re sewing an accurate seam allowance! If your seam allowance is too large, your HSTs won’t be big enough.

Although Nordic Star is written for a single fabric per block, you could choose to mix and match your fabrics across you blocks for an extra scrappy look. Here’s what a super scrappy Nordic Star quilt could look like. For this look, you’d need the same number of fat quarters as you have blocks. For example, the throw size has 20 blocks and would need 20 fat quarters. Simply divide out your fabrics between three blocks instead of sewing them all in one block!

You can also use this technique to make an ombre Nordic Star quilt that uses one fat quarter per block, like my Rifle Paper Holiday version. I used half yards for this quilt because I wanted to make the bonus Wonderie quilt, but it can be done with fat quarters instead (and omit Wonderie).

Nordic Star quilt made with fat quarters

So, that’s how you can use fat quarters for the Nordic Star quilt. Using fat quarters opens up the possibilities for this pattern. I can’t wait to see what you make!