September- Bow Tie Blocks
Quick Reference for cutting:
48- 2.5" squares of print fabric (subcut from a 2.5"x44" strip)
48- 2" squares of print fabric (subcut from a 2.5"x44" strip)
48- 2.5" squares background fabric (subcut from a 2.5"x44" strip)
Select however many print fabrics you would like to use for these squares. You could use 1 print or up to 24 prints!! I chose
6 prints in order to do the least amount of cutting and save the most fabric. You also need
1 background fabric.
All of my prints are half yard cuts, so all of my cutting will be for anyone that is using 42/44" wide fabric (this is how wide all lengths of fabric are that come off of a bolt).
If you are using fat quarters, you will want to keep in mind that my fabric is folded in half while I cut so there are two layers. You will just want to make twice as many cuts as I am making.
Lay your fabric out with the selvage facing you. Line your fabric up against a line (make sure it is even, if not cut to make it even).
Make a 2.5" cut.
You will do the same thing with all your prints. If you selected 6 prints like I did, you will have 6 strips of fabric which are 2.5" wide.
Line your strip (one or two at a time) horizontally along your cutting board. Cut off the selvage (you can make a cut off an inch or so).
Make a cut at 2.5 inches.
Continue to
make cuts every 2.5 inches until you have 8 squares (in my picture, my strip is double layered, so it looks like there are four squares, but there are actually 8 squares).
With the additional fabric on your strip,
cut every 2 inches.
Continue cutting every 2 inches until you have 8 pieces.
Take those 2.5" x 2" squares, turn them sideways and
cut them down so they measure 2" x 2" square.
You will end up with 8- 2.5" squares and 8- 2" squares.
Repeat the cutting process until you have 6 sets of squares. Set these aside.
Take your background fabric and lay it out on your cutting board with the selvages facing toward you.
Cut every 2.5" until you have 3 strips of fabric.
Lay your strips horizontally and cut off the selvage at the end.
Cut every 2.5". In the picture above, I was able to make 8 cuts through my 3 strips (which were double layered).
This results in 48- 2.5" squares of background fabric.
We are finished cutting our pieces for the blocks. You have 48- 2.5" squares of print fabric. 48-2" squares of print fabric, 48- 2.5" squares of background fabric. (-- You should have had a small piece of fabric from each of your strips left over. You may want to hold onto that just in case you make a mistake on one of the squares, you can just cut another one.)
Now we are ready to head to the sewing machine!
We are going to sew some of our squares together diagonally, so if you feel uncomfortable just eyeing it, go ahead and mark your 2" squares. You will want to take your ruler and a marking pencil/pen and draw a diagonal line on the back of all of the 2" printed squares.
Take one background fabric square and one 2" square and line them up as it shows above.
Then you will
sew down from one corner of the 2" square to the other using a regular straight stitch.
This is how the square will look after you sew it.
Cut along the side that does not show the background fabric as shown above. You will want to leave about a 1/4". You don't need to be exact, as that doesn't really matter, but you don't want to cut too close to the stitching.
You will then press the seam open (you could press the seam to the dark fabric on this part of the block, but since we are going to be pressing the rest of our seams open, it might be easier to keep it consistent and press all seams open).
This is how your square will look after you press it.
Continue sewing your squares together. You can sew each square together and continue onto the next creating a chain of squares.
Chain piece all of your 2 inch squares and 2.5 inch background fabric- You should have 48 of these joined squares.
Take your chained squares and cut the thread in between them to separate your squares. Then you will need to cut the extra section off and press them as we did with the first square.
Take two of your new background fabric/print fabric squares and two of your 2.5" print squares. Make sure you are using the
same print fabric for these four pieces. This will be used to make our block.
Place one square on to of the other, right sides facing each other. It doesn't matter what square is on top, but you need to DO IT THE SAME FOR EVERY BLOCK! (at this point you may want to chain piece all of your print blocks and print/background blocks together this way all at once, or you can do them in sets like I am doing here).
Sew using a 1/4" seam allowance.
Iron open the seams. This will help prevent bulkiness as we sew together several small squares but will also help make it easier to line up seams.
Now we take our two pieces, turning one to make it look like a bow tie.
Take your two pieces, and line up your seam.
I find it easier to use a pin to hold the seam as I sew.
Sew the two pieces together, pulling out the pin right before the needle goes over the seam and holding the ends together to make sure they line up as you finish sewing.
Press your seams open.
This is a quarter of one block.
You will be making 24 of these.
Take four of your bow ties (you can either use all different fabrics in one block or use all the same depending on your preferences-- I chose all different). Lay them out as you see above.
Take two of the bow ties and sew them together. Make sure they stay in the direction that you laid them out in. Also make sure your fabric is right sides together, you line up your seams, and you use the 1/4" seam allowance. Do this for each pair of bow tie blocks.
Press open your seams.
Lay out your two halves as shown.
Continue to sew the two halves together. Use pins to line up each of the seams as the more seams there are, the more likely your fabric will move and things will not line up.
Press open your seams.
You now have one completed block. Make six of these blocks. Join them together to complete your row of blocks.
A couple of things:
Sometimes your squares aren't perfect after you sew in your 2 inch squares. You can see in the picture above that my square is not perfect. DON'T STRESS, as long as it is within 1/4" of accuracy, you can hide your inaccuracy in the seam.
As you complete each block, it should measure 8.5" square. However, once you sew in each of your blocks into your row they will be 8.5" x 8". Once you sew in your other rows, then they will measure to be 8" squared FINISHED. So, when someone says that a block is 8.5" UNfinished it means that it will be 8" Finished in the completed quilt.
Once you sew all your blocks together, your row should measure 48.5". Once you finish all the rows for the quilt, you will either put a border on it or bind it which will take away the extra 1/4" on each side.
