You’ve seen a Horse Fly, you’ve seen a Dragon Fly, you’ve even seen a House Fly, but have you ever seen a Diamond Shoofly? Well, you will have when you’ve made this month’s block!
BLOCK 11: Diamond Shoofly
Finished Size 12″ (Unfinished 12-1/2″)
Diamond Shoofly is this month’s block. This quilt block has been made using Half Square Triangles, Quarter Square Triangles (also known as Hourglass units) and Squares. I’m going to show you how to sew this block together using some alternative techniques that will help you make it much more quickly than with conventional methods. Accuracy is key, so take your time and don’t rush, especially if you are fairly new to quilting. Why not sit down with a cuppa first and get in the zone.
CUTTING
We are going to cut a few triangles on the bias in this block so stiffen your fabrics before you cut them with a spray starch like Best Press. Also take care when finger pressing and pressing with your iron not to stretch and distort your fabrics. You will need four, contrasting fabrics for this block and a background, I chose blue, red, black and grey for mine. You may find that using non-directional fabrics works best for this block.
A. One 7-1/2″ x 7-1/2″ square (White)
B. One 7-1/2″ x 7-1/2″ square (Blue)
C. Two 5-3/4″ x 5-3/4″ squares (White)
D. One 5-3/4″ x 5-3/4″ square (Black)
E. One 5-3/4″ x 5-3/4″ square (Red)
F. Twelve 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ squares (White)
G. Eight 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ squares (Grey)
H. One 4-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ square (Red)
In this block the background fabrics are A, C & F.
BLOCK ASSEMBLY:
- All seams are 1/4″ and I use a stitch length of 1.8.
- As a rule, you would press your fabric seams towards the dark side (darker fabric). I finger press my seams before pressing with an iron. This allows you to change the seams’ direction if needed without stretching your fabrics.
- In bulky areas press your seams open as this will help reduce thickness.
We are going to start by making all four of our corner units at once by creating Four at a Time half square triangles (HST). These HST are super stretchy as they are cut on the bias but by stitching them all at once it will speed up the process. We are going to make them slightly larger and trim them to size for accuracy. This is a great method for making multiple HST’s when you have lots to make for a quilt.
FOUR AT A TIME HALF SQUARE TRIANGLES
You will need your 7-1/2″ x 7-1/2″ fabric squares A and B to make four HST’s. Place both fabrics with right sides together (RST) lining up all the edges then stitch all the way around the square with a 1/4″ seam being careful not to cut the corners. If you are not sure when to turn at the corner draw diagonal lines on your lightest fabric square and turn when your needle reaches each of the lines.
Now cut the unit diagonally (on your drawn line) from corner to corner in both directions cutting the unit into four triangles.
Open your HST’s and finger press your seam to the dark side then set with an iron. Next trim your HST’s to 4-1/2″ by placing your ruler’s 45° diagonal line along your seam line, squaring up your block, and trimming away the excess fabric. You should now have four perfect HST’s.
Now we are going to make the remaining outer units by making Two at a Time Quarter Square triangles for the centre on point squares. We made these last month, but I’ll show you again.
TWO AT A TIME QUARTER SQUARE TRIANGLES
You will need one of your 5-3/4″ x 5-3/4″ white fabric squares C and your 5-3/4″ x 5-3/4″ black fabric D square. Now draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the white square then place both fabrics RST.
Sew 1/4″ away from each side of your diagonal line.
Then cut the unit apart along your drawn line.
Now repeat with your remaining fabric C and D squares.
Open your HST’s and finger press your seam to the dark side and set with an iron.
Now on one of your red and white HST’s draw a diagonal line down the centre on the wrong side, making sure your ruler is aligned along your seam line. This will give you a 90-deg. angle.
Then place your red and white square on top of a black and white square RST. Make sure the red fabric is on top of the white triangle and the black triangle is underneath the other white triangle. Nest the seams (use pins if needed to keep everything in place) and sew 1/4″ away from each side of your diagonal line, then cut apart along your drawn line.
Now repeat with the other two HST’s.
Before you open your now QST’s take your seam ripper and unpick the two or three stitches that lie above your horizontal seam. Don’t cut them just unpick them. Do the same on the other side.
Open your QST and twirl your centre seam by finger pressing your seams in an anti-clockwise direction before setting with an iron. You should see a little four patch in the centre.
Then trim your QST’s to 4-1/2″ by placing your ruler’s 45° diagonal line along the diagonal seam line of your block and make sure your ruler’s 2-1/4″ lines are aligned with the centre of your unit (see image above). Now trim away excess fabric from the top and right.
Finally turn your unit, place your ruler’s 4-1/2″ lines along the bottom and left side and you should see the 2-1/4″ lines running through the centre of your unit. Now trim.
Now repeat to make two more QST’s.
Next, we are going to use the stitch and flip method to turn these four side units into on point ‘square in a square’ units. For each unit you will need one of your QST’s, two white 2-1/2″ squares (F) and two grey 2-1/2″ squares (G). Draw a diagonal line on back of the white and grey squares.
Take one white square and place RST with the QST in the top left-hand corner making sure that the red triangle is on the left (see image above). Align the edges making sure that the inner corner of your white square is aligned with your diagonal seam line. Sew on top of your diagonal line then trim away the excess fabric leaving a 1/4″ seam. Then open out your fabric and finger press your seam open, being careful not to stretch your fabric, then fix with an iron.
Repeat this process with one of your grey squares, trimming away the excess fabric and finger pressing open before fixing with the iron.
Now repeat with your second grey square making sure it is on top of the black fabric and finally your white square.
Make three more.
Finally take the remaining fabrics and repeat the process for the last, central unit.
Now lay out all your units to form the Diamond Shoofly Block. Make sure that everything is in the right place.
Keeping your fabrics in order, sew them together one row at a time. Take care to match your points. Finger press your seams open before fixing with an iron. Finally join your rows together matching your points as you go and again pressing your seams open.
If you have sewn your block together accurately it should measure 12-1/2″ square but if you need to trim it make sure you leave 1/4″ seam allowance on all your points.
Well done!… you have finished your eleventh block.