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Thursday, May 22, 2008

hourglass block tutorial

Thanks for all the quilt love yesterday. It made my day.

Here is a little tutorial how to make an hourglass quilt block.
cut 2 squares 6"

I picked 6" because that is the size of my ruler is, so it made for easy cutting. You could use charm packs like Erin did, you will just get a smaller finished block.

cut each square in half diagonally, twice, to make quarter square triangles
take one triangle of each color and place right sides together

I find it easier to sew the triangles if I start at the top right hand side of the triangle and sew down to the point.

chain piece together all 4 sets. at this point, make sure that all your dark or all your light triangles are on the top, not a mix, or your blocks won't come together as needed. (if you don't, you will need to spend some time with your stitch ripper. I know this from experience.)

normally, I am not a proponent of ironing seams open, but in this case I would, otherwise it gets very bulky at the corners and it makes it hard to quilt over those points.

pin, starting at the center and work out to the edges. that will give you a nice crisp point in the middle. don't worry if the ends don't line up perfectly, those parts will be hidden in the side seams.

sew together, press well and trim off the overhanging ends of the triangles

The finished size of the block will be about 5". For Nancy's quilt, I made the layout 12 x 15, so I needed 180 blocks to get a 60" x 75" quilt. This type of quilt would lend itself to a scrappy quilt quite nicely. Yes, I'm already planning. 

Enjoy! If you make a quilt using this tutorial, I'd love to see it. 

24 comments:

  1. oh, you make this looks so easy amandajean! i think part of my problem here is I really need a cutting mat and other quilting tools. I just have a cheap pair of scissors! that is it! i know if i invest in a few more supplies it willbe worht it, and probably save me some time.

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  2. Anonymous12:44 PM

    Thanks for the tutorial, I'll have to make one of these someday.

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  3. Darling! Already plotting my next quilt!

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  4. Anonymous1:56 PM

    Thanks so much for posting a tutorial for this quilt. I love it so much that I had to show my husband last night. When he looked at it he loved it of course and then asked me if all of your quilts are my favorite (I've shown him quite a few "favorites"!!) I answered "well, yes. I guess so!" But I do have some favorite favorites and this is one of them! I will send you a picture when I finish it because I WILL make one! It may take me a while, but I will do it.

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  5. Thank you for the tutorial. The quilt is so beautiful, and I am going to bookmark this. I just have to do 3 or 4 others first. I see this in 30's, which would be a nice change from the heavier looking quilts that I have planned.

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  6. You do make this look so easy! I can't even make the points match up when I'm sewing squares together. LOL! But I might give this a try this summer. I should have some time on my hands :-)

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  7. Anonymous4:38 PM

    Thanks for sharing this wonderful tutorial but stop stop stop giving me sooooo many ideas for yet ANOTHER quilt. I have so many in my memory bank. Agggggg :-)

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  8. Anonymous6:48 PM

    Thank you for showing this. You make it look so simple. I just read through your last post which was so lovely and what a beautiful gift to give. I am sure she is as grateful for your friendship as you are, because you both sound so lovely!

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  9. Love you! You were reading my mind. I've been dreaming of this quilt for days and was going to email you to ask more specific directions. Thanks so much!

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  10. Anonymous8:26 PM

    Thank you for unveiling the mystery. I had been admiring the small glimpses of that quilt for a while.

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  11. Muchas Gracias Amanda por los tutoriales, son geniales para mí, y una gran fuente de inspiración, que Dios te bendiga, besitos.
    Odette

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  12. thanks!!! you make it look so easy!!!

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  13. Thank you so much :) I now " get it " Hourglass block have always given me trouble, I never once though of pressing the seams open!
    Hugs,
    Amy

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  14. Anonymous10:49 AM

    I love your tutorial and block of the week blogs and you have inspired me to do one of my own. Your blog is fast becoming one of my favorites!

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  15. Anonymous11:25 AM

    Thanks for such a lovely tutorial.
    I'm going to be busy for a couple of weeks as some friends are visiting. I guess I'll have to play catchup after that. Really sorry about that :-(

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  16. Anonymous1:17 PM

    i love that heather bailey fabric in hourglass form....you are giving me more ideas!

    and i just cut my 5" squares once to get 2 half triangles. the thought of having even more triangles did not appeal to me!

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  17. You are just spot on with the tutorials! Thanks!

    And thanks for the OK to sometimes iron seams open. I'm a rules follower so it's good to know I can break this one when needed.

    I am still on the quilt-along team...the plan is to catch up tomorrow.

    - Jen

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  18. Thanks so much. This post came at the right time. I've been collecting 5' charm packs of a particular line that I've been trying to decide what to do with. This is the ticket!

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  19. Thank you for the tute!

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  20. Thanks for the measurements! Just finished a baby-sized one of these in lilacs, greens and grays for a bebe girl due in September-- seven blocks by seven blocks. Hope your summer is going well!

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  21. A few days ago I bought enough fabric to make a full size version of this quilt! I'm making a small test quilt to get the hang of cutting, sewing, and quilting before I move on to the good stuff! Quick question... I have a lot of trouble lining up the triangles in the final step. The two pieces often end up slightly off center. It's awkward when you're trying to match up the points from the reverse. Is there a trick to this? Thanks for such an informative blog:)

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  22. I tried it! I made some small hourglass blocks. And it's really not that difficult, your tutorial is fantastic, I knew just what to do, from start to finish! And thanks for the tip on having either lights OR darks facing up when chain-piecing :-)

    I have a picture on my blog, and I linked back to you, hope that's ok?!

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  23. I think I just found the project to make with my newly acquired "1974" charm pack!

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  24. Thanks for the hour glass tutorial. Just a comment on pressing the long seam. Just unpick the 2 or 3 stitches on the short seam to where the long seam crosses over and finger press the seams in opposite directions. Then you can make a final press of one half of the seam in one direction and the other half in the opposite direction. Makes a nice seam finish.

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