Scrappy Quilt Tutorial

Today I have for you another scrappy quilt with a tutorial!  I’ve been methodically making my way through my scrap box this year, and still haven’t managed to make much of a dent.  If I’m going to meet my goal of using up all of my scraps this year, you are going to get a lot more tutorials and quilt patterns out of the deal!

This quilt pattern uses up lots of scraps, and if you do it the way I did, you can use up scraps of all sizes and shapes, not just uniform pieces.  However, a caveat before we get started.  This quilt pattern does require ½ a yard of two different fabrics for the corner pieces, so it is not only a scrap quilt. 

This first block will teach you the basics of making this quilt top, but after I’ve shown you the template, I’ll also show you how to adjust the pattern to work with scraps of whatever size you have available.

Scrappy Quilt Block

The finished quilt block is 8” square and the center stripe of the finished quilt block is 6” wide.  Start by pulling all of your scraps that are around 7” in length by any variety of width.  Really, at this point, width of the scraps does not matter at all.

Lay out a handful of scraps. 

Once these scraps are sewn together into a strip, it needs to be approximately 12” wide.  If your scraps are skinny, you will need more for each block, if your scraps are wider, you’ll need less. 

Not sure how many you need and want more specific directions?  Sew 5-6 together and measure.  If you’re not at 12”, add more.

Sew these scraps into pairs.

Sew pairs into fours, and/or sew any odd pieces to a pair to make threes.

Continue sewing strips until your piece is about 12” wide.

Trim to 6½” tall by 12” wide.

Now you’ve got two options.  If all of your scraps are around 7”, keep sewing scraps into pieces 12” wide until you have enough for one scrappy stripe for the middle of each block. 

For reference, my quilt is 30 blocks, set 5 by 6, for a finished size of 40” by 48” but you can make more or less depending on the number of scraps you have and the desired finished quilt size.

A second caveat: you will need more than ½ yard of both of your two corner fabrics if you are making more blocks/a bigger quilt.

That’s option one.  And it assumes all of your scraps are at least 7” long.  Option two if for using up smaller scraps in this same quilt.

Scrappy Quilt Block with Smaller Scraps

Take two small-ish scraps that are about the same width (although they don’t need to be exact) and sew together.

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Repeat with two additional scraps.

Sew the two pairs together.  If the piece is now 7” trim to a uniform width.  If the piece is not yet 7”, keep adding little scraps until it is.

This piece is now ready to be used in place of any of the 7” scraps from the first set of directions.

Basically, this whole set of directions boils down to this-

1. Sew little scraps together until they are approximately 7” tall.
2. Sew 7” scraps (single fabrics or little scraps already sewn together) until they are approximately 12” wide.
3. Trim to 6½” by 12”
4. Repeat until you have one piece for each block.  In this example, that’s 30.

Here are a few more photos of little scraps sewn together, just to give you an idea of the variety that is available.

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So now you’ve got your center stripes and it’s time to add the corner pieces to make them into the blocks.  This is where you need ½ yard each of two fabrics.

Cut 5½” squares, for my quilt of 30 blocks, I need 15 of each color.  You may need more or less depending on how many blocks your quilt needs to reach your desired finished size.

Cut each square in half along the diagonal and place one triangle on each side of the scrappy center strip.

To find the center of  the strip, fold it in half (no need to press- we’re just finding the general middle) and place one of the corner triangles so that the base of the triangle is lined up with the edge of the center strip and the point of the triangle is lined up with the fold line.

Unfold the center strip, pin triangle in place, and sew.  Press towards the center triangle.  (This is last step is a general recommendation.  It’s easier to press towards the triangle than towards the center strip due to all the seams of the center strip.  However, if your center strip is darker fabrics and your corner triangles are light, go ahead and iron towards the center strip to avoid seeing the edges through the lighter fabric.

Repeat on the other side.

Trim the block to 8½” square.  When trimming, line up the center strip to be in the exact middle before cutting, that way all of your triangles will have perfect matching points when you go to sew the blocks together.

Repeat to make as many blocks as needed.

Sew blocks together, alternating between the blocks made with corner fabrics from one material with those made with corner fabrics of the other material.  For my quilt, I made 6 rows of 5.  You may need more or less, depending on the number of blocks you are using.

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When sewing rows together, place rows accordingly so that the alternating pattern continues with the two colors for the corner triangles.  For this step, I find it is easiest to lay the whole quilt out on the floor, block by block, to make sure I have the blocks positioned correctly. However, I did not take any photos of this step, I’m sorry.

And, ta da!  A scrappy quilt that looks gorgeous and used up a ton of fabric from my scrap box!

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