Quatrefoil Quilt

The Quatrefoil Quilt: Easy Quilting Tutorial with Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Co.  MSQC's Jenny demonstrates how to make a gorgeous Quatrefoil Quilt using Fresh Lilacs 10" Squares and contrasting yardage.

Hi, I’m Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company and I have such a fun project for you. This is easy and quick, but it looks like you just worked so hard. So, let’s take a look at this quilt behind me. Isn’t this beautiful? I mean, I love the fabric, I love the block, I love everything about it. So, this quilt is based on an old block called Quatrefoil and it’s just a really fun old block and I just thought I’d show you how to make it using precuts and you’re just going to love this.

So, to make this quilt, what you’re going to need is 1 packet of 10-inch precut squares and we have used Fresh Lilacs by Debbie Beaves for Maywood Studio and, oh, and I love lilacs, absolutely love them, one of my favorite flowers, and then you’re also going to need about a yard and ¾ of this background fabric and then you’re going to need about a half a yard for your four patches because we chose to keep our four patches the same in the whole quilt. So, a half a yard of two contrasting colors to make your four patches. So, let’s get started.

So, this block is actually made up of three different units and we’ve got our four patches, right here. We’ve got this block, right here, and our center block and we’re going to start with the four patches. So, let me show you how to do that. Now, remember, we decided to keep all of our four patches the same colors, so, again, we had a half a yard of the purple and a half a yard of the green and we have our background fabric. So we’re cutting 2 ½ inch strips, just like this, out of our fabric. So, we have a purple one and we have a green one and we’re going to sew those to our background strip. So, let me go ahead and sew this purple. We’re just going to sew down one side, like this, at a quarter of an inch, all the way down, and you’re going to need nine of these strips.

So, I’m just sewing along here, letting it slide through my hands and we’re getting a quarter of an inch from the edge, making sure we stay matched up, and there we are. Alright, now, before we iron this, what we want to do is, we want to cut these into 2 ½ inch segments and the reason we’re going to do that first is that they tend to just line up a little better. So right here you can see I have my purple strip and I have my green strip. You can actually lay these on top of each other, if you want. That’s kind of a personal preference. You will be cutting through four layers of fabric and so I’m going to come here and I’m going to cut and then I’m going to cut 2 ½ inch segments, like this, and I’m going to do that to all my strips, like this. And for each block you’re going to need four of these, of these little four patches. So the units you get are going to look like this. Now we want to press them. So we’re going to put with the dark side on top, set your seam and roll it back, set your seam and roll it back. And then, to make our four patch, we’re going to put these opposites so that our colors are on, on either side. And our, our backgrounds are also on opposite sides so we have dark, light, light, dark, like this. So we’re going to lay these right together because we pressed to the dark. These little seams are going to nest nicely, you can see that. They just go right together and then we’re going to sew a quarter of an inch down those, down that side.

Alright, here we go. And they should line up really nice. So there’s our little quarter of an inch, I mean four patch and it looks perfect in the middle. Let’s iron that back. And you are going to need four of these, and I have a few sewn over here so I am ready to go. So we are onto the next block.

Now, to make this next block, which is this one, right here, these, the four, it kind of makes petals of a flower. You’re going to take a 10-inch precut square and we’re going to cut four 4 ½ inch squares out of it. So we’re cutting 4 ½, right here, and you want to count and make sure because you don’t want to mess this up. So, 4 ½ and then we’re cutting another 4 ½, right here. And then we are going to take these two and we are going to cut them into 4 ½ the other way, as well, because we want, we want four 4 ½ inch squares. So here’s our 4 ½ and our 4 ½, right there, make sure you’re lined up and so your block stays square. Alright, so now we have four of these and to make this block, what we’re going to do is, we are going to dog-ear the corners. So, you’re going to take your 2 ½ inch strip, like this, and you’re going to use, you are going to use 2 ½ inch squares. So, we’re going to cut some 2 ½ inch squares and you’re going to need 8 of these little squares for each block that you make. So, I am just going to cut 2 ½ off of here, like this. Now, you can draw the line on these or you can press it and we’re just going to go ahead and press it, like this and it makes, gives us a sewing line. It’s an easy way to do it. And then on each square, what we’re going to do is, we’re going to put one of these on this side and sew this way down to the outside. So, let’s go do that.

So, we have one like that. We’re going to trim this off right here and then press this back, like this, and then we’re going to add our other square to the other corner on the same, that same top side. So where we have this one sewn, we’re going to add this one, over here, and we’re going to come over here and sew right down to the outside, right on our press line. Make sure that all lines up and then we can just fly.

There we go. Now I’m going to trim that off and we’ll iron it back and I’ve got a little bit off right here so I’m just going to kind of trim that off, square that up a little bit, and you’re going to do that to four of your blocks. So, you’ll end up with blocks that look like this. So, you should have four of those, just like that. And I have done the rest of these, right here and so I’ll put those in a little pile right there.

Ok. So, the next part is this center square, right here, and you’re going to want a contrasting piece of fabric so we’ve got a 10 inch precut square, right here, and we’re going to go ahead and come in, just like this, and cut a 4 ½ inch square for our center square. So let’s go ahead and do that. And then we’re going to go ahead and just turn this and cut a 4 ½ inch square off of it again, like this, oop, like this, and we’re going to make that cut and we’ve got our 4 ½ inch square. So that’s going to be our center square of our block. So, let me show you how we put this together because this is really, really fun. And this is such a gorgeous line, just such a gorgeous line.

Alright, so this is one of those blocks that you’re going to put together in three rows. So, our top piece, we’re going to have our four patches, and we want all of our, we want to watch the direction all of these are going in because we want our green squares pointing towards the middle. So you do want to lay it out. So we’ve got this, like this, and we’ve got this center block, right here, you know, the one that you’ve dog-eared is going to go right there. So, you’re going to have a four patch, the dog-eared block, and the four patch. Now for the next row, you’re going to have two of these dog-eared blocks, like this, and your center block, and then for your bottom row, you’re going to have, again, your greens are going to go toward the middle and then this one will also go the same way, with the dog-ear toward the outside. It makes this little flower. I just love this little quatrefoil block. So let’s go ahead and sew these three rows together, and a, and a, put them right together so you can see how this block is made.

I’m going to take the whole first row over here and I’m sewing one side, a quarter of an inch, to my block and then I will just open that right up and sew my, my four patch to the other side, making sure that my green lines up on the bottom. That is one of the things when you start, when you start putting these together, you just want to make sure that your block stays going the same directions because that’s what makes this block so pretty.

Alright, so, next row, we’re going to attach these to the center square. Oop! Got caught on my thread there. And then this one on this side. And then we have our third row. Put this back to make sure everything stays lined up. We have our third row, right here. And one of the ways I remember it is that whatever block I’m putting toward the center, that’s the block that touches the color. So, my green, which I’m putting toward the center, actually touches the, the purple color. And, on the top then, I’m sewing white to white. You can see right here. So, what I’m talking about is this green is touching this purple color and the white touches the top. That’s one of the ways, you know, I have these little mantras that help me remember things so that I don’t get mixed up with how, how I’m putting things together. So, there we go.

Now, whenever you’re putting a block together with three rows it’s important, you know, the pressing is kind of important. So, what I tend to do is, I tend to press my middle block with the seams in and my outer rows with the seams out, so they’ll all lay together. So, let’s press this one so the seams go in, and I do that by just holding it up, like that, rolling it back. These, the seams are going to go out. So I’m going to flip that over, make sure those seams lay to the outside, and then I’ll flip it over again to make sure I have no creases in there. There’s that one, and then here’s this one. So we’re going to, again, make our seams go to the way we want them to and then flip it over to make sure there’s no little folds or creases. And now we get to put our block together. We’re going to do the top row first and our little seams are going to match right up. Now we get to add our third row, like this. I always like to look and make sure it’s still going in the right direction. We’d rather be safe than rip.

Alright, now let’s press this. Oh, that looks nice. Alright, there we go. This is the block we’re looking for, right here, and it just looks great. So let me tell you about putting these together because the next thing we want to do is the sashings.

So, once you get ready to put your sashing in you’re going to put a piece that’s the size of your block in between each square. So, as you go along, you’re going to have this strip in between each block, and you’re going to put four in each row. And then you’re going to have five rows of those, and then you’re going to add your center sashing that goes in between every single row. And, again, it’s the piece that’s the same size as the block. You’ve got the little 2 ½ inch square and the piece that’s the same size as the block, so you’ll sew this row together and sew it to the row up here, and then, as you start adding them together, you’re going to have this whole quilt just done and sashed. So, this is a great sashing idea anytime you want to put blocks together, but it makes it especially cool on this one because, because of the four patches, you get this nine patch look in the middle. Right here. This is what I’m talking about. This kind of just pops and becomes a nine patch where you didn’t even intend it to be. So, it’s like one of those sweet, little things. So we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the Quatrefoil Block from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.