COLOURFUL PINWHEELS
TWO SIZES
The Pinwheel is a traditional block and it is timeless.
Joined in rows, these blocks make beautiful joiners/sashing or borders.
Four blocks joined together make a very interesting larger block.
They can make a good quilt design into a great quilt design.
When I'm designing a quilt for an Aussie Hero using the Blocks of the Month our
generous contributors provide, I'm often looking for a small width row of
"something" to just give the WOW factor.
These small Pinwheel blocks can do that.
The large Pinwheel blocks will be the eye catching part of many of the quilts we make.
TWO SIZES
You can make just the small size or just the large size.
Or
You can make any number of both sizes.
Equal numbers of each size are not needed.
You can choose to make just one colour combination
OR
you can make some of several colour combinations
Colour combinations as above please...
DARK BLUE AND LIGHT BLUE
AUSSIE GREEN AND GOLDEN YELLOW
RED AND DARK BLUE
ROYAL BLUE AND GOLDEN YELLOW
DARK BLUE AND WHITE
BLACK AND WHITE
You can make multiples of the same two fabrics in your chosen colour way
OR
use up smaller pieces of your chosen colour way eg red and blue, using fabrics to make
just one or two blocks that are the same,
that is to say, all the red and blue blocks you make don't have
to be made from the same two fabrics.
The same applies to each colour combination.
PLEASE DO NOT JOIN PINWHEELS INTO ROWS
FABRICS TO USE
100% cotton fabric please - no synthetic blends
Gender neutral please as many of our quilts go to menplain colour
- tone-on-tone of a colour as in the light blue in pinwheel on left above
- prints of another colour on the main colour background as in the grey on white in the pinwheel on the right above
- geometric patterns
SEAM ALLOWANCE
1/4 inch
Images in the following Tutorial are of the large block
Construction for both the large and small Pinwheel block are the same
LARGE PINWHEEL BLOCK
Cut 2 black squares and 2 white squares 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch
SMALL PINWHEEL BLOCK
Cut 2 black squares and 2 white squares 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch
Draw a line diagonally from one corner to the other on whichever of the fabrics
is best for seeing the line. This is the cutting line and so
it won't be seen in the finished block. Use a marking tool that can be seen easily.
Place a white square and black square with right sides together and place pins on
both sides of the line so they won't need to be moved while sewing.
Sew two rows, each one a quarter inch from the drawn line.
Cut along the drawn line.
Press the seam allowance to one side, taking care NOT to distort the
square and create a kite shape.
Choose a side to press to eg. the black, and do the same for all four squares.
Layout the block - it's easy to mess up this simple block at this stage ;-)
Join two squares together, by placing them right sides together.
The right hand side of the block shown is pinned ready to sew.
Careful...sew squares together where the two edges are touching as shown on the left hand side.
Press these seam allowances to the same colour as when pressing the previous seams.
This will make it easy to "lock" the seams in the final row of stitching.
Place the two halves of the block with right sides together, lock the seams in the centre
of the seam and stab a pin through the stitching of both sides.
Don't turn this pin over and pin it down as this will separate the points in the
centre of the block but place a holding pin either side of the stab pin.
Sew the final seam to make the Pinwheel block.
Press the seam allowance to one side.
And there we have the Pinwheel block
LARGE
SMALL
Please do not trim the blocks as they will ALL be trimmed to make them the right size
for the quilts they will be designed into.
Do not sew blocks to one another.
Send your finished blocks to
Sandy Corry
9 Wendouree Court
Thank you for being a part of this great venture and helping
to make quilts for our deployed Aussie Heroes.
Include your email address and I will advise you when your blocks arrive.
Watch the Blog each Wednesday for the Happy Mail displaying
the Blocks that have arrived in the previous week.
AND
T.H.A.N.K Y.O.U
for your contributions.
Until next time,
Sandy
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