Classic, romantic, traditional, all the first few words that come to my mind when I think about a double wedding ring quilt pattern. 

But in the minds of many quilters, double wedding rings inspire very different words: challenging, tedious, and a lot of work. 

But with modern double wedding ring quilt patterns, there are so many great hacks to getting around the traditionally challenging aspects of this pattern.

Finding an abstract layout that removes large amounts of the rings, piecing the rings differently, or just finding easier ways to tackle the curved piecing are all methods to finally dip your toes into this pattern instead of jumping in head first. 

And the best part is you’re left with an updated modern version of this very romantic traditional pattern at the same time. 

So today I’m sharing 10 of the modern double wedding quilt patterns available on Etsy that are currently on my quilting bucket list, and my favorite hacks for making this pattern obtainable for ANY quilter at ANY experience level. 

What is a double wedding ring quilt and it’s history

The design of interlocked rings is not a modern design by any stretch of the imagination. evidence of this design can be dated back as early as 4th century Roman pottery motifs.

Its use as a quilting pattern however, did not become popular until much more modern times in the 1920’s. The scrappy nature of the rings made it easy to grab any left over fabric laying around and repurpose them during a time when money was short.

Old clothes that couldn’t be worn any more, drapes, linens, whatever was laying around, in a time when money was hard to come by, turning those fabrics into a usable quilt was an easy  natural progression.

This means a lot of quilts from that time are true heirlooms in the families. Old dresses, children’s clothes, whatever was available resulting in some truly scrappy wedding rings. 

There are many different stories and folklore out there to try to originate the original design, and while there is no proof for any one of them, one theme is constant in all of them, it always involves the quilt being gifted as a wedding gift. 

The pattern was originally meant to inspire warm thoughts of the bind between two people during marriage through the design of interlocked wedding rings. 

Couples were often told that sleeping under a double wedding ring quilt the night of your wedding was good luck for the marriage, so it was common for a mother, aunt, or grandmother to make one as a gift for a newly married couple in the family. 

Early versions of the quilt pattern were actually appliquéd to a solid piece of fabric, however modern double wedding ring quilt patterns of today have been modified to incorporate the rings as a traditionally pieced quilt top.

10 of our favorite modern double wedding ring quilt patterns

My Wedding Ring PDF Pattern by Eunsoo Kang

Wedding ring quilts are known for having beautiful scrappy rings, however in this pattern My Wedding Ring by Eunsoo Kang, the scrap is reversed! 

Instead of the traditional look of a scrappy ring with a solid background, this pattern reverses the look and combines a solid ring with a scrappy background. 

The nice aspect of this look is that you don’t have to piece a ring which saves you significant time piecing, and gets you right to the curved piecing phase. 

If the idea of pieced rings gives you some hesitation, going with a solid ring can give you a similar look for a fraction of the effort. 

My Wedding Ring is available for purchase here. 

Chic Kisses Quilt by Sew Kind of Wonderful

Chic Kisses leans much more toward the traditional look of a double wedding ring except it plays with the ratio of the rings to the background. 

Exaggerating the width of the rings allows you to add more segments at a skinnier width without losing the detail which gives this traditional pattern a fun modern twist without straying too far off the course. 

The color play in the cover photo quilt is really fun too where the lighter colors give the second set of rings a very subtle look almost making it look like a single ring quilt from farther away. 

Get your copy of Chic Kisses here.

Cheater DWR Fabric by Sunny Slopes Farm 

Love the look of a DWR but something holding you back?

This yardage is printed with a double wedding ring pattern and is ready for basting and quilting right out of the packaging!

Although the printed pattern is more traditional in it’s colors and style, using a cheater fabric to create the quilt and bypass many of the more challenging stages of this pattern is a fun modern way to tackle this quilt. 

Baste it and quilt it just like any other quilt top and you’re good to go. 

Fastest DWR ever made AND it comes in different colors!

Grab yardage of this fabric on Etsy here.

Put a Ring On It Quilt Pattern by Latifah Saafir

A modern version of a DWR if I’ve ever seen one. Put A Ring On It takes the traditional double wedding ring block and totally modernizes it with an abstract fade to the ring pattern. 

Super fun and unique, this quilt keeps the curved piecing as well as the individual ring piecing to a minimum for those who want to try it but not dedicate themselves to 70-something blocks. 

It’s a great way to dip your toes into the techniques without going in head first, for sure.

Put a Ring On It can be found available for purchase on Etsy here!

Metro Hoops by Sew Kind of Wonderful

There’s something about a single ring pattern that I love. 

The classic feel of a double wedding ring, but half as busy. I know that a metro hoop is not exactly a new pattern, but I love that it gives a little update to the traditional double wedding ring pattern while keeping all the best parts.

Plus half the rings means half the work! You won’t hear any complaints over here about less work 😛

You can find a copy of Metro Hoops here!

Paper Beauty by Zen Chic

Another play on the shape and scale of the rings, Paper Beauty by Zen Chic enlarges the ring width and squares off the rings a bit in this modern version. 

By making the rings themselves larger, you are able to see so much more of each fabric in the segments of the rings. When you put so much effort into piecing the fabrics, you want to be sure that in the end you can actually see them!

See Paper Beauty by Zen Chic on Etsy here

Metro Lattice by Sew Kind of Wonderful

Metro Lattice by Sew Kind of Wonderful is another take on the inverted scrappy double wedding ring. 

Keeping the rings a solid color with no additional piecing, Metro Lattice turns the background into a fun scrappy pinwheel look between the rings. 

While you save the work on the rings, you add a bit of work to make the background so this one may not save you as much time, just spend it doing other piecing, but if that doesn’t scare you this one is a super cute modern take to try out!

This one even comes with a Quick Curve ruler to help you speed up the process!

Grab your copy of Metro Lattice here.

Not Exactly Double Wedding Rings

Ring Cycles by Lessa Siegele

This look-alike has that fun entwined ring look to it, but doesn’t require curved seams!

A great scrap-busting pattern, Ring Cycles is more of a chain block quilt than a double wedding ring, however the compressed rings of this pattern give you an eerily familiar feel as the classic double wedding ring. 

And while there are no curved seams in this one, it does make use of Y-seams, so if you like this one it will definitely let you practice some new techniques as well. 

Ring Cycles quilt pattern is available for purchase here.

Vegas Wedding Quilt Pattern

We’ve all seen those movies with Vegas weddings. Quick with not a lot of time to plan, when making a quilt for a Vegas wedding, ain’t no body got enough time for a full traditional double wedding ring. 

This Vegas Wedding Quilt Pattern by Pen and Paper Patterns is a faster curve-free modern double wedding ring pattern with a few more angles than it’s traditional cousin. 

If you are looking for a quicker or easier version of the double wedding ring, this one is a home run. 

Grab your copy of Vegas Wedding here.

Picnic Petals by Whole Circle Studio

Okay, you caught me. This one is better defined as an orange peel, but it’s a distant cousin to the double wedding ring that I would be wrong to not include as a variation for consideration.

By taking out the pieced rings of a double wedding ring you save a large chunk of time in the piecing process so an orange peel quilt is a great entry-level quilt to get started with curved piecing. 

Picnic Petals is a larger scale orange peel quilt which makes it a fantastic beginner curved piecing pattern to tackle. 

This pattern having fewer but larger block sizes will make it easy to cruise through so you don’t lose motivation, even if you realize curved piecing isn’t your cup of tea. 

See Picnic Petals on Etsy here.

How to Make a Double Wedding Ring Quilt Pattern Easier

Avoid getting type A scrappy

A double wedding ring block typically has anywhere from 6-12 fabrics that make up the rings of the block.

The fabrics you choose are the backbone of the design of the quilt and many traditional settings of the quilt use a scrappy look to make up the rings. 

The mistake I often make when piecing rings, is getting too Type-A scrappy.

Trying to come up with the perfect plan to evenly distribute each fabric within the rings. 

Being super aware of having too many of the same color near each other, or not having the same two fabrics join together at a cornerstone. 

If you are going for the ultra scrappy look in your rings, don’t spend too much time analyzing each curve individually. 

Find the simplest way to incorporate all of your fabrics without spending too much time on it. 

My biggest tip to avoid spending too much time over fabric placement is to make sure the amount of fabrics you have for the rings divides nicely into the amount of segments you have in each ring. 

For example, in my most recent double wedding ring quilt, I had 42 fabrics that came in the collection. 

With only 6 segments in each ring, I could make 7 totally different rings, and then just play around with where they ended up in the quilt later.

Embrace Glue Basting

Curved piecing is not difficult. 

It’s definitely different from the normal piecing you are used to, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be making beautiful curved pieced quilts left and right. 

The logistics of them just takes a little bit to get used to. 

But with the right tips and tricks, curved piecing is a piece of cake. 

And if I’m being perfectly honest, when it comes to DWR quilts, by the time you finish piecing all the rings and get to the curved piecing, you might even find it a more enjoyable and relaxing part of the quilt!

So what really is so tricky about curved piecing?

You have to cut the inside curve to one fabric and the outside of the curve to the other fabric, and then gently sew them together bending one fabric around the other.

When you are forcing fabric in against the direction it wants to lay, it’s understandable that the elasticity of the fabric wants to push it back to its original shape. 

This aspect of trying to marry opposing curved pieces is what can make this skill a bit daunting. 

If you are off by a little too much, you can often end up with pleats in the seam, weird puckering where theres excess bulk, or just wonky shapes to the edges. 

So what’s the big trick to nailing curved piecing every time?

Glue basting your seams. 

The concept is pretty basic: glue your whole seam allowance to keep those edges together perfectly.  

This allows you to perfectly work in any bulk, without using a single pin and all before it goes under the machine.

It also allows you to focus on that 1/4” seam allowance as you sew the curve without having to worry about keeping your fabrics matched up at the same time. 

This trick works perfectly on any curved seam, and may also even become a trick you use on particularly fussy straight seems on future projects too!

If sewing curves was ever a concern you had when thinking about taking on a double wedding ring project hopefully this simple trick will give you all the confidence you need to give it a try. 

Want to see this process in much more detail? Check out our tutorial on how to sew curves here!

Use a paper pieced pattern

This last tip is my number one hack that will make this seemingly overwhelming pattern and make it a piece of cake. 

Paper piece the rings. 

Paper piecing this quilt is a game changer – without a doubt. 

Without paper piecing, you are forced to use individual templates for each segment of your rings,  and then keep those segments organized so each of their slightly different angles don’t get mixed up.

My most recent double wedding ring quilt had 72 blocks, each with 2 rings in it, and each ring contained 8 segments. 

Quick math gives me almost 1200 little ring segments in this quilt. 

Instead of fussy cutting each template, I bought two honey buns so they were already cut into strips for me, cut each of those strips into quick squares, and was done cutting the fabric for my rings in only an afternoon. 

Since paper piecing does all the work for you and allows you to trim all the excess later, you can speed up the cutting process of the quilt significantly and get to the actual sewing quicker. 

Never paper pieced before?

For those who have never heard of foundation paper piecing before, it’s a technique in quilting where you use a piece of paper with your finished block printed on it as a template. 

In the case of our modern wedding ring quilt pattern, our template would just consist of the ring portion of the block, printed on the sheet of paper. 

You secure your first piece of fabric to the paper with fabric glue or pins, and then simply line up your subsequent fabrics according to the pattern on the paper and, quite literally, sew on the line. 

Once sewn, you flip over your newly attached fabric, press, and keep going. At the end of your ring, you trim all the edges down to your perfect ring shape.

This means, you don’t need to take the time to cut perfect templated fabric, you just cut squares big enough to cover the space on the template and move on, the rest of the fabric will get trimmed down to size as you go. 

Interested in learning more about foundation paper piecing? You can read our full tutorial on Foundation Paper Piecing for Beginners here!

I’ve read in more than one place that you should not use a double wedding ring as your first introduction to paper piecing, however I very much disagree. 

I actually believe its a fantastic pattern to use for a first foundation paper piecing project, you simply have to sew the fabrics in a line. 

No sections overlap each other, and it’s super simple to keep your colors organized as opposed to more complicated paper pieced blocks. 

Once your rings are paper pieced, you are good to go to start the curved piecing. 

How to finish a double wedding ring

When it comes to finishing modern double wedding ring quilt patterns, you have a couple of different options: 

• Scalloped edge
• Straight edge

Both options are absolutely beautiful and just provide slightly different looks to your quilt. 

A scalloped edge that runs along the outside edge of the rings is something you don’t typically see on any other style quilt, so being able to do one on a double wedding ring really gives it that “WOW” factor. 

Its a bit more difficult and uses a bias binding because of the curvature, but its well worth the effort and definitely gives the quilt a timeless classic finish.

The other option is a simple border around the outside of the rings that not only allows you to finish the quilt off square like any other quilt, but brings a modern look to a classic quilt design. 

Not to mention, it allows you to make the quilt a bit larger in size without having to make more rings. 😉

The sooner we can finish those rings, the better!

Double Wedding Rings have become a favorite pattern of mine over the years to I have tons of great resources to make the process as easy as possible. 

If you are interested in reading more, be sure to check out some of my finished projects and in-depth tutorials on how to tackle the double wedding ring with ease!

• A Modern Take On A Double Wedding Ring
• A Finished Wedding Ring Quilt Design and Common DWR FAQs
• How to Sew Curves
• Foundation Paper Piecing for Beginners
• How to Make a DWR the Easy Way Using Craftsy

The Number One Tool for Making a DWR

The most time consuming part of a double wedding ring quilt is making the rings. Its tedious and is the easiest place to get too perfectionist on yourself. Paper piecing keeps your Type-A side in check while making the process quick and painless.

Fortunately, paper piecing patterns are everywhere for modern double wedding ring quilt patterns. 

Any time I make one, I always refer back to this online course called Contemporary Curves from Craftsy which came with its own paper piece pattern. It was super convenient that the course taught you exactly how to use the exact DWR paper piece pattern provided as well as go into depth on some of the tips I’ve mentioned above. 

The most valuable aspect of the class was the tutorial on how to specifically paper piece a double wedding ring block, not just how to paper piece in general so it shows you some fool proof methods to sewing curves to complete the full block.

I recently did a review of the Contemporary Curves class from Craftsy, so if you’re ready to cross a DWR quilt off your bucket list, be sure to check it out.

It will give you so much confidence that you can make a double wedding ring that you’ll be at the fabric store before the trailer is over.

If I can do it, you can do it, I promise!

See you next time!