2021 Block of the Week – Block 5

Wow! We’re already onto block 5 of my Block of the Week series. Welcome back to those of you who have been with me from the start. If you are new to my 2021 BOW, you can find the posts for the previous weeks here: Week 1,     Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4. There will be another drawing for the commenters on this post just like the previous weeks and your name will also be added to the grand prize drawing at the end of this sew along. 

This week’s block is so much fun, that I am actually designing a stand alone pattern with a table topper/wall hanging and a table runner project in it. I hope to have that pattern available this summer. I’ll keep you posted! The quilting tips/technique I share this week is a review of the stitch & flip (or folded corner) technique. Mastering that technique will help you successfully make this block. I also have a mini tutorial video that may help with the lesson I have posted at the end. Let’s get started!

Block #5 – Spinning Spools

For instructions to make this block click here: 2021 BOW Block 5.

Now let’s move on to the technique of the week: Stich & Flip or, as some people call it, Folded Corners.

Stitch & Flip

What is it? The easiest description is adding a smaller square of fabric to another larger square, rectangle (or any other piece with a 90 degree angle) and stitching it with a bias (45 degree) seam. For the Spinning Spools block above, that would be the added corners of color print fabric to the tan rectangles in each section of the block. In my example below, I am using a large black square and a small tan square so it’s easy to see the steps.

Here, I start with a 2 1/2″ black square and a tan 1 1/2″ square. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the tan square as a guide for stitching:

Next, lay the small square face down and line up its edges with the edges of the bigger black square as shown. I like to pin it in place for stitching so the small square does not shift. Then I stitch on the line.

Now comes the important part. Do not cut off the excess fabric in the seam allowance yet. I like to finger press the small square open and measure the unit to make sure it still measures 2 1/2″.

It still measures correctly! So now I can trim off the excess fabric in the seam allowance and take the unit to the iron for pressing. 

And that’s it! You can repeat this step on all the other sides of the above square or just on one other side, what ever the pattern calls for. A key to success, like last week’s seam alignment lesson, is to use pins to keep the pieces from shifting while stitching. The reason we measures the unit with none of the excess fabric trimmed is in case the seam has to be resewn, we will have the larger square still intact. Hopefully you do not have to do that often because it’s easy to distort your fabric pieces when trying to pick out a bias seam. 

Mini Video Tutorial

Here’s the mini video tutorial I did on this technique. Hopefully this will demonstrate the technique more clearly for you.

That’s it for this week! Please share your comments and any questions you may have below. I will choose a name from the comments and the winner will get my pattern, Scrappy North Stars.

This is a one block, scrappy quilt pattern that will give you a lot of stitch & flip practice! The drawing for the winner will be on Monday, May 17th. **We have a winner! Congrats, Shirley!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne