Carpenters Wheel Barn Quilt Pattern
The Carpenter's Wheel is a star within a star, a workhorse pattern that honors farm and trade craftsmanship.
Member: Choose your size, borders & colors + personalized Paint Maps
Free: Complete 2' × 2' drawing grid + measurements
Planning the board? Use the sizing calculator for exact cell and border measurements, or read the paint color guide before you buy paint.
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Grid
- 8 × 8
- Colors
- 7
- Suggested board sizes
- 4′ × 4′, 8′ × 8′
Get the Free 2' × 2' Carpenters Wheel Pattern Plan
A complete, printable drawing plan: a large 2' × 2' grid diagram with every measurement you need, plus an example colorway.
What's in your free plan
- 2' × 2' drawing grid diagram
- Layout measurements
- Layer diagrams when applicable
- Example colorway + paint equivalents
- Measuring and marking instructions
Personalized Paint Maps — the diagrams showing exactly which pieces to paint each color — come with Designer Membership.
Want to make it your own?
Customize the size, borders and colors — and get personalized Paint Maps — with the Barn Quilt Designer.
Customize in DesignerFree plan vs. Designer Membership
The free plan gives you everything you need to draw the standard 2' × 2' barn quilt. Membership lets you make the plan fit your project.
| Feature | Free Plan | Membership |
|---|---|---|
| Printable 2' × 2' drawing plan | ||
| Layout measurements and grid markings | ||
| Measuring and marking instructions | ||
| Layer diagrams when applicable | ||
| Example colorway and paint equivalents | ||
| Choose your barn quilt size | ||
| Add or change borders | ||
| Customize colors | ||
| Automatically recalculated measurements | ||
| Personalized Paint Maps | ||
| Save and edit designs | ||
| Unlimited personalized plan downloads | ||
| Build your own patterns for the designer |
Want to make it your own?
Customize the size, borders and colors — and get personalized Paint Maps — with the Barn Quilt Designer.
Customize in DesignerAbout the Carpenters Wheel block
Carpenter’s Wheel has deep roots in American quiltmaking. The Smithsonian holds a Carpenter’s Wheel quilt made between about 1825 and 1850, showing that the design was already in use by the first half of the nineteenth century.
Related versions have appeared under names including Carpenter’s Star, Star of Bethlehem and Double Star. Its interlocking diamonds and triangles create the illusion of a wheel nested inside a star — a complex-looking design that becomes especially dramatic at barn-quilt scale.
Learn more about the history
Tips for painting a Carpenters Wheel barn quilt
Pre-cut a paper template for one diamond and reuse it for all eight — every wheel diamond is the same shape.
Three values of one color (light, medium, dark) reads as a wheel turning in light.
Ready to design your Carpenters Wheel?
Customize the colors in the online designer and download a printable paint-by-color plan with a grid diagram.
Open in the designerPainted the Carpenters Wheel? Share your photo.
We feature finished quilts from real makers in the gallery — it helps other painters see how the Carpenters Wheel looks in different color combinations.