Broken Dishes QAL, Part 2 - tutorial

Hi everyone,

Today, I'm going to teach you how to make the Broken Dishes Block.

It's a simple block.

To make it using HST's from Squares, just add 7/8 of an inch to the desired finish HST size.

Sew, if you want your HST to be 3 inches finished. You will cut your squares 3 7/8 inches.

NOTE: If you struggle with your 1/4 inch seam, make the square an inch bigger.

You have to trim it regardless. So, it's not a big deal.

I'm making one of my quilts with Charm Packs.

They are 1 inch bigger than the finished block I want.

The HST will be trimmed to 4.5 inches and finish to 4 inches in the quilt.

Let's start!

Note: always use a 1/4 inch seam.

You will need to cut 2 dark squares and 2 light squares for each block.

Pair them up like I did below.

Once you have them paired up, you will draw your sewing lines on the wrong side of the light square.

I use this cool little ruler, but you can just draw a diagonal line from corner to corner and sew a 1/4 inch on either side.

Once you have done this, cut the blocks on the diagonal line as below.

You will now have 2 HST's.

I like to iron my seams open.

They tend not to stretch the HST as much this way.

Then, I take my squaring ruler and trim these to the desired size.

Note:  If you want a 2 inch finished block, trim to 2.5 inches.

If you want a 3 inch finished block, trim to 3.5 inches. 

If you want a 4 inch finished block, trim to 4.5 inches.

and so on......

Once I have my 4 matching HST's, I lay them out to make sure the setting is correct.

I then, fold down to top right corner piece over the bottom right corner piece and sew the top seam.

I use a pin to line up the diagonal seam,so that they butt up nicely.

I use a 1/4 inch foot to keep my seams consistent.

Repeat with the other pair.

Once you have them both sewn together, iron the seam open.

Lay them out again to make sure you have then set properly.

Now, you will fold down the top piece over the bottom piece.

Pin in the middle and at both ends, as shown below.

Sew your pieces together, iron the seam open....

and VOILA!!!

Your block is done!!!

Here is where I'm at with my charm square Broken Dishes quilt.

It comes together really quick.

(note: the black blocks aren't all sewn up yet, I just have the HST's together on my design wall)

Don't you just love the secondary star pattern it makes.

I love that!!!

Well, that's it!!

Now you can start making your quilt. 

I figured out that if you are using charm packs of 40 squares, you will need 3 charm packs.

My charm packs have a ton of dark prints but very few light prints, so I will be cutting some light squares out of some fabric from my stash that matches this collection.

I hope you have fun making your blocks!

Hugs