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Perfecting Lone Stars

Made by Elsie M. Campbell

When my Aunt Grace left a box of diamond patches from an unfinished Lone Star quilt in her sewing room, she did not realize that she had left me the spark that rekindled my childhood interest in quiltmaking.

Whether you use a rotary cutter and ruler to strip-piece your stars, as I do, or use more traditional methods, the diamond points can stretch out of shape during construction. If the bias edges have stretched, the points may not come together precisely in the center, and they will not fit perfectly with the side triangles or corner squares.

I avoid these pitfalls by blocking the 8 pieced diamond points before joining them together into a star. This method works best for stars that measure less than 36" across when finished. The smaller the points, the more important it is to control distortion. Even a slight variation becomes obvious when scaled down. Larger stars can also be blocked, but you will need a larger pressing surface.

Elsie M. Campbell is a quilt artist and teacher living in Dodge City, Kansas. She has made many Lone Star variations, winning national awards with many of them.

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