Windham Fabrics Holiday Forest - Downloadable PDF

Windham Fabrics Holiday Forest Quilt Pattern by Wendy Sheppard

The Holiday Forest pattern by designer Wendy Sheppard, published by Windham Fabrics, is a free downloadable PDF quilt pattern designed to showcase the coordinating fabrics from the Holiday Forest fabric collection. The finished quilt measures 72" x 78", making it a generous lap or throw size that is perfect for seasonal decorating. Rated as a beginner difficulty project, this pattern is an excellent introduction to classic quilt block construction while producing a visually rich, holiday-inspired result.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a quilted blanket or throw featuring a festive holiday aesthetic built from a rich palette of reds, greens, whites, and blues. The design incorporates Four Patch Snowball blocks as a primary design element, arranged to create a dynamic, scrappy look that takes full advantage of the many coordinating prints within the Holiday Forest collection. The finished quilt is backed with a generous 4½ yards of backing fabric and can be bound using an optional bias binding cut from the blue patch floral print (SKU 41748-4 Blue), adding a polished, professional finish.

Techniques Used

• Four Patch block construction: A foundational quilting technique in which four equal squares are sewn together in a two-by-two arrangement to form a single larger block. This is one of the most beginner-friendly quilt block formats and is ideal for using up small cuts of coordinating fabric.
• Snowball block construction: A classic technique where the corners of a square block are trimmed or folded and stitched to create a rounded, octagonal appearance. When combined with Four Patch blocks, the Snowball technique creates a visually interlocking design across the quilt top.
• Widthwise cutting and subcutting: The pattern instructs quilters to cut strips across the width of the fabric (WOF cuts, typically 42" wide) and then subcut those strips into smaller squares or rectangles. For example, the white tonal fabric is cut into six 2" x 42" strips, which are then subcut into 120 individual 2" x 2" squares for the Four Patch Snowball blocks.
• Inner border construction: The pattern includes at least one inner border, cut widthwise from the white tonal fabric as four 2" x 42" strips, adding structure and framing to the quilt center.
• Bias binding: An optional but recommended finishing technique using 2¼" bias strips cut from the blue floral print (41748-4 Blue). Bias binding is cut diagonally across the grain of the fabric, giving it stretch and flexibility that makes it especially well-suited to finishing quilt edges neatly and durably.
• Piecing and pressing: Standard quilting assembly methods are used throughout, joining fabric pieces with consistent seam allowances and pressing seams for flat, accurate results.

Stitches Used

• Straight stitch: The primary stitch used throughout all piecing, border attachment, and binding construction. All seams in quilting are sewn with a straight machine stitch, typically at a ¼" seam allowance, which is the quilting standard.
• Quilting stitch: Once the quilt top, batting, and backing are layered together as a quilt sandwich, the layers are secured with quilting stitches. These may be sewn by machine or by hand, depending on the quilter's preference, and serve both a structural and decorative purpose.

Materials and Fabrics

This pattern is specifically designed to use fabrics from the Holiday Forest collection by Windham Fabrics. The palette includes a wide variety of prints across multiple colorways, and the pattern calls for small cuts of many different SKUs to achieve its scrappy, layered look. Key fabrics referenced in the pattern include:

• 41742-X Multi — 1¼ yards (a multicolored print serving as a significant design fabric)
• 32035-18 White (from Mary's Blenders) — 2⅝ yards (the white tonal used for Snowball block corners and inner borders)
• 41748-