Size of quilt block
 

I am not normally following patterns but making up my own, so I don't think I've ever paid attention to this as it never really mattered... But now I want to include a block from a pattern into a quilt I'm currently designing and I'm suddenly not sure of the following:

When saying that an instruction gives an e.g. 8" block, does that mean the finished block in a quilt will be 8" or will it be 8" minus the seam allowances (i.e. 7.5")?

Normally it would be cut 8 1/2 to make a finished block of 8".

generally, a block described as an 8" block would be the finished size of the block. for the best info, see what the instructions give you. perhaps, make a test block.

What is important are the words 'cut size and finished size'. Cut size includes the seam allowance and finished size one needs add seam allowance.


SewTrini

Read through the instructions to figure it out. Maybe there's an alternate solid square and the cut and finished sizes are given for that one. Usually if you read through to where the entire block is pieced, it will tell you there what the size of that one completed block is before it is sewn to other blocks.

Sometimes they really don't say whether it is a finished size or not. Then the best thing to do is make a sample.

I used to think that if they didn't say, that it was automatically the size of the block finished. Unfortunately, sometimes that was not the case. Now, I make a sample block just to make sure which it is. When you get enough sample blocks, you can put them together to make a small quilt.