From a Lap Quilt to a King Bed: Top 6 Quilt Patterns

A quilt can look generous on the cutting table and still come up short on the bed: the mattress edge shows at the sides, and the pillows sit on bare sheet. Size names do not help much, since one designer’s lap quilt is 20 inches wider than another’s. That is why the size chart is the first thing I check in quilt patterns, before the colors on the cover.

This shortlist holds six complete patterns for whole quilts, from three designers. Three are charted from a lap size to a king, one runs from a wall hanging to a queen, and the other two are a star quilt and a hexagon lap quilt. Below the cards you will find how to measure the bed, how each top is pieced, and how much backing and binding a bed size takes.

Quilt Patterns from a Wall Hanging to a 105-Inch King

Most of what a search for whole quilts turns up on Creative Fabrica is digital paper, laser-cut barn quilt signs and embroidery files. I also skipped single blocks, 17 to 20 inch appliqué panels, small wall quilts and listings that gave no sign of instructions or fabric amounts. No designer appears more than three times.

TL;DR: Six complete quilt patterns from three designers. Three are charted from lap to king and one from a wall hanging to a queen; the other two are a star quilt that finishes at 66 x 84 inches and a hexagon lap quilt.

• Persimmon Nine Patch Quilt – Best for any bed size
• Scrappy Squares Quilt – Best for a mixed stack of prints
• Rainbow Cross Pattern – Best for wall hanging to queen
• Irish Square Dance Quilt Pattern – Best step-by-step guide
• Yankee Doodle Stars Quilt Pattern – Best star quilt
• Perfect Hexagon Quilt – Best for trying hexagons

Quick Comparison

Measure the Bed Before You Pick a Size

Standard US mattresses measure about 38 x 75 inches (twin), 54 x 75 (full), 60 x 80 (queen) and 76 x 80 (king). A bed quilt is the mattress plus a drop down each side, and often some extra length to tuck under the pillows.

Take the Persimmon queen at about 86 x 105 inches. On a 60 inch wide queen mattress it hangs roughly 13 inches over each side. That leaves 25 inches beyond the mattress length to divide between the foot overhang and any pillow tuck.

Yankee Doodle Stars has one stated size, 66 x 84 inches, and on a 38 inch twin it would drop about 14 inches per side. Quilting usually draws a top in slightly, so allow for that. For a deep mattress, measure from its top edge to where the quilt should stop and compare that drop with the chart.

Lap Sizes Have No Fixed Numbers

Persimmon calls 44 x 44 inches a lap quilt, while Scrappy Squares calls 64 x 65 inches a large lap quilt, the same width as its twin. In my view the first covers the knees in an armchair, and the second is big enough to wrap up in on the sofa.

The Perfect Hexagon listing names a lap size but prints no measurements. Before buying fabric, check the product page or contact the designer, and hold a tape measure over the chair, sofa or bed where the quilt will live.

Squares, Stars and Hexagons

Plain squares and nine patch blocks are sewn in straight rows, which is one reason Persimmon, Scrappy Squares and Irish Square Dance can each be offered in four sizes: a grid of repeated blocks is easy to make wider or longer. Rainbow Cross uses much smaller squares, and its designer suggests Quilter’s Grid, an interfacing printed with a grid, to keep them straight in the wall hanging. For solids, negative space and graphic layouts, see my modern quilt patterns.

Stars bring diagonal seams. Some star designs use set-in seams, also called Y-seams, where three pieces meet at one point and the seam turns a corner; many others are built from half square triangles and flying geese with straight seams only. Yankee Doodle Stars says it has no Y-seams, and its listing gives rotary cutting directions alongside AccuQuilt die cutting.

Hexagon construction may involve Y-seams on the machine or English paper piecing by hand, where each hexagon is basted over a paper template, depending on the pattern. The Perfect Hexagon listing does not name its method, so the video tutorial mentioned on the cover is the place to check before cutting.

Backing, Batting and Binding for a Bed-Size Top

In the quilt sandwich, backing and batting need a margin of several inches past the quilt top on every side, and a long-arm quilter often asks for about 4 inches per side, so ask before you buy. Quilting cotton is commonly 42 to 44 inches wide on the bolt, a little less once the selvages are trimmed. Even the 44 inch Persimmon lap quilt needs a 52 inch backing with that margin, too wide for one width of fabric, so its back is pieced from two lengths.

For the Persimmon queen, the same 4 inch margin gives a backing of about 94 x 113 inches. Two widths of quilting cotton cover only about 80 to 84 inches, so the back takes three widths sewn together, whichever direction the seams run, or one piece of extra-wide backing, which is commonly sold about 108 inches wide. A free fabric yardage chart has a quilt backing worksheet for these numbers.

Binding starts from the perimeter: 2 x (86 + 105) = 382 inches for that queen. Add about a foot for the joining seams and the corners, roughly 394 inches. If each strip cut across the fabric gives about 40 usable inches after the diagonal joins, that is 394 ÷ 40 = 9.85, rounded up to 10 strips. At a common strip width of 2 1/2 inches, 10 strips use 25 inches of fabric, so 3/4 yard (27 inches) covers it. The Persimmon and Scrappy Squares materials lists include a binding fabric line for each size, so compare your own count with it.

Quilt Pattern Questions

What is the most popular quilt pattern?

There is no official count, but traditional designs such as the nine patch, the log cabin and half square triangle layouts are among the most widely sewn. For block practice before a whole top, the quilt block roundup has single blocks in several techniques.

Can I make a size the pattern does not list?

Often, by adding or removing rows of blocks or changing the border width, though it depends on how the design is built. Sketch the new layout on paper, then recalculate the borders, backing, batting and binding: the chart only covers the sizes printed on it.

Can one pattern make both a wall hanging and a bed quilt?

Rainbow Cross does: its listing includes instructions for a wall hanging, twin, full and queen. None of the other listings here mentions a wall hanging size.

Do these patterns come as printable PDFs?

The three carina2 listings say they are PDF patterns with pieces that print on 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Irish Square Dance and Yankee Doodle Stars describe nine and seven pages with color photos. For anything a listing does not state, such as templates or extra tools, check the product page before buying.

Tape the Size on the Bed Before Cutting

Size charts in quilt patterns are still only numbers on a page. Before committing to a bed-size pattern, mark the chosen width and length on the bed with a tape measure, or lay out a spare sheet folded to that size, and look at the drop from the side and the foot. If it is your first whole quilt, the easy quilt roundup sorts designs by how simple the piecing is. Five minutes with a sheet costs much less than finding out after binding that the sides fall short.

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