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Temperature Quilt Generator

The free NiftyFifty Temperature Quilt Generator turns a year of real weather — any city, any year back to 1940 — into a quilt design in Kona Cotton solids, with the fabric legend, day counts, and yardage calculated for you.

Updated August 2026 · No signup · Weather data: Open-Meteo/ERA5

Any year back to 1940 — a birth year makes a great gift
Each day shows
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What is a temperature quilt?

A temperature quilt is a year of weather sewn into fabric: one square per day, colored by that day's temperature on a cold-to-hot palette. Quilters make them for birth years, wedding years, memorable seasons, or as a slow year-long project sewing each day as it happens. Until now the planning step meant downloading weather-station spreadsheets and coloring paper charts by hand — this generator replaces that with real archive data and a printable pattern.

How it works

  1. 1Pick a city and year. Search any city worldwide and choose a year back to 1940 — the generator fetches that year's real daily highs and lows.
  2. 2Choose the style. One square per day colored by the high or low, or the split-square version showing both on one half-square triangle.
  3. 3Pick a palette and size. Three palettes mapped to real Kona Cotton solids, and square sizes from 1.5 to 3 inches with the finished quilt size shown live.
  4. 4Print the pattern. The printable page includes the quilt chart, the fabric legend with day counts, cut sizes, and yardage for every color.

Frequently asked questions

What is a temperature quilt?

A temperature quilt records a year of weather in fabric: each day gets one square (or half-square triangle) colored by that day's temperature, using a palette that runs from cold blues and purples to hot reds. A finished year is 365 pieces — usually arranged as 12 month columns of 31 days — and doubles as a piece of data art about a meaningful year or place.

How does this temperature quilt generator work?

Pick a city and a year (back to 1940), and the generator pulls that location's real daily highs and lows from the ERA5 weather archive. It maps the year's temperature range across a palette of real Kona Cotton solids, renders the full quilt, and gives you the fabric legend with the day count and yardage for every color — ready to print.

How many fabrics do I need for a temperature quilt?

Most temperature quilts use 10–15 fabrics. This generator fits its palette to your city's actual range — a mild coastal year might span 12 fabrics while a continental climate uses all 15. The legend lists only the fabrics your year actually uses, with exact counts and yardage for each.

What size should temperature quilt squares be?

With 2-inch finished squares, a 12-month × 31-day layout finishes 24 × 62 inches before borders — a wall or runner size. Choose 2.5- or 3-inch squares for 30 × 77.5 or 36 × 93 inches. The generator recalculates the finished size, cut sizes, and yardage as you change it.

What is the split-square (high and low) version?

Instead of one temperature per day, each day becomes a half-square triangle: the daily low on the upper-left, the daily high on the lower-right. It shows twice the data, adds sparkle to the layout, and is the version most modern temperature quilts use. This generator supports both styles.

Which year and city should I pick?

Any year back to 1940 works — a birth year, a wedding year, the year in a new home, or the current year sewn month by month as a year-long project. The archive covers cities worldwide, so an emigration story can even pair two quilts: the old hometown and the new one, same year.

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