Edward, but make it roomy

by Jennifer Jones November 1, 2023

Edward has been such a fun pattern for me to work on these last 6ish months. I think the initial mockups go back to early Spring when I was longing to add a good, go-to sawtooth star quilt pattern to my shop. When I'm designing patterns, I often think about, "how will this look on a bed? the back of a sofa? turned every which way?". It's the kind of quilt I like to make and *use* that I want to write patterns for. And Edward has definitely been that.

I started with Edward in rows...super clean and classic. Then I thought it might be fun all scattered, like this:

The scattered Edward I like to call Crazy Cousin Eddie. ;) It's made following the pattern all the way up to the point of where to place the blocks. For Eddie, you put them where you want to put them. I super love this patchwork-y design and have plans to create a fun Christmas one for my kids.

Then I thought about making it with some solid blocks between the stars. This one majorly leans classic, and I'm here for that. I love classic. I always say, "it's classic for a reason." Aka, you're gonna like it for a long time. And I really like when I like a quilt I've made for a long time.

This version I've called Ed. Because it's simple and direct and a little shorter to make! You're basically sewing half the number of stars for the same size quilt! Sometimes I need that pattern!

The stars in Edward are 12" finished, so for a quilt like I've shown above, it'll finish at a 60" square. Here's a few pointers for how to create Ed instead of Edward:

Decide what size quilt you'd like to make. For a checker board pattern like this, you want to work in odd number rows and columns to keep the design balanced. I'll do a little math for you here:

Quilt Size	# of Stars	# of Solid Squares
60"x 60"	13	12
60"x 84"	18	17
84"x 84"	25	24

You will need to cut the Solid Squares to 12.5"x 12.5". From a width of fabric (WOF) you can get three of these squares. So you will need 1.5 yds for the 60"x 60", 2.25 yds for the 60"x 84", and 3 yds for the 84"x 84".
Since you'll need to make a different number of stars than the Edward calls for, it's best to use the next size up pattern for the number you need, and then only sew the amount you need. So for the 60"x 60", the toddler Edward will create enough star blocks. For the 60"x 84" and 84"x 84",the rectangular throw Edward will be more than enough. For my 84" square Ed, I used the rectangular throw and with the extra blocks I made a table runner!

I know this isn't an exact science as it's not a completely new pattern, but I hope it'll help to get you started! Feel free to email me with any questions you might have!! And tag me if you make this version--I can't wait to see!

You can find the Edward pattern here.