Hearts are very popular in quilting with hundreds of heart quilt patterns from paper patterns, to traditional piecing and patchwork to appliqué. This heart quilt block is a simple pattern (and fun project!) using only squares and half square triangles to form a heart. It is a perfect quilt block for beginners who want to practice patchwork and half square triangles. Easy and fun quilt – perfect for a Valentine’s day quilt!

Here is a layout of the units for the heart block. I’ve used five (5) colors for our free pattern heart quilt block. You can use more or less! The important part in selecting your fabric is to make sure that the fabric used for the background clearly stands out from the fabrics used for the heart. Here I’ve used a pale blue for the background, with a variety of red, pink and lavender for the heart.

Free Patchwork Heart Quilt Block Pattern

Here is how to cut your fabrics, using five (5) fabrics for a variety of sizes of finished quilt blocks. Basically, you need two corner squares of your background fabric, eight (8) half square triangles that use your background and heart fabric and six (6) half square triangles from your fabrics used for the heart design.

Are you like me and pick up charm packs and layer cakes when you see ones you love? And, then they sit on a shelf in your sewing room? It’s time to break into them to make this simple heart quilt! It’s so easy to use charm squares for a finished 20-inch quilt block. And, layer cake squares will make a 40-inch finished quilt block – one large heart block!

Looking for a scrappy heart quilt pattern? Cut squares from your scrap stash to make scrappy heart quilt blocks. Have fun moving them around to form a heart pattern!

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Here is our free tutorial with step-by-step instructions for the heart quilt block pattern:

One (1) quilt block

Heart Quilt Block Tutorial

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Difficulty: Beginner

Easy to make patchwork heart quilt block from squares and half square triangles. Use as many fabrics as you'd like, as long as the background fabric clearly differentiates from the fabrics used in the heart units.

This is a perfect quilt block for beginners who want to practice their skills at half square triangles and patchwork piecing. And, it makes a great Valentine's Day project - turn it into a pillow cover or mini quilt!

Learn how to make a heart quilt block with our step-by-step tutorial.

Materials

1/4 yard each of five (5) different fabrics, or five (5) fat quarters
Thread

Tools

Iron
Ironing board
Sewing machine
Rotary cutter
Cutting mat
Quilter's ruler
Marking pen or pencil, I used a Frixion pen

Instructions

Cut your fabrics according to the fabric calculator above. You can use fewer fabrics for the inside of the heart, if you'd like, for a less scrappy look. You need eight (8) half square triangles that use the background fabric and the fabrics selected for the heart.
Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of your larger background fabric squares and three (3) of the heart fabric squares.
Here are half of the squares used for half square triangles with the diagonal line marked. This will be our stitching guide line.
Layer right sides together with a square on top that is marked with a contrasting fabric. For the background fabrics, always layer one of the heart fabric. Using the marked line as a guide, stitch 1/4" on both sides of the marked line. If your sewing machine has a 1/4" foot, it makes it super easy. With a Bernina, it is foot #37 or foot #57. Here is stitching the first seam.
Turn and sew 1/4" on the other side of the marked line. Press the seam to your preference. To learn more check out our article on pressing seams in quilting.
Take all of your units and begin to lay them out on a design wall, or on your table. I've got a small design wall made from a foam core board covered in batting. Start by placing your background units, with the smaller squares in the lower corners and then form the heart outline. Then, fill in the middle. Have fun moving and shifting units around until you get a design that makes you happy.
Sew units together into rows. Press seams to your preference.
Sew the rows together to finish the patchwork heart quilt block. Press seams to your prefernce.

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Make a Cheerful Heart Quilt

The basic heart quilt block above can be used to make a table runner, wall quilt, and even bed-size quilts! Have fun with fabric scraps or used a planned color palette for your project.

Here is a cutting chart for a variety of heart quilt projects and quilt sizes with detailed fabric requirements:

Cheerful heart quilt pattern materials needed chart

I’ll show you how to make a four-patch heart wall hanging. I used 12-inch blocks and the finished size of this quilt is 24″ x 24″.

First, select the fabrics for your hearts. The important thing is to select fabrics that have different values. You’ll want the background fabrics (pale pink and pale blue below) to be a different value from the fabrics in your heart. You can use different scale prints, too, to provide a visual difference in the fabrics to make the hearts pop.

Next, make the number of heart quilt blocks you’ll need for your project. I made four quilt blocks for the wall hanging.

Piece your quilt blocks together for your quilt top.

Then, layer your quilt top and backing fabric.

Quilt your quilt top. For my wall hanging I thought Big Stitch Hand Quilting would be perfect to set off the hearts. Here is a close up of the stitching.

Finally, finish the edge of the quilt. I did a binding around the edge of the quilt. Facing the edge of the quilt is also an option.

What are some ideas for the heart quilt block?

Make a Valentine’s heart pillow! Start with a square heart quilt block and make it into a pillow cover for a decorator pillow.

Make 4 heart blocks and line them up in a row for a festive Valentine table runner.

Love the look of a scrappy quilt? Use a jelly roll that you ‘just had to buy’ to make your half-square triangles. A perfect quilt for Valentine’s day! Learn how to make half-square triangles from jelly roll strips.

Browse through more free quilt patterns on Create Whimsy. We have the full pattern available as a pdf pattern on Etsy.