Mariners Compass Barn Quilt Pattern
A classic barn quilt block you can customize and print as a paint-ready plan.
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
- 8
- Suggested board sizes
- 2′ × 2′, 3′ × 3′, 4′ × 4′
About the Mariners Compass block
Mariner’s Compass is one of the earliest named American quilt patterns. Written references to the name date to 1798, and the earliest known surviving American quilt using the design dates to 1834.
The pattern became especially popular along the northeastern seaboard in the 1840s and 1850s, including among Pennsylvania German quiltmakers. Its circle of sharply radiating points echoes the compass roses and wind roses found on maps and nautical charts, giving the pattern its distinctive sense of movement and direction.
Learn more about the history
Tips for painting a Mariners Compass barn quilt
Prime both sides of your board and seal the edges before painting to keep moisture out.
Lay out the pattern in pencil first using a grid — every shape lines up on a regular fraction of the board.
Paint the lightest color first, then work toward the darkest so any drips can be covered.
Use painter's tape along straight edges and burnish it down with a credit card to prevent bleed-through.
Ready to design your Mariners Compass?
Customize the colors in the online designer and download a printable paint-by-color plan with a grid diagram.
Open in the designerPainted the Mariners Compass? Share your photo.
We feature finished quilts from real makers in the gallery — it helps other painters see how the Mariners Compass looks in different color combinations.