Rail Fence Quilt
Finished community quilt, shared by QuiltNTime, 31 October 2026
by QuiltNTime
Rail Fence Quilt by QuiltNTime is a finished quilt in the Quiltler community: 42" × 42" (about a baby quilt), 16 blocks, 196 pieces and 3 fabrics on a straight grid, shared 31 October 2026.
At a glance
- Finished size
- 42" × 42" (about a baby quilt)
- Blocks
- 16 blocks
- Pieces
- 196
- Fabrics
- 3
Watch it being made
How it's made
Three strips, one seam set and a few quarter turns. The rail fence might be the easiest quilt there is.
The rail fence is named for split-rail fences. It's strip pieced, so there's barely any cutting, and turning the squares makes the zigzag.
Cut three strips two inches wide, a light, a medium and a dark.
Sew them together along the long edges and press toward the dark. The set measures five inches.
Cut the set into five inch squares. Every square is a rail.
Turn the top right and bottom left squares a quarter turn, then sew them in two rows of two.
Sixteen blocks and the dark strips zigzag right across the quilt.
Save this for the cut list. Design your own quilt like this at quiltler.com.
About this quilt
The rail fence: three strips, one strip set and a quarter turn, and you get a zigzag quilt. About as easy as quilting gets. 9″ finished (9½″ unfinished).
CUT (per block) • One 2 × 20″ strip each of a light, a medium and a dark
MAKE • Sew the three strips along their long edges, light to dark, and press toward the dark: the set is 5″ tall • Cut it into four 5″ squares • Turn the top right and bottom left squares a quarter turn • Sew two rows of two
TIP: cut strips from the full width of your fabric (42″) and one strip set makes eight squares, enough for two blocks.
OTHER SIZES: the squares are always as wide as the strip set is tall. Three 2½″ strips make 6½″ squares.
Light, medium, dark: which colours would you pick?
Make this quilt your own
Open the Rail Fence Quilt quilt in the Quiltler studio — in your browser, or on iPhone and iPad — to recolour it and swap in your own fabrics. Saving a copy to edit, and downloading the pattern pack with the fabric list and cutting sizes, comes with a subscription.
Open Rail Fence Quilt in the studio · Browse more community quilts