Dog lover? This simple dog face quilt block comes together quickly with half square triangle and solid fabric blocks! Add your personal touch with embroidery or appliqué and give your dogs their own personalities!

This dog quilt pattern is perfect no matter what your quilting skills are! This is a great project for the dog lovers in your life. No need to download a digital pattern, or purchase an appliqué pattern, this adorable block is quick and easy to make.

We’ve got the basic directions and cut requirements for five sizes of finished block sizes for the dog quilt pattern.

Here is our free dog quilt pattern and detailed instructions:

One (1) quilt block

How to Make Dog Quilt Blocks

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Beginner

Learn how to make this simple quilt block set on the diagonal. Then, give each of your puppies their own personality with added appliqué or embroidery to complete the look.

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Have fun making this for the animal lover with our free tutorial.

Materials

Two fabrics cut as outlined above in the cutting chart for the size block you want to make. One fabric will be the background and one will be the dog. You'll want to make sure there is value differentiation between the background fabric and the dog fabric.
Thread for sewing
OPTIONAL: Fusible web for adding eyes and nose to your dog block, and scraps of fabric
OPTIONAL: Embroidery thread or floss for embellishing your dog block

Tools

Rotary cutter
Cutting mat
Quilters ruler
Sewing machine
Iron
Pressing surface
Removeable fabric marker, I used a Frixion pen
OPTIONAL: embroidery needle and scissors for embellishments

Instructions

Start by cutting your fabrics. I made a 12-inch dog block. Here are my two (2) pieces of fabric for the half-square triangle unit (also known as HSTs) cut at 9-3/4" square and the two smaller squares cut at 4-1/2". My dog block will have a brown dog on a white background.
You'll need seven (7) half square triangles for this quilt block. I'm going to show you how to make 8 half square triangles at a time. This is a super quick and easy way to make them. You'll have one left over.

Take the lightest fabric and draw two diagonal lines on the wrong side of the fabric with your fabric marker forming a big X through the center of the square.
Layer your two larger squares with right sides together. I find with the larger squares I like to put a few pins in to keep the squares aligned while I'm sewing.
Next sew 1/4-inch next to each of the drawn lines on both sides of the line.
Here I'm starting to sew along the other drawn line.
Here are the two larger squares sewn together.
Now the magic happens! We'll first cut the sewn-together large square in half down the middle.
Then, cut the rectangle in half down the middle.
Next, cut along the drawn lines to form the half-square triangles.
Here are eight (8) half square triangles ready to be pressed. Press to your seam allowances to your preference. Read our article on pressing seams for quilting for more information.
After your seams are pressed, trim up your half square triangle blocks so they are all the right size. They should be the same size as your solid blocks. Since my solid blocks are cut at 4-1/2", I trimmed the HSTs to 4-1/2". See our video below with tips for trimming up half square triangles.
Lay all of your blocks out to form the dog.
Begin sewing the units together. I like to sew the units together in rows first, and then sew the rows together to form the larger quilt block.
TIP: Chain sew the pieces to be more efficient and quicker. This means to take the first two units from the first row and sew them together. Then, take the first two pieces from the second row and sew them together, and so on. When you've sewn the first two together, cut them apart and then sew on the third unit for each row. I always lay them back out and make sure I've got them all in the right position before sewing.
Here are the three rows sewn together.
And, the three rows sewn together to make the dog block.
Now the fun begins! Let's bring these puppies to life by adding their facial features. I looked through my scraps to see if I had anything that might be great for the eyes. And, then, I found this flower fabric that I thought looked like a dog's tongue!
Both of these fabrics already had fusible web on the wrong side. I played around with different ways to lay them out.
And, here is the mini quilt with four dog blocks ready to be quilted..

Recommended Products

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Here is a quick video to show you how to trim your half square triangles:

Tips and ideas for your dog quilt blocks:

Play around with eyes, noses, and tongues are optional! Have fun. Give your little puppies a personality!
Make the 12-inch or 18-inch block and use it to make a tote bag.
Is your canine companion your best friend? Personalize the quilt block to look like your family member!

Check out all of our free patterns for quilts on Create Whimsy.