Making a Scrap Quilt

Making a scrap quilt is one of my favorite methods of quilt making.  I love using up itty bitty pieces others might consign to the garbage bin, as well as getting to use fabrics from a variety of previous projects again.

Recently I shared how I made a bunch of 6” Scrappy Quilt Blocks and this quick tutorial is going to show how I used those blocks when making a scrap quilt.

I started with a whole bunch of scraps from a previous project, added some pink and green fabrics and made 28 6” quilt blocks.  I still have some pink and green scraps left over, but the pile is MUCH smaller!

Now you could absolutely make a quilt from just those scrappy blocks.  And, you should!  But I wanted to make a second “background” block and that’s what this tutorial is all about!

I don’t particularly enjoy working with solids, so even these “solid” pink and cream fabrics actually have a light pattern to them.

Making a Scrappy Quilt – Background Blocks

These background blocks are called Quarter Square Triangles, because they are a square split into 4 triangles.  This specific version of the Quarter Square Triangle block is an Hourglass Block, because it’s made from only two fabrics.  You could also make this block from 4 fabrics. 

I did that a few years ago, and wrote up a complete tutorial, including how to make this block in any size imaginable.  You can check that tutorial out here:  Quarter Square Triangles

While there are more details (and more sizes in the tutorial linked above), here are the basics for making Quarter Square Triangle blocks.

Start with a 7½” square of both colors.  Line them up right sides together, and draw a line from one corner to the other.  To make 28 blocks, you’ll start with 14 pairs of each fabric.  For a larger or smaller quilt, you’ll need more or less squares of fabric.

Sew ¼” on each side of the line, cut and press towards the darker fabric.  This makes Half Square Triangles.

Take two Half Square Triangles and place right sides together with the central seams nestled together.

Draw a line from one corner to the other, using the corners that do not already have a seam.  Again, sew ¼” from each side of the line, cut along the line and then press to the side.

Trim to 6½”, taking care to keep the intersection of the seams in the exact center of the block.

That’s it, the background blocks are that easy to make! 

 

Making a Scrap Quilt – Laying Out the Blocks

Place the 28 scrappy blocks onto the design wall or design floor.  Alternate rows with 4 blocks and 3 blocks, leaving space in between for the background blocks.

Pick an area of the quilt to begin, and place 4 background blocks into place, turning the blocks 90* as needed so that 4 pink triangles surround one scrappy block.

Continue working out from the starting point, turning hourglass blocks as needed to continue the background pattern. 

Each scrappy block will appear to be surrounded be either a cream or pink diamond once all of the pieces are in place.

Sew blocks into rows and sew rows into the quilt top.

Baste, quilt and bind as desired. 

I recommend more dense quilting than you might typically do since the scrappy blocks have so many little pieces in them.

And really, what’s a scrappy quilt without scrappy backing as well?  It’s too bad there’s a shadow in the photo, but the backing is really quite cute!

I completed the quilt with bright green binding and LOVE it!