Make Lone Star, Dresden plate and wedge quilt blocks

Stars made of diamonds, and plates and fans made of wedges, don’t sit on a square grid: their points are at 45°, or at turns of a circle. Quarter Inch drafts them exactly and says how each piece is cut, from strips with a 45° or wedge ruler where it can be, and from templates where it can’t.

In the library

Under Browse by shape, Eight-point has Le Moyne Star, Lone Star, Kaleidoscope and Spider Web, and Wedges has Dresden Plate, Grandmother’s Fan, Mariner’s Compass and New York Beauty Unit.

Each block’s page says how it’s cut, at which sizes, and why:

• Le Moyne Star: its diamonds and corner squares can’t both be whole eighths of an inch, so every piece is cut from a template, at any size, with a dot at each set-in corner.
• Kaleidoscope and Spider Web: drafted on the same 45° frame. Their pages say which pieces cut on the ruler and which need templates.
• Dresden Plate: 20 blades, cut with an 18° wedge ruler from strips at the sizes where their ends land on the ⅛″ marks, and from a template at other sizes. The plate is appliquéd to its square, with a circle over the middle. Grandmother’s Fan is 5 blades of 18° from a corner.
• Mariner’s Compass: its points meet at angles no ruler has lines for, so every piece is cut from a template.

Dresden plate math works out blades and angles by hand.

One big star: a Lone Star quilt

1. Choose New quilt, Guided, and a size. Under Layout, choose One big star.

2. Choose Strips, cut (1½″, 2″, 2½″ and 3″) and Diamonds a side (3 to 9). The star is sized by its strips, so every diamond is cut from strip sets at 45°.

   

3. A border fills the star out to your bed size. Add or change borders as for any quilt, then choose the fabrics.

The star’s square is trimmed a little beyond its points, so they float clear of the seam; the corner squares and side triangles are set in. The Cutting page shows the strip sets. Lone Star quilt math explains the sums.

Draw your own star

1. In My blocks, choose Draw a new block, then 45° star under What kind of grid?

2. Under How many diamonds a point?, choose 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. The frame is the star’s: eight diamonds, a square in each corner and a triangle in each side, each split the same way.

3. Draw with Line and Units, and color with Color. With Repeat what I draw on Eight turns or Kaleidoscope, one line is drawn in all eight points.

   

Wedge blocks (plates, fans and compasses) come from the library; the editor’s grids are squares, the 45° star and 60° triangles.

On an iPad or a phone

If it doesn’t look right

• Every piece of a Le Moyne Star needs a template. That’s the geometry: its diamonds are never a whole eighth high in a block of whole inches. A Lone Star from strips avoids it, because it’s sized by the strips.
• A line in a star’s corner was drawn only four times. Corners and sides can’t turn an eighth and stay on the grid, so they go in the four corners. The status line says so.
• A size says “about”. Diamonds at 45° aren’t whole eighths across. The quilt keeps the exact size; what you cut is on the ⅛″ marks.

Checked against the app on October 26, 2026