Wednesday 19 February 2014

A Wonky Star

Despite the school holiday, I managed to squeeze in an hour at my sewing machine yesterday. I decided to have a practice run at the wonky star block that I need to make for my Little Blog Quilt Bee. And here is the result


I've used some of the fabric that I've been making all of my other quilt blocks from so that it will match. There are lots of tutorials for this block, but I used the Missouri Star Quilt Company video - I'm a great fan of those videos! I did take some photos along the way but don't think I could explain it any better than anyone else but shall I give a quick run through?

This block used 8x5" squares of the dark fabric and 5x5" squares of the light.
If you fold one of the dark squares in half and run your finger along the fold, you get a rough placement of the centre of the fabric. To make the wonky legs, you place the light fabric past this centre line and then decide where to finish up on the other side (depending on whether you want short or long point).


Once you have sewn the diagonal line, your fabric will look like this


Turn the fabric over and trim the light fabric away to the size of the original 5" square.


And then trim the dark fabric from behind the "point" as well to reduce bulk.



So now your square looks like this, and you have a triangular shape piece of fabric which you use for the second point. This time, start sewing from beyond the halfway point in the other direction.


Again, after you've sewn the diagonal line, trim the light fabric back to the size of the original 5" square, and trim the excess dark fabric from behind.


And voila! A square with 2 "points" on it. You need to repeat this for 4 squares, then piece them together like a normal 9 patch.


I've seen photos of amazing quilts made up with these blocks. I'm looking forward to making one for March's Queen Bee!

Love Natalie 








6 comments:

  1. Wow I am really impressed with your block. The wonky star looks wonderful, very professional. I am really going to have a go at quilting. I will check out the videos you mentioned, maybe a good place to start. Hope you've had a lovely half term.
    Ali x

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  2. Nice one Natalie! I've made a practice one for this LBQBee too, and it was a lot of fun! I liked the randomness of the points, they seem to really fight with the tight measurements that are usually required for blocks!
    Look forward to seeing your final block!

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  3. Lovely wonky star, Natalie! H x

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  4. I've never come across a 'wonky star' block before so I'll have to give it a try. Just been catching up with your previous posts and your blocks and quilting are fab xx

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  5. I love that Star. I've been practicing aswell but on 6" scrappy blocks. I'm loving how the blocks look and may have to add a wonky star quilt to my list of quilts to do xxx

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  6. Very nice indeed. Those colours match my bedroom, so you know what you can get me for my next birthday! Love the socks by the way :-) xx

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