Square in a Square - Time to Sew (part 1)

At last, the sewing portion of a Square in a Square quilt made from (2) layer cakes (or scraps). Earlier posts on fabric selection and cutting are HERE and HERE.  Recap of the pieces you should have:

Take the center square and fold in half - right sides together to make a crease.  If you have darker or busy fabric - use a marker or chalk.  I used a white pencil.  Take your middle triangles and fold them in half wrong sides to together - and make a center crease.  (Pictures below)

Put the middle triangle on top of the center square - and the creases should fit into each other.  That's your mid-point and while for this particular block finding the exact center isn't necessary - it's good practice for more refined blocks you may make in the future. 

Pin two triangles on opposite sides as shown above.  Then flip over the whole unit and start sewing with the center square facing up.  I like smaller pieces on top of larger ones so I can see if anything shifts or needs aligning. Because I also tend to crumple up the tiny tip of the triangles when I chain piece this block - I cut the thread and restart sewing a new unit each time. 

Follow the outline of the center square which is 5" and trim off over lapping ends. Iron seams open. Then do the exact same thing on the other two sides.  Match creases, pin and sew.  Flip everything over again and below is what is looks like from the back when you are sewing. 

The picture below shows how the block looks with seams pressed open.  To trim - I use a 7.5" ruler which makes it very easy - but any sized ruler will do.  Find the mid-point at the top (red arrow) and mid-point at the side (blue arrow) and trim.  That's the 3.75" mark on the ruler.

There are many ways to make a square in a square block.  The picture below is more representative of how others make their blocks - they leave a 1/4" between the point and the edge of the block.  This means that the 'squares' are tighter next to each other and the points almost touch when everything is assembled.

Whereas you can see from the dreaded red arrows below - my way leaves lots of fabric between the points and the edge of the block.  This is because I trim as little as possible to use as much fabric as I can from each layer cake.

The original size of the layer cake (10" x 10") dictates the basic measurement of 5" squares for the center and middle portion.  And, I am not keen on cutting more than an inch off the outer square to 9". Any more cutting and it defeats the whole idea of using a pre-cut. 

We still have the outer triangles to assemble and trim - but that's it for now.  More pictures and directions will finish off this block in the next post.  Until then, here is your amazing 7.5" x 7.5" square. 

Here is a picture of what the final block will look like and how much you trim for each block.  It's mostly from the last square - but more on that later. 

The final unfinished size should be 13.5" x 13.5" - which I can never do because one side is always off.  I will put the blame on my love of steam ironing (haha) - but realistically you can get nice 13" to 13.25" square.  I trim down a little further to 12.5" because I have a ruler that size and it works for my minky quilts. Thanks for reading :)

December  2020