Make a Disappearing Hourglass Hidden Stars Quilt with Missouri Star

Hi, everybody. It's Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. And this year at one of our Doan Girl Retreats, I taught the Disappearing Hourglass. And from that retreat, we got two new patterns. One I'm using for something very special. It's a secret. This one, I'm going to show you how to do. It's called Disappearing Hourglass Hidden Stars. So let me show you how to make this.

So to make this quilt, you're going to need one packet of 10 inch squares. And we have used Wildberry Creek by Renee Nannemann for Andover Fabrics. You're going to need another pack of background squares. And then you're also going to need some yardage for an inner border, three quarters of a yard, and this should match this. And then you're going to need some border fabric. This is our border fabric right here, and it is one and a half yards. And it makes a nice big six inch border. And for your back, you're going to need five and a half yards. It will also be helpful when making this to have a rotating mat. But if you don't have one of these rotating mats, just remember that if you have a small mat, it does rotate. Just turn it. But these are super helpful. And then I'm also going to be using my five by 15 ruler. So let's get to it.

Okay. So let me show you how to make this because it's way easier than it looks. This is the block, and this does not look at all like stars, but when you put them together, that secondary pattern, which I love, shows us the hidden star. So let me show you how to do this. The first thing we're going to do is we are going to choose one of our layer cakes and a background square. We're going to put them right sides together. And we are going to sew all the way around this. So we're going to sew a quarter of an inch all the way around. We'll just sew down one side. You can sew off or pivot. I generally sew off because I'm just speeding down and I can't get the brakes on fast enough.

All right. So once you have it sewn all the way around all four sides, we are going to cut this in half diagonally both ways. So we're going to take our little ruler here and we are going to cut it this way and we are going to cut it this way, just like this. So once I get these ironed, I am going to square these to six and a quarter. So let's go ahead and press them open, press to the dark side, which means my dark piece is on top. And then I just roll it back.

Now, originally, when I started teaching the Disappearing Hourglass, I didn't square my blocks. I didn't square any of them. And so now I'm squaring them, everything goes together much nicely. So if you go back to make any of those old ones, you'll want to start squaring those blocks. And if you square them to six and a quarter, it works out great.

So this right here, we're going to lay this on this line. This Bloc Loc ruler catches my center seam, and I have my six right here and the quarter mark right there and right there. And we're just going to take this little edge off right here. All right. So that's squared. Let's go ahead and do it to all of them. Again, slide this up. So this Bloc Loc ruler has this little indent right here and it literally locks up to that seam. You can do it with any squaring ruler. You could do it with a Clearly Perfect. You could do it with just a straight ruler that has a diagonal line on it. Any of those will work. You don't need the Bloc Loc. It's just handy and it's what I'm using today.

All right, one more here. I do love making these disappearing blocks. They're just so much fun for my brain. All right. So here's our waste, not too bad. And what we're going to do now is we're going to put this together as an hourglass. So that means two colors go in and two whites go in like this, and we're going to sew this together as a block. So we'll bring this over here and sew down this side right here. Make sure they're lined up. And if I pick them up like I had them laying like this, then they'll chain piece right together and I can just sew them together real easily afterward. So make sure your little seems match on the bottom when they come to that point.

And then you can see here, I've used my thread sort of as a pin because when I open these up, they're ready to go and I can just fold them over and sew down the side. I'm going to nest these two seams right here where I start, and then I'm going to nest these two middle seams and I can sew right to that spot. And then right up here as well.

All right. Now we have our hourglass block and now the fun begins, I think, for me anyway. A lot of people are terrified to cut a block once they sew it, but this just makes it so much fun. I love doing it. And I love finding new things. So I am going to grab my rotating mat. This just makes it way easier for me. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to center it up on here because I'm going to cut this two inches from the center line on all four sides. So I'm laying my ruler right on here. Two inches is right on that seam. And we're just going to cut this and then we're going to lift this up. Make sure it stays together and turn. And do it again. And we're going to do it on all four sides right here. And one more.

Now in the pattern, there will be a diagram and you will want to follow that diagram because this is when it starts getting a little bit dicey. Now I've done it a few times so I know what I'm doing. But it also can be a little challenging. So you just make one block, set it right there, and make all your blocks just like that block. Just make sure the first one is right.

All right. So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to take these and I'm going to turn these corners out like this. So let me do that first. I kind of started too fast. So we're going to turn all these corners out like this. And then I'm going to take these two blocks and I'm going to turn them in like this. And to me, it makes the pedestal on the bottom of this thing. It looks like a little vase. And so that's how I make sure that I'm going where I want to go. So then we're going to do the same thing with this one. Turn these in like this. And this is our block right here. And it should look just like this. So let me lay this out here and make sure I've got them all going the right way. So I've got my two legs and my corner, corner here. My color in the middle's going this way. I think this is right. So now we just put this together as a nine patch.

So I'm going to start off by sewing these two together over here, the middle and the outside. And then we'll just add that third row as we come to it. Sew right here. Sew down, then I'm going to take these and just lay them on top of here. Be careful to not... So let me just tell you this little hint. When you make these blocks, cut one, sew one. Don't cut them all and then think you're going to remember where they all went because you won't, and you'll just not be happy. But if you cut one and sew one, you've got a block done and we can move from there. So I only tell you this because in my haste, I have made that mistake and then it's like a giant puzzle you're putting together.

All right. So these three are together. I'm just going to pull them back down. And then to this top row, I'm going to add this last block out here. And then we'll put this one on here like this, and then this one on here like this. Make sure I'm sewing. That little thread came out of the hook. There we go. And when you put these on, remember your little tiny corners go way to the outside. And now again, before I sew these, I'm going to open them up and make sure I've got them all going the right way. And I do. So I'll lay that row on top of this row.

And the only thing you need to match up on these is where the little seams come together. And I like to make my middle seams go to the outside. And then we have one more row here. Then we'll put this on here. And make sure this goes to the outside. Now let's press this and see what we've got.

Oh, this is a gorgeous little block. I love this fabric line so much. I just think it's really rich. And it's very fall-ish, but this is perfect timing for getting ahead. And these colors are just gorgeous. All right. So let me show you how we laid these out because that's how the hidden star happens. And I've got some other blocks over here already made.

First actually, I want to show you how this fits into the quilt. And so you can see right here, this fits in here like this. So when these four blocks come together, that's where the star comes in when this outer part over here makes a star. So let's go ahead and put those together. I'm going to turn, so my white blocks go together in the center like this. And we'll do this one right here. And you're just going to match up color to color and white to white like that.

And there you have your little hidden star. Isn't that fun? And so this right here, we're going to go color up and then white up, then color up and then white. So we're just going to alternate them. And we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. So 42 blocks makes a great quilt. Let me see what size it is. It's 78 by 88. So it's a really nice size. Again, we have this nice big six inch border out here. Our backing is five and a half yards. And we've used this beautiful Berry backing. And then we also used the quilting pattern Sticky Buns on this. And because there's so many little pieces, I like a little tighter quilting pattern and this one just swirls around and quilts on it and it just holds it all together. And it just makes it really fun.

Now, there are lots of ways to set these. On our app, we have a free app and on that app there are lots of disappearing blocks on there that you can go and enjoy. And now that you know how to make it's so easy and quick, and you can try all of them. So we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the Disappearing Hourglass Hidden Star Block from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.

Hi, everybody. It's Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. We hope you enjoyed watching this video. If you aren't already part of the Missouri Star Quilt Company family, be sure to subscribe so you won't miss a thing. And if you click that bell, it'll notify you every time a new tutorial comes out. See you next Friday.