Monday, October 24, 2016

snowflake block tutorial

Today I thought it would be fun to share a snowflake block tutorial with you! Winter will be here in just a few short weeks, no doubt. It's better to embrace it rather than being cranky for the next 6 months....at least that's the goal! Making quilted items to cozy up the house definitely helps. :)

To make one snowflake quilt block, you will need:

-3" x WOF (width of fabric) of white or cream fabric
-1/8 yard x WOF of navy or blue fabric
-additional navy or blue fabric for any borders or sashing you would like to add. (I'll leave that part up to you!)

Cutting directions:

From the white, cut the following pieces:

(1) 1" x 12" piece
(4) 1" x 10" pieces
(2) 1" x 6" pieces
(4) 1" x 4 1/2" pieces
(4) 1" x 4" pieces
(4) 1" x 2 1/2" pieces
(4) 1" x 2" pieces

From the navy or blue fabric, cut the following pieces:

(4) 2" x 6" pieces
(4) 2" x 4 1/2" pieces
(4) 2" x 4" pieces
(4) 2" x 2 1/2" pieces
(4) 2" x 2" squares

Please note:
All seam allowances are 1/4".
Press seams toward the dark fabric unless indicated.

To assemble the block:
 Take a navy 2" square and a white 1" x 2" strip of fabric. Sew together and press.
Add a white 1" x 2 1/2" strip to the top of the block. Sew and press.
 Add a navy 2" x 2 1/2" piece to the right hand side of the block. Sew and press.
Add a navy 2" x 4" piece to the top of the block. Sew and press.
 Add a white 1" x 4" strip of fabric to the right side of the block. Sew and press.
Add a white 1" x 4 1/2" strip to the top of the block. Sew and press.
 Add a navy 2" x 4 1/2" piece to the right hand side of the block. Sew and press.
Add a navy 2" x 6" strip to the top of the block. Sew and press.
Make 4 quadrants following the instructions above. Each quadrant should measure 6" square.
 Cut one of the quadrants in half on the diagonal once. Insert a white 1" x 10" piece of fabric.
 Sew the 3 pieces together. Press seams toward the white.
Trim excess white fabric. Once again, the quadrant should measure 6" square. Repeat the previous 3 steps for the 3 remaining block quadrants.
Here is a peek at the back of one of the quadrants. The white strip is fully covered by seam allowances.
Take two quadrants and one white 1" x 6" strip of fabric and arrange as shown. Sew the 3 pieces together. Press seams toward the white. Make two.
Take the two block halves and the white 1" x 12" strip of fabric. Arrange the piece as shown. Sew the pieces together and press well.
Your snowflake block is complete! It should measure 12" unfinished. Add borders if you like!
The block will finish at 11 1/2".

You can check out my completed snowflake pillow here!

If you use this tutorial, I'd love to see what you make.

Happy Monday to you!

36 comments:

Little Quiltsong said...

This is absolutely stunning, Amanda Jean! Beautiful!!

mumbird3 said...

Wow - I will have to make one of these - great tutorial!

Rita said...

Absolutely beautiful!

Thanks!

Nifty Quilts said...

Great pillow and block! Thanks for the excellent tute.

Vicki W. said...

Oh that's genius. Love it!

Rosemary Dickinson said...

Great block and directions! Thank you!

Ariane said...

Wow!! Thanks so much for this tutorial! It's amazing!!

Paige said...

What a great design, thanks for sharing!

Melody A. said...

what a clever design, thank you for sharing it with all of us. I am looking forward to trying it.

Alenushka22222 said...

Аmanda, what interesting pillow! At once breathed a winter breeze...)))

Unknown said...

That is awesome....and it can double as a punching bag in case of crankiness. LOL. I would love to tackle this one! :) Thanks for sharing the instructions!

Unknown said...

What a beautiful pillow and wonderful pictures and instructions to go along with it, thank you so much for sharing!

Liz Horgan said...

That is very cool!! When I first looked at it, I assumed it would be appliqued-which I'm not very fond of making, but it's pieced!
Thanks for the tutorial!

Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting said...

I love your attitude--embrace it!!! This idea has set me off on the right foot this year. Thank you for the tutorial, too. Super cute!

stamperwithdayjob said...

Love it - thank you so much for the free pattern. I love the white on the navy blue.

Sara said...

Thank you very much for the great tutorial...love it....

Colleen said...

this is great, thank-you ! I have made a paper pieced snowflake that took me forever and I think it was only 8 or nine inches so I'm certainly going to give this a try !

Anonymous said...

Oh my! What a lovely idea for a snowflake! Great construction method. Looking forward to trying this one. Thanks for sharing.

JG said...

What a great snowflake! Thank you for the tutorial. :)
~Judy

Suzanne said...

I have never sliced a block like that before. What a cool concept! Thanks for the tutorial. Xo

Sabrina said...

Whee! What a great way to welcome winter. This is beautiful!
Best,
Sabrina

Karen said...

Thanks so much for such a wonderful tutorial! I was smitten with this snowflake when you showed us your pillow--and now I know how to make it. Might just help me get through a Maine winter :)

blockMquilts said...

Thank you so much for this great tutorial! Your pillow looks gorgeous and the block is brilliant!! My fingers are twitching.... will have to make one myself!!!!

KaHolly said...

What a fun share! Thanks bunches!

KathyinMN said...

I hate winter, but I love this!

Susana Neiger said...

This is lovely! Great tutorial! Sounds easier to construct than it looked at first glance! I can imagine these white snowflakes in quilt blocks with a variety of colored backgrounds ... to make a big quilt ... someday, when I finish more UFOs!

Susana Neiger said...

This is lovely! Great tutorial! Sounds easier to construct than it looked at first glance! I can imagine these white snowflakes in quilt blocks with a variety of colored backgrounds ... to make a big quilt ... someday, when I finish more UFOs!

Unknown said...

I've only been sewing & quilting for about four months, but I was inspired to make this block/pillow today as a gift for very good friends. I will post on Instagram tomorrow. If you see this note and have an opinion as to the following, I would appreciate it. Being new at this, I neglected to take seam allowances into account when I added my borders (which are the same blue fabric as the background). My finished pillow top is now only 17.5". I would love it to be 18" and not 16". Would you just add more border even though there will be another seam, or just cut it down to 16" and go with a smaller pillow?

Unknown said...

Great tutorial Amanda Jean! Thanks for writing up and sharing!

cath said...

very nice block, thank you very much !
I hope to haave time and energy to do it !

DylanM said...

Love this!

sawsan said...

Thank you for sharing your ideas . Love this

Mary said...

Amanda, I saw this tutorial yesterday and loved it! My wheels started turning to figure out what fabric I have to use. It would make a great Christmas quilt with Christmas fabric. So I have a layer cake of Christmas fabric. How would you reduce the size so a layer cake can be used? Everything would work except the final white piece that is 1 x 12" that's my problem here. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Kate said...

Very simple, but it looks so complex. Thank you for sharing!

Michele T said...

OMG!! I never knew how these were done!! Simpler than I imagined!!!

Sequoialynn Sews said...

I just cut 12 set of navy and am cutting snowflakes in 12 colors to make a throw for my couch. Thanks for the step by step.