How to Sew a Star of Bethlehem Quilt

The star of Bethlehem quilt pattern has been around since before the 1900s. In the center of the star of Bethlehem quilt block, there is a large 8-pointed star made up of small diamond shapes. So instead of looking like a 5-point star, the star of Bethlehem looks like a star burst or medallion.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Cut fabric
• Iron
• Sewing machine and supplies

Get Your Fabric Ready

1. Select fabric. For your start, you can use the same color or different colors. The more you play with the color of your star of Bethlehem quilt, the greater chance that it will be breath taking. Just make sure you have a good background color as well.

2. Cut 8 diamonds. For a final 5-inch square star, your diamonds should be 2.5 inches along each edge, and the width of your diamond should be 1.25 inches.

3. Take your background color and cut 4 squares that are 2.5 inches.

Sew Your Quilt Block Together

4. Arrange your diamonds so that they all meet at one of their points. This will look a little like a pinwheel or a star burst.

5. Sew these diamond pieces together.

6. Press your seams so your diamond lies flat.

7. Put one of your background squares in between the points of the star. Sew it in place.

8. Repeat Step 4 for each of your square background pieces, making sure you do not skip any spaces between the star's points. When you are done, half of your star will not have background pieces sewn to them. This is your star of Bethlehem quilt block.

9. Complete the Steps in these sections until you have enough pieces to make the right sized quilt.

10. Combine these blocks by sewing the columns together first. Use the free edges of one block's squares to fill in the blank spots on your other block's edge.

Tips & Warnings

• You will need to cut and sew on more background squares after you put the blocks of your star of Bethlehem quilt together. These squares will fill in the spaces in the outer edges of your quilt.