Quilt Patterns With Squares

[Melissa Russian]

Thankyou so much! You saved my day with this post! I have been cutting squares for a quilt for my sister and need many HSTs which I hate squaring up! I am getting ready to sew now and I found your post. I thought to myself - WOW that is the ruler I have had laying in my drawer not knowing why I bought it or what to do with it... Now I know - and it will save me so much time and hassle! Yesss!

I went looking through my rulers and Yup I have an unused Quilt in a Day square up ruler. I am using it today and it is a much quicker way to square them up. We buy these rulers and then tuck them away. Thanks for the tutorial and for getting me to use it. .

Wow, I just bought that ruler on clearance at my local Joanns, it had been marked down to $7.95 then to $3.95 so I thought that even though I had never seen it used I had to get it for the price! Thanks for the explanation, it sure will make it faster to make those pesky triangle squares!

I've been looking for similar instructions for piecing hst's using 16" squares sown 4 times (I think) to make a bunch of hst's at once. Learned it at a Saline county, Kansas extension program in 1985 called 'painless Patchwork'. Lost the instructions. I've had my 16" squares cut since 1986. Now maybe I'll be able to get going again after finding your blog.

Yes! So if you draw two diagonal lines on the back side of one of your squares (like an X) and do the same thing, sewing on both sides of the diagonal lines. Then cut the block into four 4" squares and again on the diagonal lines, you'll get 8 HST blocks from the two 16" squares!

I recently saw a die cut machine that cuts and squares up HST's quickly and perfectly. I am curious if there are pro's and con's for doing the cutting this way? I don't know anyone who uses one but am curious about them as it looks so easy? Thanks in advance for any input!

I have tried all the methode you can think of for HST's, including this one, which works fine. But to me, the best way is using Thangles, which is what I always come back to. I have Thangles in every size they make. No worries about bias sewing due to the paper foundation, plus they come out perfect without having to square up. All you have to do is sew on the line!

These quilts are amazing! I love creating squares from different scraps, it is such a great way to use up left over material. We have a great post where we featured our Squares to Triangle Quilting Tool, which really makes cutting squares and creating triangles super easy! Check it out and happy quilting! -to-triangle-quilting-tool/

In the photos of the tut, the upper left shows that the line on the ruler was EXACTLY on your seam line. The bottom right photo shows a ruler over the trimmed, opened block, but I see that it is a bit shy in the bottom left corner of the block. Your alignment for trimming was spot-on so it seems to me that your square should have come out perfect. Do you know what caused this discrepancy? The seam looks fully opened.

Amy, I purchased the 6.5 quilt in a day square up ruler from your link. I am experiencing the same problem as the lady above. I wanted my 2 HST to be 5.5 inches after squaring so I started with 6" carefully squared blocks. I lined up the 5.5" mark on my accurate 1/4" seams and trimmed using the quilt in a day ruler, but each one was consistently about 1/8" off most of the way around the block. I called the company and they said the directions are to make 4 HST at a time and or to make quarter square triangles. There are no instructions to make only two HST at a time and the instructions said you had to start with a 12" to get my desired size. Your tutorial looks like you are able to use this tool to make two HST at a time, so I am a little confused. Do you have any tips that would correct what I am doing wrong? I did try adjusting where I put the line on the seam but is harder to get it even and it still came out somewhat off. I love your blog and quilts btw?

I found your site by accident (or one of my angels took pity on me). Your site is wonderful and has helped get me partially back in the loop (I've got a lot to catch up on). I'm coming back to quilting after a 50 year sabbatical and boy have things changed (I started when we cut patterns from grocery bags). One thing I've noticed is that most sites highlight important info with reds or greens and for us color blind folks that makes it hard to see. I'm wondering if there is an alternative - luckily I have friends who don't mind reading it for me (they also have learned some new tricks by helping me). Thanks for your great site.

O MY GOSH! I've just started learning how to do things, and am now just barely brave enough to try to do a HST, and seeing this helps calm my nerves some. I'll definitely have to buy one and try it this summer while I'm not working. Thanks again for sharing!

I adore the look of hst but for some reason I dislike them so much like my arch enemy. My mom purchased the block loc rulers for me and they are ok but not perfect if you dont loc in the ruler perfectly. I am going to purchase this ruler and see if I can get past my dislike for them! Thanks so much for all your great imput and patterns to try

This free Squared Quilt pattern is the perfect first-time quilt to make. You can use yardage, hand-me-down scraps, or a fat quarter bundle. With only straight cuts and straight seams, you will finish this project feeling accomplished and happy with your quick success!

In addition to all of the technology used to get you moving, a traveler is not complete without a trusty camera. And that camera fabric! Isn't it the best? I am actually having trouble deciding which of these prints is my favorite.

This quilt was my first time using Crinklelove's longarm quilting services and I could not have been more pleased with the outcome. Sarah, the owner, was prompt in emailing me back to answer all of my questions. Which speaks volumes about her patience because I usually have a lot of questions.

Turnaround time is typically 2 weeks so there's no twiddling your thumbs dreaming about when you're going to get your quilt back. And even though fast turnaround is a major plus, that was not my favorite part working with Crinklelove.

I mailed Sarah this quilt top and backing along with the quilting design I thought I wanted. I'm never that certain when it comes to free-motion quilting designs so I usually end correspondence with something like, "buuuuut I'm not totally sure. Once you see the quilt, let me know if you think another design would look better."

You'll never know how much I LOVE it when experts respond to my uncertainty with a solid answer and their good opinion. As a one-woman show trying to run a business I don't have time to think through all of the options, so my favorite contractors to partner with are the ones that take pride in their work and share their expert opinions.

I just LOVE this pattern and would like to make it for a very special couple but I am having trouble finding the fabric. Any suggestions would be great. I am happy to buy online I am reposting this because I made a mistake in my email address first time. DUH!

Hello, I love this pattern! I want to make it for my toddler. He is into all things motorized. It seems that Birch fabrics does not sell the transpacific fabric anymore. Do you know where I can find the collection?

There is something so classic and simple about a patchwork square quilt. It feels homey, vintage, yet simple enough to be classified as "modern." When I first started quilting, I made my fair share of patchwork square quilts. They are fun, quick and easy and a great way to show off a pretty group of fabrics. It's been several years since I made my last square quilt, but I still get emails and questions about those quilts to this day. So I figured it was time to do some math and write up a free pattern for ya'll. Keep scrolling for specifics, or you can download the free PDF below.

When it comes down to it, you can really make a patchwork quilt out of any size square you'd like! Personally, I love the look of 3" finished (3.5" unfinished) squares because they really work well with a wide variety of print scales. Meaning most large scale prints still look good in a 3" square. And a 3" square isn't so large that a small scale print gets lost within the quilt. 3" finished has always been my go-to square size.

Quick note about finished vs. unfinished: finished means that it is already sewn into the quilt and there is a seam on all 4 sides of the square. Unfinished means that is is not sewn into the quilt yet, so you cut the square at 3.5" unfinished and it measures 3" finished. So essentially, if your seam allowance is a standard 1/4", then you'll subtract 1/2" total from the unfinished measurement to give you your finished measurement. Make sense?

So the math is really easy for this quilt. Say that you want to make a quilt using 2.5" unfinished squares....you'll cut your squares at 2.5" x 2.5" and once they're sewn into the quilt, they'll finish at 2". So if you are looking to make a baby size quilt, you'll multiply 2" by the number of squares in a row and column and that'll give you the finished size of your quilt. So if you do 20 squares across and 25 squares down, 20 x 2" = 40", so that would be the width of the quilt. Then 25 x 2" = 50", so that would be the length of the quilt. So the finished quilt size would be 40" x 50".

Even though 3.5" unfinished is my preferred square size, I'm also very aware of the fact that most beginners would probably appreciate the ability to use precuts. Meaning Precut 5" squares would make the perfect square quilt because it wouldn't require any cutting. SCORE!

With this in mind, I also included instructions for how to use Precut 5" squares (sometimes referred to as a Charm Pack). So this means that you can either use 3.5" or 5" squares. Of course you can make your squares any size you'd like, but this is what I did the math for. :) So there's a Baby and throw size for each of those two options.

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