How and Why to Make a Temperature Quilt
I made a temperature quilt this year and documented my progress along the way on Instagram. I also wrote a quick tutorial back in January, when I only had a few weeks of the quilt done.
Now that the year is over and my quilt top is finished, I’ve got a full temperature quilt tutorial for you, so that you can make your own temperature quilt too!
But first, some photos of the quilt in progress!
The snowpocalypse in February meant that I had lots of time to stay inside and sew, right up until the power went out. If you are a new follower, I live in Seattle. This amount of snow is NOT NORMAL! I stopped counting at the 35th day of snow on the ground. Now, by that point is was just a few patches in the shade, but still. Seattle snow is normally dump-a-ton-overnight-and-melt-as-soon-as-the-sun-comes-up. Four snowstorms in less than two weeks and well over two feet of snow is just not how we roll.
The first few months of the Temperature Quilt were a challenge to photograph as the quilt was already 62 inches long, but only 8 inches wide.
This got a little easier as the weather improved and I could take photos outside.
Also, I got smarter and stopped sewing each new month to the quilt one column at a time. It’s much easier to photograph a handful of squares that all add up to two full months. Working two months at a time kept the pieces smaller and easier to work with.
That’s two days in a row above 95* and that is too hot for Seattle!
It was so satisfying to “retire” the hottest temperatures once October hit!
I love the progression of the outdoor background changing seasons as the quilt top also moves through the seasons. All of these (and more) photos can be found on Instagram and Facebook as well.
After all of those hot summer days, this was a delightful block to make! That’s the first below freezing low in 256 days. I used a blue design on white fabric for my below freezing temperature range, from the same line of fabric as all of my others.
No, that’s not an error. I didn’t forget to make a block! It would be a pretty lousy temperature quilt tutorial if I just left out blocks along the way!!! The high and low temperatures for the day were so close to each other that it put them in the same fabric range! I expected that to happen at some point because I’ve definitely experienced that a time or two. It tends to involve above average overnight lows, rather than colder than normal daytime highs. It also tends to be accompanied by higher than normal humidity and is far more common in the 40s and low 50s than any other temperature range, at least in my experience. This navy blue is my 44-47 degree fabric.
As you have seen throughout this post, it was a challenge to make each update photo better than the last. Social media is a tricky thing! I had the opportunity to spend a weekend at the beach, and I busted my butt to get the quilt done before I left, just so that I could take this next photo!
The forecast changed multiple times in the days leading up to this trip, and while I knew it would be cold (disclaimer- it’s always cold at the beach!) I was expecting a weekend of sunshine, or at the very least, high clouds. Instead I got a Saturday of pouring down rain so we skipped the beach entirely and did the Tillamook factory tour instead. Mmmm, cheese and ice cream! Sunday was dry, but foggy, but with the haystacks in Cannon Beach, fog can be deliciously atmospheric.
Unlike other patterns which list the exact yardage required, I had to be careful to make sure I had enough fabric of each temperature range. Using historical weather data made this a little bit easier than if I had been doing the current year, and I’ve lived in Seattle long enough to be able to estimate (for example, it’s not going to be above 90 more than half a dozen times) but it was still a little tricky to order the right amounts of fabric.
I ended up with lots of leftovers of most of colors (and already have plans for how to use them!) but I got a little anxious as I finished out the last month and that scrap of navy blue got smaller and smaller. Fortunately, I was able to finish the quilt without running out of any fabric!
Now, for a Temperature Quilt tutorial so you can make your very own!
A temperature quilt is 365 blocks (or 366 if you do 2020 because a Leap Day is coming!) where each block is made of two fabrics; one that shows the high temperature for the date and one that shows the low temperature for that same date.
Before you can make any blocks, you need to set your temperature ranges using the typical highs and lows for your city. I used four-degree increments from 32* to 96* with one fabric for each range, plus one fabric for all temperatures below freezing and one fabric for all temperatures above 96*. Here in Seattle, it’s not rare for winter lows to be below freezing, but it is rare for them to drop much lower than the high 20s. It’s also rare for the daily high to be below freezing. It’s also rare for daily highs above 90* (although it seems to be getting more and more common).
You will want to set your ranges based on what is normal for your city. I went with 4* increments (so I could use more fabrics), you can do 5* or even 10*, whatever works best for the number of fabrics you want to use.
Assign one fabric to each temperature range. My fabric is quite a rainbow, but you can pick any fabrics you want. I saw a Temperature Quilt that was 20 different whites, creams and tans. Whatever colors and fabrics you want to use is exactly the colors and fabrics you should use. If you like mine, I used Blueberry Park by Karen Lewis for Robert Kaufman Fabrics.
You can use any style of block you like (even two squares next to each other) as long as the block has two fabrics. Keep in mind, small blocks will be your friend because you are going to need 365 of them!
I used a 2½” by 4½” rectangle for the high and a 2½” square for the low.
To make a quilt block the same way I did, draw a line from corner to corner on the square and place it on the rectangle, making sure to follow the diagram so that the correct corner is covered.
Sew along the line and trim ¼” from the seam. Repeat, making one block for each day. Make sure to follow the diagram for each day and month, because you are not always covering the same corner of your rectangle.
This diagram only shows days 1-4 of the first month, but this same pattern will continue for days 5-31.
Then, month 2 is the mirror image.
You can sew all 31 blocks into a column as soon as they are done, and join the columns together as you go. But, that’s not how I did it.
I sewed blocks 1-4 together, and 5-9 together, and so on. Then, when I had done the same for the next month, I sewed January 1-4 to February 1-4, and January 5-9 to February 5-9, and so on and so on.
Then I sewed my blocks into columns that contained not one, but two complete months.
Now, what to do with months that are less than 31 days long? I just added an extra rectangle (in my black and white striped binding fabric) to the bottom of the necessary columns so that all columns were 31 blocks long, no matter how many days.
Are you planning to make a Temperature Quilt next year? Will you do a rainbow or another color combination?
Share this:
43 Comments
Mom
I think you should tell your followers what year the quilt represents
Darcy
It’s the first year of my life, but I don’t want my birthdate published. Scammers and all that. 🤪
B. J. Berlo
What a great idea this is! I think I’m going to make one for the upcoming year 2020. I may (or may not) use as many colors as you have, but I’m going to make my temperature chart today and start hunting for fabrics. By the way, I just love your finished Temperature Quilt.
Darcy
Thank you so much! Make sure you have a lot of each fabric for each temperature range, or that it’s easy to get more of. I really to see what you create!
Trish P
I have been thinking about a temperature quilt for a few years, but didn’t like any of the “patterns” that I’ve seen. But, I love this! Thanks for the great tutorial. Now, on to gather my fabrics and temperature chart! (By the way, I live in Southwestern Washington, so I feel your pain about last year’s weather)
Darcy
That’s great that you’re going to make one, I would love to see what have you choose!
I’m kinda ready for some snow, and kinda never want to see snow again EVER!
Janei
Oh, I love this. I’ve seen crocheted ones, but never a quilt. 2020 is my year. Love yr pattern.
How much fabric would u suggest .. 2 yards each? I’m in Colo. I want warm summer this yeae,, we had cold thru end of June and fall started in August.
I think I’ll use yr 4 degree but we swing abt 35 degrees in a day.
Also need to go to -5.. one year we had -12. Rarely over 92.
Thanks for the tutorial. I guess that’s my Christmas present, besides Boom makeup.
Appreciate this..
Janei
Darcy
Hi Janei, I’m so glad you like it! We had a really cold summer this year too, or at least an average summer, but after several above average summers it felt cold and gloomy.
I used 19 different fabrics, of my 2-3 coldest and 2-3 hottest, I used less than a fat quarter. For the temperatures in the middle of my range – the ones that covered the most common winter highs and the most common summer lows – I used about a yard each. You may need more or less, depending on how frequent the occurrence of any given temperature.
Have fun, and make sure to send me photos, I definitely want to see your temperature quilt!
Sue Jones
I’m going for it in 2020! I’m have my 2 1/2 inch strips sorted out, and plan to use the one-seem flying geese method. Whether all my geese will fly north, or all fly south, or some each way I haven’t decided. I like your corner method also, and I really like the finished look. Hope to post after a couple of months.
Darcy
Sure, that’s fantastic! You’ll love making a temperature quilt!
What’s the one seam easy of making flying geese?
Sue Jones
SUE JONES
DECEMBER 18, 2019 AT 6:18 PM REPLY
I’m going for it in 2020! I’m have my 2 1/2 inch strips sorted out, and plan to use the one-seem flying geese method. Whether all my geese will fly north, or all fly south, or some each way I haven’t decided. I like your corner method also, and I really like the finished look. Hope to post after a couple of months.
Mary in Bettendorf
How did you decide how much of eacharge fabric to buy?
Darcy
Mary,
I bought a 1/4 yard if my 2-3 hottest and closest, because I knew I wouldn’t use very much.
I bought a yard of the 5-6 that I knew were typical of both winter highs and summer lows (45*-65* here in Seattle), because I knew I would use lots.
I bought a 1/2 yard of the rest.
My advice is to make sure what you are buying is not hard to find, and will be easy to get more of if needed.
Mary in Bettendorf
Each month, column, has 31 blocks. How did you fill in the extra blocks for February and the 30 day months
Darcy
I used my birth year, and I have a January 30th birthday.
Column one is January 30- February 28. Columns 2-10 are one full month reach, March to December. Column 12 is January 1-30, my first birthday.
If I had done a traditional temperature quilt of January 1 to December 31, I would have added extra black squares at the bottom of February.
Darcy
They are hard to distinguish, but there are back squares at the bottom of satine of the columns.
Emily
I am so glad I came across this! I purchased a bundle of 18 rainbow fat quarters a while back and now have the perfect use for them! Now I just have to make sure I have enough to cover the year or if I need to find more. Here in Texas, we can use a full spectrum in a day/week!
Darcy
Seattle can be like too, but usually only in the spring. If you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes! I used nearly a yard of some of my games, but only a portion of a fat quarter for others.
Sarah
I’ going to do this for 2020. I’m going to plan my favorite colorways in the 40-70 degree range. I’m here in a suburb of Seattle. I’ll find something novel for any of the outliers. Please tell me how I post to this?
Darcy
Sarah, I am just outside of Seattle too and I found 52*-55* was the most common high from late fall to early spring and the most common overnight low the other half of the year.
What do you mean by “post to this”?
Helen
Literally just came across this and think it’s a fantastic idea. Can’t wait to pull some fabrics and start my 2020 attempt, a little late being mid January but I’m sure I’ll enjoy playing catch up. My late father used to record temperature/rainfall/windspeed daily so may even make a retrospective one from his old records if I can lay my hands on them.
Darcy
Helen, that would be such a cool testament to your dad! And don’t worry about starting late- I definitely had months where I did all 30 days at once to get caught up throughout the year. Have fun!
Dawne Strickland
I am SO all over this quilt!!! I’m going to be making one, using this design, to commemorate a friend’s 50th year on the planet. So mine will go from August to August. I can’t wait to see what you do with the border & binding & all that! Also, I guess since YOU made it, you won’t be putting anything on the quilt to show what fabric is for what temp, but I’m looking for ideas on that as well. I’m SO excited!!!
Darcy
Dawne, I did not border mine and I used a black and white stripe from the same fabric collection for binding. I didn’t make a key, but I probably should have!
Risa
What were the measurements of your finished quilt? I would love to do one like this.
Darcy
48 wide by 62 long.
Each day is 4 by 2. I hope you make one, it’s so much fun!
Pat
This is fabulous! Thank you so much for sharing!💜
A camping friend and I have decided that we will each make a temperature quilt this year. We’re both using the Maywood Flannel Woolies-Colours fabric. https://www.missouriquiltco.com/shop/detail/121276/maywood-studio/bonnie-sullivan/woolies-flannel-colors-vol-2-25-strips There are 40 different colours in the jelly roll, so we can use 1 colour for 2 degrees in temp.
I live 3 hours north of Toronto, ON 🇨🇦, and she lives on the west shore of Lake Ontario; so it will be interesting to see how our temperature quilts compare.
I live in ‘Cottage Country”, and we average 111″ of snow each year. This year, they’re predicting warmer temps but more snow. Our temperature range is max +40C to -40C. I’m going to add a narrow strip of an off-white flannel between the high and low temps to indicate snow days. I’m also going to add a temp chart and year on the back.
Stay well!
Emily
Hi Pat. I jsut read your comment and it looked like you are using a jelly roll. One thing that I did to make sure I had enough fabric was to take the historical temps from the previous year and calculate how many days would fall into my various fabric temperature thresholds. even doing this, i ran out of certain fabrics along the way with different temps this year. You may consider doing the same to see what fabrics you might need to purchase extra of since a jelly roll is limited. Hope this helps! one more month to go on my temp quilt (texas!) instagram: @mleosu
Darcy
This is great advice Emily! I agree Pat, make an effort to have extra fabric on hand, or for it to be easily ordered, because you’ll likely use different amounts of different fabrics.
Pat
Thanks Emily!
I prefer to work with yardage, but my friend and I chose the jelly roll because it’s the only way we could get such a variety of colours.
We planned on buying 2 jelly rolls each, but I decided to buy 3 when I out in my order this afternoon. This way there should be plenty of fabric, and I can send some to my friend as needed.
Pat
I also wanted to thank you re the suggestion to go back to last year’s weather stats. Great Idea! I’m going to create my temp legend, graph out last year’s temps on it, and colour in the layout sheet. What fun! 💜
Darcy
I love how much thought and planning you are putting in to your quilt!
Darcy
Oh my, that’s a huge temperature range! And so much snow!!! Seattle is boring in comparison.
Pat
Yes, we do have extreme temperatures. It’s a good thing we aren’t considering the humidex! Luckily, I really do experience the 4 seasons. As for snowfall, we had a total of just over 207″ in 2007-2008. The second highest on record. The record was 215″ in 1942-43.
Pat
I agree! I ended up ordering 3 jelly rolls–just in case! There’s nothing worse than running out, only to find that you can’t source the extra at a later date!
Barbara
Hi Darcy,
I looked at your new 2 color temperature quilt, but then noticed last year’s rainbow quilt and LOVE it. Discussed it with my husband and he thinks it’s cool too.
We summer on an island in the St Lawrence river so I’m making it for there. I planned my temps from -20 to 90 (24 colors).
I’m wondering about yardage per color. Did you need more than a yard of even your most commonly used color?
Thanks so much.
I also purchased your triangle pattern and am planning a Christmas quilt (yours is gorgeous).
Darcy
Thanks Barbara! I would love to see the temperature quilt you make!
My most common temperature range in the rainbow quilt was 52*-55*, it was the most common daily high for several of the not quite cold months, and the most common overnight low in the summer months. I think I used nearly a yard of that one. I think maybe about 3/4 of a yard of several in the blues and greens which were 45ish-70ish degrees. The 2-3 coldest and 2-3 hottest I used less than as 1/4 yard.
Pingback:
Pingback:
Pingback:
Pingback:
Pingback:
Pingback: