Learn how to make the Yellow Brick Road quilt pattern and get inspired by these adorable free yellow brick road quilt patterns.
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If you are searching for your yellow brick road to the quilter’s world this post is for you. We’ll be talking about the Yellow Brick Road pattern.
The Yellow brick road quilt pattern is a simple pattern that comes together quickly and is incredibly easy to customize. Sewing together simple rectangular pieces is the perfect practice for your sewing skills, especially if you are a beginner. Its simple design makes it perfect for using precuts (fat quarter bundles work great) or playing with scraps.
What is a Yellow Brick Road Quilt?
The traditional Yellow brick road quilt pattern is made of brick-shaped rectangles where no two corners of any rectangle meet. As the name implies, the finished quilt resembles a brick road. Hence the name, which is, of course, inspired by the Wizard of Oz.
As often happens with simple patterns such as this one, many variations have come up. So you may see Yellow brick road patterns made entirely of identical rectangles. But also somewhere rectangles of different sizes and squares form a perhaps a bit less rigid composition.
I’ve found some great examples of Yellow brick road quilts that I will show you in a bit.
How to Choose Fabric for a Yellow Brick Road Quilt?
Traditionally, the color pallete of a yellow brick road quilt is based on yellow. But since the pattern is really simple it can handle all kinds of color and pattern variations. And of course – we are talking about wizards here, so let your imagination run free and make your own dreamland quilt.
For a playful brick road effect, I would suggest you use a minimum of 6 to 8 different fabrics. This amount of different colors and patterns gives you plenty of possibilities for different combinations.
A simple yellow brick road quilt could be a great opportunity to use up some of the leftover fabrics you have and challenge yourself with arranging your scraps. If you’re wondering how to make a scrappy quilt that actually looks good, read our tips on how to choose colors for a scrappy quilt.
How to make a Yellow Brick Road quilt?
As I’ve explained earlier, there are different variations of the yellow brick road quilt pattern. In this quick tutorial, I’ll show you how to make the traditional pattern using identical brick-shaped rectangles.
Required Tools:
– Quilting ruler
– Iron & Ironing board
Things Needed?
Making Yellow Brick Road Quilt Step by Step:
The size of the rectangles you’ll cut depends on the effect you want to achieve. You can go with smaller rectangles for more of a scrappy look. Or use large rectangles for a super quick (beginner friendly!) project.
If you are using precut fabrics (i.e. fat quarters), it’s best to choose the dimension that will get you as many rectangles from each precut as possible.
This tutorial assumes you are using fat quarters (which are 18’’ x 21’’). So you will cut each fat quarter into (18) 7’’x3’’ rectangles. See the cutting diagram below:
When you have all the rectangles cut, lay out the pieces. Decide about the orientation of your brick road, both vertical and horizontal orientations work well. Play with the color composition of your rectangles to see what works best.
When you’re happy with the layout, start sewing pieces together in rows. Sew all the rectangles in rows.
To get the look of a brick road, move every second row for half the length of the longer side of the rectangle, as shown in the illustration. The easiest and the most accurate way to do this is to measure and mark at least two centers of the rectangles in the first row. Then align the central marks of the first row and the vertical seams of the second row. Pin and sew together.
Because of the shifting of the rows, you’ll get some ‘overhang’ on each side of the quilt. Using a quilting ruler, cut away the excess fabric and square up the quilt top. Voila! Your yellow brick road quilt top is done!
Further Reading
Finish a Quilt in 5 steps
If you’re new to quilting and you’re overwhelmed with how to finish a quilt, here are the 5 basic steps with useful links:
- Choose backing for your quilt (we also show you how to calculate yardage here).
- Choose batting for your quilt.
- Baste the quilt.
- Quilt the quilt sandwich (either machine quilt it with a walking foot or hand quilt it).
- Make quilt binding and bind your quilt.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a small comission if you make a purchase on any of the affiliated sites (with no additional cost to you). Learn more here.
Ideas for making your Yellow brick road pattern
Do you want to make your own brick road pattern compositions? Here are some ideas on how to make yellow brick road-inspired patterns. These all use the same size rectangles but create a completely different outcome!
Feeling even more avanturistic? Experiment with different dimensions of rectangles and/or squares, as I did in these following examples.
Get a pattern for your next project!
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Mirror Maze PDF Quilt Pattern$13.00 -
Underlined PDF Quilt Pattern$8.00
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Deep Diving PDF Quilt Pattern$13.00
3 Free Yellow brick road patterns
If you don’t want to come up with your own brick compositions, there are some great free yellow brick road patterns you can use. Here are three lovely examples.
The Sleepover Quilt – A Free Pattern by Simple Simon & Company
The Sleepover Quilt is a nice example of a basic Yellow Brick Road quilt turned modern. Its minimalistic color scheme of black and white mixed with pink and mint makes it look so fresh. It’s a free pattern, finished size approx. 64 x 64”.
Disappearing Nine Patch Variation – Stacked Bricks by From My Carolina Home
Carole has an in-depth tutorial for this Stacked Bricks quilt, inspired by the Disappearing nine patch quilt block. She took some disappearing nine patch blocks and mixed them with some simple squares to create an interesting dynamic composition.
Easy Strawberry Fields Bricks Quilt by Dairy of a Quilter for Moda Fabrics
What I like about this pattern is how interesting it looks despite its simplicity. It’s made just from one size of rectangles and squares, which means it comes together really fast. And as an added bonus – it is precuts friendly. I would say this is a great pattern for a weekend quilt project and also perfect for a quilting beginner.
This is it, my friend. I hope these Yellow brick road quilt ideas inspired you and gave you an idea for your own Yellow Brick Road Quilt. And if you make one, make sure you let us know!
