POSTED 2011-07-05

Storm At Night

This eye-bending quilt pattern, based on the traditional storm-at-sea pattern, is actually composed of rather simple elements with none of the curves that we sometimes perceive when looking at it. A basic version is shown at the left above, with two more complex alternates to the right. This article describes the construction of the basic version:

The pattern is composed of 3 different units (one repeated), all quite similar:

An A, two Bs and a C are assembled into units and combined, with extra As and Bs used to complete the repeat on the far edges:

To make the version shown here (~36" including borders), you will need the following sub-units.

This breaks down to the following basic pieces:

All sizes noted in the diagram are finished measurements. See the materials/cutting list below for cut sizes:

Black Fabric (1.25 yds)

qt 16 - 2.125" squares (0.125 yards. Cut 1 strip(s) of width 2 5/8 inches and length 45 inches. Divide each strip into 16 pieces by cutting every 2 5/8 inches.)
qt 96 - 1.5" x 3" half-rectangle triangles (0.375 yards. Cut 5 strip(s) of width 2 3/16 inches and length 45 inches. Divide each strip into 10 pieces by cutting every 4 5/16 inches. Cut each rectangle in half diagonally. There will be 4 pieces left-over. )
qt 9 - 4.25" squares ( 0.25 yards. Cut 1 strip(s) of width 4 3/4 inches and length 45 inches. Divide each strip into 9 pieces by cutting every 4 3/4 inches.)
qt 4 - 3.5" x 36.5" strips for border (1/2 yd. Cut 4 strips of width 3.5")

White Fabric (0.875)

qt 64 - 1.5" half-square triangles (0.25 yards. Cut 2 strip(s) of width 2 3/8 inches and length 45 inches. Divide each strip into 18 pieces by cutting every 2 3/8 inches. Cut each square in half diagonally. There will be 8 pieces left-over.)
qt 24 - 3"x6" diamonds (0.375 yards. Cut 3 strip(s) of width 3 3/16 inches and length 45 inches. Divide each strip into 9 diamonds. There will be 3 pieces left-over. A pattern piece for the diamond is available for download.
qt 36 - 3" half-square triangles (0.25 yards. Cut 2 strip(s) of width 3 7/8 inches and length 45 inches. Divide each strip into 11 pieces by cutting every 3 7/8 inches. Cut each square in half diagonally. There will be 8 pieces left-over.)

Other

Backing Fabric - 1.25 yards
Batting - 36" square

If you are changing the dimensions of the quilt, or if you are using more than 2 colors, you can use The Quilt Calculator to figure your amounts.

A free Planning Diagram that summarizes this page is available for download.

You may also want to consider a more complicated version of the basic pattern. In the following two examples, unit C has had an additional square added to the center of the original square. Then, instead of making each A,B & C unit identical, some have had their colors inverted to create interesting overall effects:

You may download a blank version of the quilt design here: uncolored design for coloring. Try out your own color combinations using a computer program like Photoshop, or by printing out and hand-coloring.

All the information above, including the linked planning document, blank uncolored design and diamond pattern have been collected into a single PDF that you can download to save and print. A small convenience charge applies. As a bonus, you get pattern pieces for all the square, half-square triangles and half-rectangle triangles.

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