Welcome fall with this sweet pumpkin quilt made with simple scrappy piecing that starts with a layer cake! Large blocks show off your favorite prints and make The Great Pumpkin a great weekend project.
Every quilt I make is my favorite but I think this one might actually be the winner! I love Halloween and fall and this large throw is perfect for both.
Get The Great Pumpkin Layer Cake Throw Quilt Pattern on my Shop or on Etsy
The Great Pumpkin starts with a layer cake, meaning you’re guaranteed a perfectly coordinated and scrappy look with zero stress over matching colors.
Quite a few of the blocks are left whole or mostly whole so it’s an excellent opportunity to show off your favorite large prints and it works up really quickly!
You can use any fabric you like for this quilt but due to the giant blocks (finishing at 9.5″!) I think it works best with a variety of large-scale prints.
Just in case you don’t have quite enough space to show off your favorite print there is a wide border perfect for large-scale prints!
If you want to make the quilt a little smaller, leave the border off, and if you want to make it taller (I know there are a lot of square quilt-haters out there!) add another row or two of stars.
The Great Pumpkin Throw Fabric Requirements
- 24 Orange 10” Squares
- 10 Contrasting 10” Squares for Stem & Stars
- 1 5/8 yards Background Fabric (includes inner border)
- 1 3/8 yards Border Fabric
- 4 1/2 yards for Backing or 2 1/4 yards of 108”
- 5/8 yard for Binding (8 – 2.5″ strips)
Most of the fabric you’ll need for this quilt comes from the layer cake, the pattern calls for 24 orange squares but it’s very likely that you won’t have enough orange pieces.
You can clearly see in my All Hallows Eve Great Pumpkin Quilt that I used grey and even black squares in my pumpkin. Not to mention, not all pumpkins are orange!
One of my favorite pumpkins is blue and I’m a sucker for a white jack-o-lantern!
In my opinion, it works best if you keep anything that might blend into the background near the center of the pumpkin so it stands out.
When it comes to picking out the background fabric I’m a big fan of choosing a low-volume or tiny print from the fabric line. I get so bored working with solids and let’s be honest, sewing solid black fabric will make your eyes bleed.
2023 Fabric Options
Every year we get dozens and dozens of amazing new fabric lines that tempt me into remaking all of my quilt patterns! Unfortunately, I lack the budget and the space so I try to make do with digital mockups instead.
It’s impossible to mock them up with 100% certainty, you never know how many pieces of each fabric will be included until you’ve got it in your hands, but you should be able to get the vibe.
All mock-ups are made in Electric Quilt 8
Here are a few of my favorite Halloween and Fall options available now:
I fell in love with this line from the first second I saw it on Instagram. The deep, rusty orange speaks to my soul and I can’t get enough of the main print with the cats, bats and (witch) hats!
Do I need this quilt? No. Do I want it? Absolutely!
Hey, Bootiful is a bit on the small side for a quilt like this, in my opinion, you lose a bit of the scrappiness that I love about precut quilts. But there is no denying how cute the cats are and I love bias plaid
I almost left this one out, most of the prints have a small scale and the colors are all over the place leading to a very not orange pumpkin! But once I had it set up I fell head over heels and I know my daughter (in her Wednesday Adams phase) would swoon for it!
I love fabric lines that bring in unexpected colors like the tealy blue-greens in Haunted Adventure. It’s a fun and modern line that would make an awesome Halloween quilt!
This is a fun sister line to Kitty Korn from a few years ago featuring spooky owls in the same pastel color scheme. This is a great option if you prefer your Halloween a little more sweet than scary.
This is the closest you can get to my All Hallows Eve quilt unless you have some stashed away or feel like spending a pretty penny on eBay!
Late October is technically from last year but it’s still available and I couldn’t leave it off the list. The first time I saw this line I fell in love with the subtle nature of the fabrics, they don’t scream Halloween or even fall and could be at home in a quilt for any time of year.
I actually used Late October as the background, backing, and binding for my large Magic 4 Patch Quilt that I made with Ghostly Gathering Layer Cake and it coordinated perfectly!
Moving into more of the autumnal fabrics we have this gorgeous line from Robin Pickens with super saturated warm tones. Even though there are no pumpkins in the fabric, instead it features sunflowers, mushrooms, and songbirds, I think it makes a gorgeous squash!
When it comes to bright and cheerful fall lines I always turn to Sandy Gervais. I have so many quilts made from her Adele in Autumn line and this collection has the same fantastic color scheme and I can’t get over the adorable house print!
It also gave me the option of showing off this quilt with a light background so you can see the stars shine no matter what.
I said before that I love blue pumpkins and this was one of the mockups I couldn’t wait to make. I’ve been considering making a more autumnal version of this quilt and I’m so close to clicking buy on this combo.
Have I inspired you to sew up your own Great Pumpkin? I’d love to see your quilts, the best way is to tag me on Instagram @CSNYSewing and use #TheGreatPumpkinQuilt
Check out my Quilting page for more info or start here:
