Rail fence.

1) It's easily made with strips to practice her measuring and cutting skills .
2) It'll give her an easy way to practice her 1/4" seams.
3)She can play around with variations without going crazy deciding .
4) No points to match or cut off (so it's forgiving).
5) It goes together quickly. New quilters love the Nearly instant gratification .

Thanks everyone for your suggestions

I love your quilt osewme

She has not sewn since high school in Home Ec. She is now 30.

My first thought was a rail fence - but I am afraid that cutting the strips will lose the pattern on the fabric. Motorcycle fabric

I am going to look at the other suggestions and see how those work for medium to large print fabric

I gave her a link to MSQC on YouTube and told her to check it out

I made quilts for kids and I am going to suggest that she work on one of those small quilts to get her feet wet

2nd Quilt of Kansas Granddaughter
 

My 12 year old granddaughter was here for a week. We completed the quilt with everything but the binding and she helped me iron that before she went all the way back to Kansas. We started the quilting on the machine and she picked out the colors and the design (several times...sigh) and then I finished the rest of the quilting and the binding and sent it out to her the next weekend by USPS. She was thrilled.

The Wickedly Easy Quilt is another top notch beginner's quilt!

I'd wait till I saw the fabric, then decide!

4-patch, 9-patch, roman square, triple rail fence are all great beginner patterns. I would stay clear of triangles for a complete beginner as there are so many things to learn (proper cutting, proper seam allowance, proper pressing, etc)

I've never made one, but what about a Warm Wishes pattern? That would definitely give her space to feature the motorcycle fabric ... of course, it depends on what the other fabrics are. I always think the WW quilts look nicest when there is a dark fabric for the large squares, a medium fabric for the sashing & a light fabric for the interior stripe. Here's an example with Classic Cars fabric as the feature: https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=...132990.jpe&f=1

When I first began quilting, I decided to begin with a small pieced wall hanging. I learned a lot of skills in the process and gained confidence to take on a quilt. I was also able to see a finished product quickly. A table topper would do the same thing. Little chance for discouragement.

I would suggest the Warm Wishes pattern also. It is a pattern that goes together quickly. Here is one of the ones I have made. It is very good when you have a focus fabric you want to use.

Dina

I have to agree with the DNP, as well as YBR. Both are very "forgiving" and it's pretty much impossible to go wrong with either of them.
Except....
Be very stingy with yellow.
Unless your niece loves yellow.

A little yellow goes a LOOOONNNNGGGG way in a quilt. It is worse than kudzu, which pretty much covers all the of the South.