Hi and welcome to Lesson 2

This month we are going to make sew and flip triangle units and use them with the 4 Patches we made last month to make a simple star block. Then use the same method to make a Bowtie Block. Hope you enjoy :D

Star Block
Firstly out of your light fabric that we set aside last month, cut four 4 1/2” squares, then out of your dark fabric cut eight 2 1/2” squares (Pic 1). The dark squares are for your triangles.

Normally when you are cutting squares into triangles, for half square triangles, we have to add in a 7/8” for seam allowances, but because we are going to make these a different way we don’t have to worry about that (just the usual 1/2”) This method for adding triangles to a block uses a little more fabric but is a lot easier to do. It is an excellent method for adding small triangles to a larger piece. Helps to minimise stretching the bias, because we sew before we cut.

Draw a line on the wrong side of your dark squares from corner to corner, use a soft leaded Pencil ( I use a 2B, cheap and readily available) or another suitable marking tool that you like. Do this as gently as you can so as not to drag on the fabric. This line is your stitching line. (Pic 2a,b)

Place a dark square on your light background square, right sides together, line up the corners. Sew, on drawn line. Fold square towards edge of block and press, voila, triangle at the corner of your unit. If you wish you can trim out the extra layers to remove bulk, depending on how you are going to use the unit, having three layers of fabric can make your seams quite bulky. Before you trim, check to make sure that the triangle edge matches the outside edge of your square, if not leave background layer to use as a guide for piecing your block together. (Pic3a-f)

Add another square/triangle to the adjacent corner as previously described. You should now have a unit like this (Pic4a-d) Make 3 more background triangle units (four in total)

Lay out your triangle units and your four patches from last month as shown.
Stitch together in units together to form strips, similar to what we did for the 9 Patch last month. For this block press seams towards the four patch.
Join strips together butting seams, like we did for the 9 Patch. (Pic5a,b)

Voila, finished simple star block, without having to cut a single itsy bitsy triangle :thumbup: . (Pic 6)

Oh Shelly that looks like a very fun block I'll be doing this one I love stars.

These two units , the four patch and triangle unit can be used together to make a lovely all over quilt pattern. Quilt needs to have an odd number of rows and columns to show pattern to best effect
Notice how the dark triangles make the star points but also form a background lattice pattern.

For this to work well you need to use a colour for your triangles that has a good contrast with the colours you have used in your four patches otherwise the triangles will blend with the four patches and not form clear star points. Mind you doing this will reinforce your lattice pattern, so it really depends what look you’re after lol:lol:

I am always fascinated by the way you can change the whole overall look of a quilt, just by changing a single value or colour in the block