How to Make a Temperature Quilt

After writing several tutorials on various aspects of making temperature quilts and a complete pattern, I wanted to round up all of the How to Make a Temperature Quilt resources into one place.

This is that place!

What is a Temperature Quilt?

How to make a temperature quilt starts with knowing what temp quilts are!  Temperature quilts records the temperatures, for any given year, in any desired location.

A temperature quilt can be for a current year, starting on January 1^st and continuing one block at a time until December 31^st.

Or, the quilt can use the current year to make an unforgettable First Birthday or First Wedding Anniversary gift.

Or, temperature quilts can use historical weather data, from a site like Wunderground, to record a first year birthday or anniversary that has already passed.

Whichever type of temp quilt made, I recommend slowing down and making just one block per day.  It’s a lot of fun to see the quilt come together throughout the seasons across the course of the year.

How to Set a Temperature Range

Setting a temperature range is going to depend on the climate of the location represented in the quilt.  Two of the three quilts I am sharing are based on Redmond, Washington, a suburb just outside of Seattle.

For one of those quilts, I had both high and low temperature data to work with, so the temperature range is from around freezing to the mid- or upper-90s. 

For the other quilt, I only had the high temperature data available, and that year happened to have a cooler summer, so the temperature range is more like 40-ish to 90-ish.

The third temperature quilt is based on weather in Spokane, Washington, which has a much colder winter and a much hotter summer than any of the cities in Western Washington.  This quilt covers about 10* to over 100*.

A blank temperature range worksheet is included in this Temperature Quilt Pattern.  That way you can plan out your own temperature range as well as put a snip of each fabric right on the worksheet to make it easy to keep track throughout the year.

Which Block Design to Use?

The choice of block shape when thinking how to make a temperature quilt is nearly infinite.

Ideally, each block should have two parts.  That way one part of the block can be the daily high temperature and one part of the block can be the daily low temperature.

However, including both the daily high and the daily low are not exactly necessary.

When making a temp quilt using historical weather data, I found that for about 2/3 of the given year, only the daily high was available.  No idea what happened to the daily low data, but it certainly wasn’t 0F for 200 nights that year.  So, I designed one that included only the daily high temperature.

The tutorial for this temperature quilt can be found here and while I only used daily high temperatures, I did include directions for how to make a temperature quilt when both high and low data is available.  This is what that block might look like.

I also only had daily high data when making this quilt using curved blocks.  In this case, the variety of cream background fabrics was a random selection, but again, those fabrics could be assigned a temperature range, for those who have both daily high and low data.

This tutorial focuses more on How to Sew Curves, rather than how to make a temperature quilt, but the curves tutorial can be combined with the Setting a Range of Temperatures and Selecting Fabrics tutorials to make a temperature quilt just like this.

Selecting Fabrics

If you search #temperaturequilt on Instagram, you’ll see a huge variety of quilt styles and colors.  Many, including my first, are a full rainbow with the reds, oranges and yellows showing the warmer temperatures, and the greens, blues and purples showing the colder temperatures.

But, a rainbow is not required! 

Nope. 

They can be made using any fabrics and colors desired.  I saw one made entirely from Christmas fabrics.

When I made a quilt for my brother, I used greens and blues with a gray background.

When I made a quilt for my mom, I used blues and purples on a cream background.

Rainbows are great, but not necessary.  Use any fabrics you like!

No matter what color palette or which block used, all cats love all temperature quilts!

Each of these links will help you with a different aspect of how to make a temperature quilt.

Temperature Quilt Pattern – most comprehensive, includes temperature range/fabric selection worksheet and a coloring page.

Two-tone Temperature Quilt – get away from the rainbow and make a two color temperature quilt.  This is a great block for using only the daily high temperature.

Sewing with Curves – not specifically a temperature quilt tutorial, but once you’ve mastered setting the temperatures range and assigning a fabric to each range, these little curved blocks are fantastic for this kind of quilt.