Free Garden Sunflower Quilt Block Pattern

Nothing says summer like sunflowers, so let’s spread some sunshine with this free Garden Sunflower Quilt Block pattern! I love the bold look of sunflowers – they’re such a happy addition to the garden. Now you can grow them inside with your favorite fabric scraps!

Fun facts about this block

There are many things to love about this quilt block, but my favorite is the big size. It measures 14″ square (unfinished) and the piecing is simple, but there’s a little sneaky trick that you’re going to love. I’ll give you the sneaky details in just a bit.

You can make a standalone block to use in a quilt or add a border for a pillow cushion or a wall hanging. I added 2 1/2″ borders to one of my samples and it’s now a cute pillow!

One thing to consider with this block is the dimensional part of the flower petal units. If you’re making blocks for a quilt and you plan on having it quilted by a longarm professional, it will require special handling and extra cost. The hopper foot will get caught in the folded areas if they aren’t sewn down. If you’re quilting it yourself on a domestic machine or you’re just making one block for a pillow or wall hanging, you shouldn’t have any problems.

Supplies needed

You’ll be able to make this block with scraps (some larger than others) from your fabric stash! If you want to add borders, you’ll need a fat quarter of fabric (which will also be used for the block background). To give you an idea of amounts, the cutting instructions are below.

Basic Steps

Even though I’m providing the pattern as a free pdf, it’s nice to see more detailed steps of the process. Below you’ll find the basic steps and photos that I took while making one of my samples.

Sunflower Center Unit

After cutting out the fabric pieces, you’ll make the Sunflower center unit. This is just easy stitch & flip corners (or snowball corners). I used the Folded Corner Clipper Ruler to make my corner triangles instead of drawing a diagonal line on the corner squares, stitching on the line and then trimming. Either way, it’s easy peasy!

Leaf Units

The Leaf Units are made with strip piecing and then cutting into units and adding a rectangle. I don’t have photos of all the steps, but you’ll get the idea from the photo below.

Sunflower Petal Units (sneak piecing)

The Sunflower Petals are the last to make and these involve the sneaky piecing. It may look complicated, but it’s really fun and easy! There is only one seam in this unit and it’s hidden by the dimensional triangles. Below are the basic steps.

• Fold A3 and C rectangles in half, wrong sides together.
• Place the folded rectangles onto the large B rectangle so that the folded edges meet in the center. Pin in place.
• Place the second large B rectangle on top, right sides together, creating a sandwich. Pin and stitch with 1/4″ seam.

• Open the layers to expose the folded rectangles inside.
• Using your fingers, spread the rectangle bottom edges to form a triangle.
• Press folded edges.
• Press seam open. You’ll need to snip the folded edges inside the seam allowance in order to press the seam open.

Once you make this unit, you’ll see how easy it is! I hope to make a video to demonstrate these steps for the visual learners out there. I’ll update this blog post once I do.

Assemble the block units

The last step is to assemble all of the units and sew them together into rows. Then sew the rows together to create the block. It should measure 14 1/2″ square.

PDF Pattern Download

The pattern includes cutting and assembly instructions along with full color diagrams. You can download the free Garden Sunflower Quilt Block Pattern below. If you have any trouble with this, please email me and I will get back to you.

Color options

I love playing with color and fabric. I’ve made three Garden Sunflowers and they all have a different look and feel. The first one has classic sunny colors of yellow, orange/yellow and a black & white print for the center. The background is sky blue and they all work together to make it a classic, pretty block.

The second block I made is very traditional in color. You’ll see more gold and brown tones in this one. I love the light brown and white print for the triangles and Moda’s Grunge fabric in gold is perfect for the petals.

My favorite Garden Sunflower quilt block has a modern feel to it with bold solids and the black and white gingham in the center. That gingham is so fun and really says “hello”! I also really like the darker background color for this block because it makes the sunflower petals stand out.

You can toss together so many color combinations and create just about any kind of flower you want. That’s the fun of quilting in my opinion. Just play and have fun! Below are some color options I tossed together in EQ8 using all solids.

I hope you enjoy this pattern. I would love to see your version – use the hashtag #gardensunflowerquiltblock on social media. Make sure to pin the image below so you can come back to it easily. Happy summer quilting!