Moda Fabrics Milk Cow Kitchen Quilt - Downloadable PDF

Moda Fabrics Milk Cow Kitchen Quilt – Free Downloadable PDF Pattern

The Milk Cow Kitchen Quilt by Moda Fabrics is a charming, graphic patchwork quilt measuring a generous 58" x 72" — a versatile size suited for a lap quilt, throw, or child's bed covering. Designed around the whimsical Milk Cow Kitchen fabric collection by Mary Jane for Moda, this intermediate-level quilting project features a repeating Milk Can block motif arranged in a structured, grid-based layout. The pattern is available as a free downloadable PDF, making it an accessible starting point for quilters who want to work with a beloved Moda print collection.

What Is Being Made

This project produces a pieced quilt top built from 35 individual Milk Can blocks, each designed to resemble the silhouette of a classic dairy milk can. The blocks are arranged in 5 rows of 7 cans, separated and framed by background sashing strips to create a clean, airy composition. The finished quilt has a structured, repeating pattern that reads as both playful and orderly — ideal for a farmhouse-style kitchen, nursery, or cottage interior.

Fabric Requirements and Materials

The pattern is specifically designed to showcase the Milk Cow Kitchen Layer Cake (SKU 11610LC), which provides 42 pre-cut 10" squares of the Milk Cow Kitchen collection. Only 35 of those squares are needed for the milk can bodies, giving quilters a small buffer. Additional yardage requirements include:

• Lids and Binding: 1⅓ yards of fabric (SKU 11604 21)
• Background: 2¼ yards of Bella Solids in White (SKU 9900 200) by Moda Fabrics
• Backing: 4½ yards of fabric

The use of a Moda Layer Cake — a pre-cut bundle of 42 coordinating 10" squares — makes fabric selection and color coordination effortless, as all prints are already curated to work harmoniously together. The Bella Solids White background provides a crisp, high-contrast setting that allows the printed milk can fabrics to take center stage.

Cutting Instructions Overview

Precise cutting is central to this pattern. Each of the 35 Layer Cake squares yields one 6½" x 9¾" rectangle for the body of the milk can. The lid fabric is cut into multiple strip widths — including 6½", 4½", 3½", and 2½" strips across the width of fabric — which are then sub-cut into specific rectangles and shorter strips for the strip-set construction. The background fabric is similarly cut into a variety of strip widths, including 12½", 2½", 2", and 1½" strips, yielding sashing rectangles, long horizontal sashing strips, and small squares used in the angled lid construction. The pattern also notes that templates are printed at actual size within the PDF.

Techniques Used

Strip Piecing

A key construction technique in this pattern is strip piecing, where long strips of background and lid fabric are sewn together into strip sets and then cross-cut into precise units. For the upper lid section of each milk can block, two different strip sets are constructed:

• A set joining two 1½" x 22" background strips with one 4½" x 22" lid strip, cut into 35 units at 1" wide
• A set joining two 2" x 22" background strips with one 3½" x 22" lid strip, cut into 35 units at 1¼" wide

This strip-piecing approach is efficient and ensures consistent sizing across all 35 blocks, which is especially important when working with a repeating motif quilt of this scale.

Half-Square Triangle Construction (Snowball / Corner Triangle Method)

The pattern employs