Checkerboard Quilt Block Free Tutorial

The Checkerboard Quilt Block is a quick and easy 16-patch block, and this version is made from 2½” strips.  How quick and easy?  From cutting fabric to the quilt top finished and quilted was less than 48 hours.  That time included a hot day when I spent nearly the whole day outside with a book, so the actual sewing time was quite a bit shorter than 48 hours.

Sometimes quilt ideas come to me as an original idea.  Sometimes they come from wondering how to make a traditional pattern better or different or more modern.  This Checkerboard Quilt Block is more of the latter, seeing a quilt hanging on the wall of a quilt shop and thinking, “Hey!  I could totally make that!” which is often then followed by “I bet that would make a good tutorial.

The checkerboard effect is broken up by having each block a different checker color and I really like how it turned out.  If I had planned ahead a little better, I would have been more intentional with my fabric choices and had half green, half blue so that my OCD wouldn’t have been triggered by the blocks not alternating as well as they could.

However!  It’s a great little baby quilt, and perfectly gender neutral, which was the intention, so I should probably stop obsessing over fabric placement.  It turns out, you CAN be too much of a perfectionist!

You’re not here for my personal reflection therapy sessions?  No?!?!  You’re here for a quilt block tutorial?  Okay, let’s get to it!

Checkerboard Quilt Block

For this quilt, the supplies needed are 2½” by WOF fabric strips.  Half are background (any neutral will work) and half are 1-1000 different colors/fabrics.  How many do you need?  That depends on what size of quilt you want to make.  The blocks finish at 8” and each pair of strips (1 neutral and 1 color) make two blocks.

My quilt is 30 blocks, set 5 x 6 and measures 40” by 48”.  Here’s a quick chart of quilt size options and the amount of fabric needed. 

Strip Sets

Sew all strips together, one neutral with one color.  Press towards the darker fabric.

Your strip sets need to be at least 40 inches, although using fabric closer to 41” or 42” inches will give you a little more wiggle room.  Actually, that’s not quite true.  You can use fat quarters; you’ll just need two strips cut from a fat quarter instead of one cut from WOF or a jelly roll.

Next, cut your strip set into two pieces that measure at least 20” in length, although again, you’ll be using every inch of them, so it’s better if they’re a little longer than 20” at this point.  By “a little longer” even a ¼” will give you a little bit of space for squaring up your edges before you start sub-cutting.

Sew the two halves of the strip set together along the long edge.  I recommend sewing all steps with the neutral fabric on top and the colors against the feed dog.  It’s good to have consistency when sewing such long strips to help the whole quilt lie flatter once the blocks go together.

Checkerboard Units

Sub-cut the strip set into 8 units that are 2½” by 8½”.

Use 4 of these units, alternating direction, to lay out the Checkerboard Quilt Block.

Pin all seams and sew these units into pairs.  My photo shows all eight sewn into four pairs, that’s because I was working on multiple blocks at a time.  Remember, each pair of one neutral strip and one colored strip will make two blocks.

Checkerboard Block

Sew the pairs together to make a Checkerboard Quilt Block. 

Does it really matter if your neutral fabric is in the upper left or upper right?  Not really at this step, just turn your block 90* for a different look.

What is important is that all blocks are made in the same way.  The way to ensure this happens is back a couple of steps.  When laying out the four units that will make up the block, you either need to have the upper left corner be the neutral or the color, every single time.

Repeat to make as many blocks as you need.  Or, continue reading to see a tip for how to make this block work with directional fabric.

Checkerboard Quilt Blocks with Directional Fabrics 

One of my fabrics (and the one I’m using for binding) has a clear direction to it.  To make the blocks work within the constraints of directionality, when making my strip sets, I made one with the loops looping up, and one with the loops looping down.  This worked for me because I was intending to use two strip sets to make four blocks total with this fabric.

If I had made all my units from the loops looping the same direction, making the blocks would have left half of the block looping a different direction than the other half.

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But, by making two unique strips sets, and using one unit from each, turning the unit to make the checkerboard design led to all the loops looping the same way.

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And then, a completed block with all loops looping the same direction.

Checkerboard Quilt Top

Putting your quilt blocks together into the quilt top is quite easy for this quilt.  Just make sure all of your blocks are turned in the same direction (the upper left corner of each block can be neutral or colored fabric, it doesn’t matter which, but every single block needs to be turned the exact same way) and start sewing the blocks into rows, and the rows into the quilt top.

Make sure to pin every single seam to create those crisp corners.

Binding: Stripes and Loops

I’ve been a longtime fan of striped bindings, and what can beat stripes?  Stripes with loops, of course!  This fabric is actually Christmas fabric, from the collection To Be Jolly and it comes in a variety of dark and light blues, greens and reds.  You can be sure I’ll be stocking up on more of it, as it’s a perfect non-Christmassy binding.

This checkerboard quilt block is also called a 16-patch and the block possibilities are endless. For another baby quilt tutorial that uses 16-patches, check out this Baby Star Quilt. The Blitz Quilt Pattern also uses 16-patches and a second block to create a fun secondary pattern.