Monday, March 16, 2009

double hourglass~ the tutorial!!

This is my first tutorial, and I'm so excited to be able to share with you how I came up with my method for the double hourglass block. When I was figuring this out, I used Netties quilt as a guide. I'm not sure if this is the way that Nettie did her blocks, but she didn't mind me sharing with you the way I figured it out. THANKS Nettie!!

If you need, click on the pictures to enlarge them. I made mosaics to help show it in steps.


1. For one block, you need a 5 inch charm square in a pattern fabric, and then one 5 inch square in a white fabric.

2. Using a rotary cutter, cut a straight line from corner to corner. Do the same with the other corners.

3. Now you have 8 triangles. 4 of the pattern, and 4 of the white. You're are only using half of them for one block.

4. On my cutting mat, I used the 90 degree angle at the 6 inch point. If you measure down 2 inches, mine has a diagonal line there. This is where I used my rotary cutter and cut my triangles. So your cutting 2 inches off the top of your triangle. Do that with your pattern, and white triangles. If you have a triangular ruler, you can use that as well. I don't have one, so I just used my regular ruler.

5. Pair up your small triangles with the bottom part of the triangles. You should pair them up so you have one pattern and one white, that makes up one triangle.

6. Place right sides together on the straight middle line.


7. At this point, I sew a 1/8 inch seam. I use a 1/8 inch seam because it makes the triangles a little easier to manage for me, and when sewing in further steps, it makes it easier for the seams to not get in the way.

8. I sew them in a chain to help the process go a little faster. I'll even sew several blocks at a time.

9. Hold the small triangle...

10. and then press the seem towards the small triangle.

11. Trim the triangles.

12. Now you have 4 triangles, and you can see it starting to look like a double hourglass block.


13. Place right sides together.

14. I sew 1/4 inch seams from now on. Sew a 1/4inch seam, and I also sew them in a chain at this point too. Anything to save some time!! :)

15. Press seams to one side.

16. You're getting closer!

17. Place right sides together, and sew a 1/4 inch seam.

18. This is where I press the seam open, so it doesn't get too bulky on one side. I then use my scissors to trim off the little extras on each corner.


Yippee!! You just completed one block!! Go back and follow the directions to sew the rest of your blocks.

A few helpful tips when sewing your blocks together-

When I went to sew my blocks together, I didn't trim them. You can trim them if you would like to make them all the same size, and have them perfectly square. The reason I didn't, I was worried I would loose too much of the block with trimming.

I sewed my blocks together, and the rows didn't end up straight. I still didn't really trim at this point. When I was sewing the rows together is where I straighten everything up, so they came out straight. I'm not sure if this is what I should have done, but I was really worried about looseing too much with trimming. Any ideas, you're welcome to share.

For the white border, I cut 3 1/2 inch strips.

Please let me know if anything does not making sense. I really am new to quilting, so I'm not sure if this is the best way for making the blocks. But I just went with what worked best for me.

23 comments:

  1. great tutorial! Thanks...
    Could you sew the strips together first and then use your triangle template to cut out your four triangles?

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  2. awesome! i'd love to make some of these ...

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  3. Thanks for the tutorial! I'll try it, though all those bias edges are a little scary after "The Quilt that Almost Broke Me" as you see on my blog. I will give it a try, though a 1/8" seam by hand is hard to guague when i'm used to 1/4".

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  4. Great tutorial, Kerri! Thank you so much for sharing. I've scheduled a link to your post to go live on my blog later this morning. I hope it brings you a few extra clicks.

    Just in case you're interested, you're welcome to use one of our buttons to tell the world that we're talking about you on CraftGossip: http://craftgossip.com/link-to-us/

    Warm regards,
    Denise
    http://needlework.craftgossip.com

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  5. thank you so much for the tutorial - I have a bunch of charm squares I didn't know what to do with, now I think I'll do this - thanks for sharing!

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  6. Those are such teeny pieces! Thanks for the tutorial :)

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  7. Fabulous Tutorial! Way to go. And thanks for sharing. I SO NEED to update my tutorial links. This will be added for sure. ooxx`jodi

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  8. Thank you for such a great tutorial. I love the way your quilt turned out & I can't wait to make one, too.

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  9. thanks for the great tutorial! i'm going to try it (on a small scale project) soon!

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  10. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, I just love that block so much!!! thanks for all the work you did to share it with us!

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  11. Great instructions! Nice blog, too! I'll be back to see some more of your great work!

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  12. Thanks for the great tutorial!

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  13. I just read this 'slap your forehead' tip on a blog earlier this morning (ohfransson.com) and you won't believe this.....for those blocks where your seam is a little small or off, just cut a piece of freezer paper the size that your block is 'supposed' to be, and iron it to the back of the block and "then" square it up; keep the paper on and sew it to the other blocks so that you have the correct 'seam' allowance (freezer paper) to use as a guide. Get it? How KEWL is that??? Want to kick yourself now right? Me too. Then once it's sewn to the next block, peel the paper off the back.

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  14. Thanks for the tutorial! Your quilt turned out so cute, makes me want to try this too!

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  15. Thanks for the tutorial. I've been wondering how Nettie did that. Yours looks great too! I love all of these quilts with lots of white in them. Thanks for sharing!

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  16. Thanks for the tutorial Kerri :-), your quilt looks really beautiful with the bright colors and the white to set them off. Every time I think I've given up on making quilts with triangles I see another beautiful one out there on the blogosphere ... we'll see how long the resolutions lasts :-).

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  17. wow I love that fabric! the little hedge hogs are soo cute, i really wish someone in my family quilted, I've been thinking of picking it up... hope we can get your background working :)

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  18. What a great tutorial! I'm definately gonna have to try this one!

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  19. Yay! I was hoping if I followed enough links, I'd get to a tutorial. Thank you so much. Truly.

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  20. Thank you for this great tut! I am also new to quilting and this is a block that I would like to try. Your quilt turn out beautifully.

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  21. thank you for posting this it has inspired me to get back to my fabric and play. thanks sooooo much

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  22. Thank you! I've been looking for a tutorial on this quilt. Now I don't have to figure it out :)

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Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog!! Your sweet comments are always cherished, and truly make my days brighter! I ♥ reading each and every one!! Hugs!