How to Set a Quilt Block on Point – Step by Step Tutorial

I think it’s safe to say that any quilt block – traditional or modern, as long as it’s square – can be turned onto its side, and this is a tutorial on how to set a quilt block on point.

This Asterisk quilt might be the pattern I’ve made the most times, in all sorts of color combos.  It easy, although not super quick, but it is super satisfying to work on a few blocks at a time.  Those blocks do come together faster than expected given how many seams there are in every quilt.

Now, I’ve already shared an Asterisk Quilt Block Tutorial, so I’m not going to tell you exactly how to make it here, but I am going to give a quick overview and then teach you how to turn the blocks to make this quilt on point.

Never heard the phrase on point before?  No worries!  You know I’ve got you covered!  While a traditional quilt block is a square, setting it on point means turning it 45* so that it’s a diamond instead of a square, and I am going to teach you how to set any quilt block on point!

The block construction is the same, it’s just how the blocks go together to make the quilt top that changes.

Fabric for Asterisk Quilt Block

This version of the Asterisk quilt started with this pretty floral fabric.  I have no idea who the manufacturer is, or what collection it’s from.  I picked it up as a fat quarter to make some fun, floral masks for work. By the time I pulled the rest to use for this quilt, no identifying information was left on the selvage.  But it’s pretty though!

I started my fabric pull by gathering together all of the pinks that I had that were the right shade and hue to go with the floral.

Originally I thought the background of the floral was blue, but as I started pulling out the blues from my stash, I realized that some very, very light blues worked okay, but even better was a variety of greens that varied from a pale mint, through the green side of aqua and on to a deep jade.

  I stopped taking fabric photos at that point, and started making quilt blocks, but did end up adding some deep blue (although not quite navy, more of a dark peacock), more aqua/mint and a bunch of white to round out my quilt.

Asterisk Quilt Blocks

The Asterisk Quilt Block is my favorite kind of block, because it looks complicated, but is actually quite simple!

You start with a square of one fabric, and 4 pieces that are just 1” wide by about 10” wide of a second fabric.

Then, it’s a really easy block to cut in half diagonally, sew back together, and cut in half diagonally the other direction and sew back to together again.

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Then, you cut in half vertically, sew back together, cut in half again and sew back together one last time.

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It’s really that easy to make an Asterisk quilt block!  This is what it looks like when you have finished sewing in the 1” strips.

And then you trim it to size and it’s complete!

Now, you could make an entire quilt with blocks just like this.  In fact, I have.  Several times.  I have a whole blog post tutorial dedicated to just such a quilt.

But this post, this one is all about taking these cute little blocks and turning them to set on point.

Could you stop reading this tutorial at this point and make all of your blocks just like this one?

Absolutely!

I’ve written previously articles about trimming finished quilts to square/rectangular and you could definitely do that with this quilt too.

But that method, while simpler, does waste fabric.  This quilt already loses LOTS of fabric to the seam allowances and I like a challenge, so I went through the mental math of adjusting these blocks so that I wouldn’t have to trim so much excess away from the edges.

Asterisk Quilt – Half Blocks

Take a look at this finished quilt photo.  Do you see how the blocks along the outside edges are essentially half blocks?

That’s what I am going to teach you now!

You need the same size block (or a tiny bit – ½ an inch or so – bigger) as the original block and just three of the 1” strips.  They can even be shorter than 10”, so this is a great place to use scraps!

Start by cutting the square along both diagonals, to create 4 triangles.  Place one of the 1” strips in the middle of two triangles.  This part of the tutorial shows two half blocks under construction at the same time, both have a light blue starry background, one has a darker blue grid for the second fabric and one has pink stripes.  These are two SEPARATE block halves.

Sew a triangle to both sides of the strip.

The rest of my blocks are trimmed down to 6½” (unfinished).  I am not going to trim these ones, I want that extra bit of fabric on the long edge of the triangle. I will trim the edges once the whole quilt is put together, but I do still want the little strips of asterisk fabric to line up with those in the block next to them.

What that means, is that for the next cut I make, I need it to be 3¼” from the edge.  Make sure measure from the 90* corner that has the strip of asterisk fabric. 

This way, any “extra” fabric will be on the long edge of this triangle. This will be the outer edge of the whole quilt, and can easily be trimmed away once the whole thing is put together.

This is what it looks like once your half-blocks have had two of the three skinny strips added.

Without cutting any of the background fabric, trim away the excess asterisk fabric.

Repeat the last cut, 3¼” from the corner on the remaining side and sew in the third skinny strip of asterisk fabric.  Remember to measure the cutting location from the 90* corner with the asterisk fabric, NOT from the outer tip of the triangle.

Asterisk Quilt – Corner Blocks

Now that you know how to make the basic asterisk block, and the half blocks for the sides, now it is time to talk about the quarter blocks that make up the four corners of this quilt!

The easiest way to make the corner blocks will be to take a square the same size as the original block and cut it along both diagonals to create four triangles.

However, I didn’t want all four of my corner blocks to made up of the same fabric. I wanted more variety. Instead I used some of my scraps that were the same height as my regular blocks, but not wide enough to use for a regular block, and I cut 45* from two of the corners.

Again, this is the more complicated way to make these pieces. But it is great for using up those scraps that weren’t quite big enough for the original blocks.  Don’t like it?  Cut a square into four triangles.  Easy enough.

For the corner blocks, you just need one skinny strip of asterisk fabric.  Cut the triangle in half, from the corner to long side.

Sew both smaller triangles to the skinny strip of asterisk fabric.

Corner blocks- done.

How to Set Any Quilt Block on Point

At this point, this tutorial on how to set any quilt block on point is going to divide into two separate sets of directions.

First, since this is how to set ANY quilt block on point, I’m going to walk you through the math so that you can determine how many blocks, half-blocks and quarter-blocks you will need of any size block, to make any size quilt.

But also, if that’s not your thing, if you are just looking for the directions for how to make an Asterisk on Point quilt like mine, I’m going to provide those instructions in a math-free way.

On Point Math for Any Quilt Block in Any Size

For any quilt block that you want to set on point, you’ll need to know measurements, so that you can plan how many blocks you’ll need to make your quilt the size you desire.

There is some math involved in this method. I’m sorry. I am going to make it as easy for you as I possibly can, while keeping it general enough that it can be adjusted to quilt blocks of any size.

The first measurement to know is the edge of the unfinished quilt block.  In the case of these asterisk blocks, it’s 6½”.

That means that once this block is sewn into the quilt, that edge measurement will be 6”, because ¼” from each size will be sewn into the seam allowance.

We need to find out the length of that diagonal, which is called the hypotenuse.

Oh!  Middle school math flashbacks!  No thank you!

We’ll do it quick, like ripping off a band aid, and then it will be over and you can get on with the fun of making a quilt.

The math formula is a^2 + b^2 = c^2. 

Yuck.  Plug the numbers in, really quickly. Rip that band aid off and get it over with. Use that calculator. It definitely was not allowed in middle school math, but for quilting, it absolutely is!

We know that the finished length of the side of this block is 6” so that’s what we’re plugging in for both a and b.

6^2 + 6^2 = c^2

(6×6) + (6×6) = c^2

36 + 36 = c^2

72 = c^2

  is the symbol you are looking for on the calculator.

The square root of 72 = 8.4852813 which I rounded to 8.5.

A 6” block turned on point is 8½” wide and tall.

That’s it, my math lesson is over.  You can substitute any finished block size into a and b, and end up with the width and length of the diagonal.  Since quilt blocks are typically square, the length and width will be the same, so you only have to do the math once to get the number you are looking for.

Now that you know the dimensions of your block, you are ready to figure out how many blocks you need!

This photo (which is NOT the size of my finished quilt) shows blocks laid out in 8 rows of 6.  That would make a quilt that measured approximately 51” by 68”.  Bigger blocks, more rows and/or more columns would make a larger quilt.

On Point Asterisk Quilt Like Mine

For those of you who want to make an On Point Asterisk Quilt like mine, you get to skip over the math, and follow these directions.

Finished Quilt Size: 

Approximately 42½” by 59½”

Making Blocks:

Blocks: Make 59

Half Blocks: Make 20

Quarter Blocks: Make 4

Lay out 7 rows of 5 blocks each.  That’s 35 of your 59 blocks.  Now is not the time to worry about color placement.  Just get the blocks into place, we’ll get to organizing colors and fabrics in a few steps.

Fill in the empty blocks spaces created by the layout.  That’s the other 24 of your 59 blocks.  Still, don’t worry about color placement, just get those blocks into place.

Fill in the 20 half-blocks around the edges, and the four quarter-blocks in the four corners.

NOW is the time to sort and organize your blocks by color or by fabric, so that you have a good spread throughout the quilt.

Wait, wait!  Darcy, you have two blocks sticking out along the right and left side, what’s up with that?

Well, I’m glad you asked!  I messed up my block making, and I made two half-blocks less than what I needed, AND made a gazillion more blocks than needed.  So, rather than stopping to make more half-blocks, and using up MORE fabric, I made do with what I had. It’s easy enough to trim the extra bits off once the quilt is basted and quilted.

Maybe not a gazillion too many, but definitely too many too many.

Then, once you’ve got the blocks arranged the way you like, sew rows together. Then sew the rows into the quilt top, making sure to pin every seam.

The rows for this quilt are diagonal rows, like in the photo below.

Baste, quilt and bind as desired, and you’ve got a lovely quilt!

And all those gazillions of extra blocks?  I used them to make a scrappy backing for my quilt.

From the back you can also see my quilting lines, I quilted this one as straight lines, through all of the asterisks and the bright pink thread on gray backing shows up really well.