Knitted Star Quilt Pattern - The Mistletoe Version

I released the Knitted Star quilt pattern in July 2020…over six years ago! I was inspired by Fair Isle stockings and sweaters, and I designed the pattern to feel right at home in the cold winter months…but really, the knit vibe works all year round!

I’ve made a lot more Modern versions. At first, I mostly put colorful stars onto a lighter background (like in the Ruby Star Society Knitted Star, Starry Knitted Star, and Love, Cupid Knitted Star quilts), but I discovered I really loved the way the pattern looks with a darker background like in my Pink & Purple Knitted Star, Heirloom Knitted Star, and Rosemary Knitted Star quilts).

In fact, when I decided to make a new Knitted Star quilt this fall, I immediately gravitated toward that darker, moodier vibe…but this time with a Christmasy twist!

We made my latest Knitted Star quilt in the throw size, which measures 62” x 62”. (I’m always tempted to make another bed quilt with this pattern…but I wanted something we’d finish before the holidays!)

I knew I wanted a color palette that felt appropriate for Christmas…but as usual, I wanted it to be a little surprising and definitely usable long beyond December.

With that in mind, I picked a green fabric for my background: Forest Night (a PURE Solid from Art Gallery Fabrics). It’s a stunning dark green that I used as the background on my Zen Garden Nightingale and Botanist Nightingale quilts. It’s subtle enough that it reads more like a hint of green than true green…and that made it the perfect canvas for layering other greens and pinks on!

I decided to make the cornerstones the same color as the background. It’s one of my favorite tiny pattern hacks!

For my stars, I picked four greens:

• Asparagus
• Matcha
• Meditation
• Mint Glow

...and four pinks:

• Miami Sunset
• Quartz Pink
• Sedona
• Sweet Macadamia

(All fabrics are Art Gallery Fabrics PURE Solids)

They’re just muted enough to make this quilt feel really calm and cozy, like a favorite piece of vintage knitwear. This quilt isn’t bright and bold enough to demand your attention in a fully decorated room…but once it has it, it’s hard to turn away! You just want to bask in it.

Quick tip: You can add a strip of fusible interfacing to your blocks before you cut them in half. This will help to prevent any warping or stretching...and make your life a lot easier!

And yes, we have quilt kits for this one!

For my backing fabric, I picked Silk Thread Cloud from the Minimo collection (by Amy Sinibaldi for Art Gallery Fabrics). It’s not actually a holiday fabric, but the sweet little bows feel right at home next to any Christmas tree…making it just right for this quilt!

Just like the quilt top, the backing has a muted, almost vintage feel that makes you just want to wrap yourself up in it.

For the quilting, I wanted something that felt equally classic…so I went to my old standby, a diagonal crosshatch!

Dorathy, our sample sewist, made the 90-degree crosshatch pattern with double lines quilted about ¼” apart, with 1” between each pair. The double lines add a little extra interest, but the simplicity of the motif keeps this quilt feeling super approachable and usable.

Normally, crosshatch quilting is pretty straightforward...but we ran into some challenges this time! Because the quilting for this design is all on the bias, the quilt sandwich shifted a lot more than usual. We actually had to re-baste everything in the middle of quilting to stop the shifting! 

It all turned out fine, but if you ever have those kinds of issues with your quilting, Dorathy highly recommends extra starching (with a really good press!), plus basting more densely than usual.

For the quilt binding, I picked one of my favorite pink solids: AGF’s Crystal Pink. It’s light and bright enough to make a good frame for the quilt top, but it doesn’t draw attention to itself.

Just like I hoped, this Mistletoe version will work as part of Christmas decor or a soothing quilt for any month. It feels like a quilt that’s meant to be passed down from one generation to the next, with plenty of cozy winter evenings by a crackling fire along the way!

Knitted Star is a fun sew, and while it is an intermediate pattern, the strip piecing makes it come together really beautifully. Plus, we’ve archived our Knitted Star Quilt-Along that’s full of extra trips and guidance…so there’s no need to feel intimidated!

We have quilt kits for this exact colorway (Mistletoe) in the Lo & Behold Stitchery shop…along with a couple of my favorite two-color options:

I’ve made nine Knitted Star quilts (and counting), and I’m still dreaming up new color ideas! I’d love to see what you come up with…and we’ve put Knitted Star on PreQuilt to make it easy to plan your pull. You can also print off some of our free quilt coloring pages for a more analog planning tool.

Happy quilting!

• Knitted Star PDF pattern 
• Knitted Star paper pattern
• Knitted Star quilt kits