Quilt and Sew Forever: Tutorial - Union Square 12 1/2" Block

UNION SQUARE
Block will measure 12 1/2" Unfinished and 12" Finished

It's time again for me to piece together a couple of blocks for the online Birthday Block Swap I'm participating in this year. These block will be heading to Wisconsin. Since this first block is an old, public domain design, I thought that I'd make a picture tutorial of the steps needed to complete this block, the Union Square.

As you can see from the photo, this block uses three different fabrics. I used three Fat Quarters in the colors requested by the "birthday quilter".

If you don't know already, I like to use the Easy Angle Ruler whenever possible.

First I cut a 4 1/2" wide strip of brown and a 4 1/2" wide strip of purple.

Place the two coordinating strips together, rights sides together.

Using the Easy Angle Ruler, line up the top of the strips with the 4 1/2" marker and cut.

Make a total of four sets of triangles.

(Helpful Hint: If you do not own an Easy Angle Ruler, you can get the same results by cutting two squares measuring 4 7/8" from both fabrics. Then cut the four squares (2 brown & 2 purple) on the diagonal which will leave you with 4 triangles of each color.)

Chain piece your four triangle sets. At this point, I set my four sewn triangle units aside to start the next step.

Next I cut strips of fabric that were 2 1/2" wide, using the purple and green fabrics.

Lay these strips together face to face as described earlier.

Again using the Easy Angle Ruler, line up the ruler using the 2 1/2" mark.

Pivot ruler and continue making triangle sets.

You will need a total of 16 matched 2 1/2" triangle sets.

(Helpful Hint: You can get the same size triangle sets by cutting eight 2 7/8" squares from both fabric choices, then cutting all 16 squares (8 purple and 8 green) on the diagonal. This will give you 16 sets of triangle units to sew into blocks.)

While still at the cutting mat, using the remainder of the 2 1/2" strip of green fabric, cut 2 1/2" squares.

You will need a total of four 2 1/2" squares.

Now head back to your sewing machine and chain piece the sixteen sets of 2 1/2" triangles together.

At this point, I trimmed all the dog ears off all the pieced triangle sets (16 - 2 1/2" sets, and 4 - 4 1/2" sets).

Set your seams.

Press your triangle units open, towards the darker fabric.

Puzzle time! :) Lay out all the pieces in the correct order.

Using your "puzzle" as a guide, sew pairs of the 2 1/2" triangle square units together first.

Now your puzzle should look like the above photo.

We will now think of the block as being sub-divided into four sections as we continue sewing the pieces together.

Sew the top corner 2 1/2" square to the pair of triangle squares next to it. (Do the same with all corner squares.) Then sew the center 4 1/2" triangle squares to the strip of 2 1/2" triangle squares laying beside them. Until it looks like the above photo.

Still envisioning the "puzzle" subdivided into four equal groups, sew top sections to each bottom section until it looks like the photo above.

We're almost finished! Sew left top section to right top section. Then sew left bottom section to right bottom section. Your "puzzle" should look like the picture above.

ONE LAST SEAM!!!!! Sew top half to bottom half! Now you have a Union Square block that should measure 12 1/2" square at this point!!!!

Of course, the Birthday Block Swap requires us to send two blocks to each birthday quilter. The second block I made is called "Tulip Lady Fingers"...........