I think this block is really fun and could easily see myself making a whole quilt in this style. I ended up liking it enough to put together a tutorial for anyone else that might want to give it a try. This block can easily be adapted to any size and shape by increasing the number or size of the stripe units, or changing the width of the borders.
Select three coordinated fabrics. I chose three of the same colour but any combination works. |
Cut three strips measuring 14" by 1.5" from each fabric.
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Sew each group of strips together and press seams open. You should now have three large strips that are approximately 14" long and 3.5" wide. |
Using a ruler or template, trim each block down to a size of 3" square. Vary the placement and angle of your cuts as much as you want. This is the fun part! |
Lay out your squares, alternating between vertical and horizontal stripes. Don't put too much thought into this part, just mix them up and lay them down. |
Sew those puppies together! You should now have a pretty cool rectangle measuring 10.5" by 8". |
The last step is to add borders to make this the size you want. I added a 1.5" border on each side and 2" at the top and bottom for a block that will finish at 12" by 11". Here is the result:
The thing I find most interesting about this block is that there are 5,748,019,200 possible layout permutations for every combination of three colours (6 possible strip groupings, 12 possible positions for each square, and 2 possible orientations per square). No two blocks will ever end up looking exactly the same, especially if you choose a large scale print like the olives above. I think that creates a lot of visual interest, and I look forward to using this technique again on a larger scale.