Welcome to our first real month of the Summer on the Coast QAL!
This month we are starting off simple, so if you are a brand new paper piecer you can totally do this!
Update 1/2/19: Right now our free patterns are not available because of the changes to Craftsy. We are in the process of moving our free patterns to Payhip and will send an update once that is complete.
Our units this month are square in a square blocks! Here's how many units you will need for each size and approximate fabric needed for each part of the block:
Baby: 12 units (1/4 yard needed for center squares, 1/3 yard for corner triangles)
Throw: 16 units (1/3 yard needed for center squares, 1/2 yard for corner triangles)
Twin: 30 units (2/3 yard needed for center squares, 3/4 yard for corner triangles)
If you are not interested in paper piecing your blocks, you can easily find tutorials for perfect SIAS units on the internet. You will need a 6.5 inch block unfinished (6 inches finished).
If you want to pre-cut your pieces to help reduce some trim-off waste, my recommendations for cutting is as follows:
Center squares: 5 inches each (I started with 4 3/4 inches as shown below, this is slightly tight, so you are probably better off with 5 inch squares) -- one per block
Corner triangles: 4 inch squares cut diagonally once -- cut two squares per block to yield four triangles per block
As always, make sure that your paper piecing template prints out at the correct size -- from dotted edge to dotted edge, your block template should measure 6.5 inches!
To start off, center your square within the template with sufficient overhang on all four sides. I found it helpful to pin the squares to the paper foundation for the first seam. Line up your first triangle along one of the sides of your square.
Sew on the line, press and repeat with your second triangle. I found it easiest to sew the opposite triangle second.
Repeat with your 3rd and 4th triangles. A quick tip: sometimes it is hard to "eyeball" lining up your triangle in the center of the square, but if you make sure that the overhang is equal distance on each side of your square piece, you will have perfectly aligned triangles every time! You can see in the diagram below that the unsewn triangle #3 has "dogears" that are the same size on each side of the block.
After giving your block a final press, you are ready to trim on the dotted lines for your final unit.
Notes on color selection: I choose my smallest fabric cut to use in all of the centers of my units. I picked a contrasting color for my corner triangles. I didn't use any "background" fabric in my units this month. If you have a larger scale print, you will likely want to use it as your center squares.
Have other questions about how to pick fabrics? Just leave a comment (and make sure you are not a no-reply blogger!)
Share your finished blocks in the HBD Designs Flickr group!
Sharing at
Let's Bee Social!
