Question about pinwheel blocks
 

I am making a pinwheel quilt where the pinwheel blocks alternate with a solid color block. I am using 5" blocks. Now that the pinwheel blocks are completed they are larger than 5". Do I square up the pinwheel blocks to 5" to be even with the solid color 5" block? Or do I just square up the pinwheel block to even out the edges?

How much to big are your pin wheels? your solid and your pinwheel blocks must be the same size or your corners won't match. If you trim too much off you will lose the points on your pin wheel. Does the 5 inch block include the 1/4 seam? are your seams the right size? Before trimming I'd check seam size and all my cutting measurments. Could you have cut your pinwheel pieces too large? I would check everything before trimming. Once you trim it off you cann't put it back. Good Luck , let us see your finished project.

How much bigger are they?

You can trim your Pinwheel blocks down to whatever the UNFINISHED size of your plain blocks is......in this case, 5".

Having both sets of blocks the same size makes life so much easier.:)


Just make sure when squaring each block that you keep an eye on the diagonal and the center of the Pinwheel.

You want the ruler to have BOTH
a)the diagonal lined up so it bisects the corner exactly AND
b)the center of the block lined up with the correct measurement on the square ruler - for your block, 2.5"l.

You don't want to trim one side, turn it, and find out you don't have enough fabric, or that the Pinwheel is now off center (even though the diagonal is fine).

Both are equally important.

At least with using plain alternate blocks, you won't have all that bulk at the corners, your blocks should go together smoothly.

If it is a quick quilt, I would leave if they are all the same size. Then I am not up to following patterns I love being an individual. Seriously if they are all the same size with the chance of any other block to the same size . Then you piece together as pattern. Just size will be different, without squaring up. Donot tell quilt police.

I'd cut larger alternate blocks to match the pinwheel size.

This is what I thought. Make sure all your pinwheel blocks ARE the same size. If not use the smallest to trim them like MTS said. Then you know how big your alternate blocks need to be

I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that the 5" solids were already cut.

I have already cut all the pieces. I cut 5" solids, and 5" blocks for the pinwheels. I have assembled the pinwheels and now they are larger and the edges are not all "even". So I started to even up the edges when I got to thinking about my original question posted here. I did realize that I would need to make sure my angled lines were all 2.5" and to make sure the point remained centered. I would find the center point of my solid square, match it up to the center point of my pinwheel and then cut it to the right size? Is that correct? I have only trimmed a few and realized that they still weren't all the same size. Some needed more trimming than others. I stopped when I began to question myself. I have no room for error here.

make sure my angled lines were all 2.5" from the center point

"Does the 5 inch block include the 1/4 seam?" No. The blocks are 5" cut.