It’s Day 7 and our last day of piecing blocks. Today we’re going to work on one of my all-time favorite blocks — the Sawtooth Star.
Here’s a Sawtooth Star in the colors we’re going to be using today.
But we’re actually going to do something a little bit different. We’re going to make the components for two Sawtooth Stars, but we’re not going to finish the blocks just yet. We’ll be making…
Two of these:
And one each of these:
For each of your two “almost” Sawtooth Stars, you’ll need:
Red Print:
1 — 2½” x 2½” square
Green Print:
8 — 1½” x 1½” squares
Dark Blue Print:
3 — 1½” x 1½” squares
4 — 1½” x 2½” rectangles
Assemble Sawtooth Star Blocks:
1. On the wrong side of each green print 1½” x 1½” square, use a ruler and pen or pencil to mark a diagonal line from corner to corner.
2. Layer a green print 1½” x 1½” square atop the left side of a dark blue print 1½” x 2½” rectangle as follows:
3. Stitch along drawn line, press seam open towards the green print, and trim seam allowance to ¼“.
4. Layer a second green print 1½” x 1½” square atop the right side of the unit created above as follows:
5. Stitch along drawn line, press seam open towards green print, and trim seam allowance to ¼“.
6. Your finished flying geese unit (aka the side of a Sawtooth Star block) should measure 1½” x 2½” (sorry about the low contrast photos, I was working at night!). Repeat steps 2-5 to make 4 flying geese units for each Sawtooth Star block (that’s 8 total).
7. Lay out one flying geese unit and 2 dark blue print 1½” x 1½” squares as follows (daytime photos, yay!). Stitch together and press seams towards the dark blue print. Make one of these units for each Sawtooth Star block (2 total).
8. Lay out one flying geese unit and 1 dark blue print 1½” x 1½” square as follows. Stitch together and press seam towards the dark blue print. For your second Sawtooth Star block, make the same unit, but stitch the dark blue print 1½” x 1½” square to the left side of the flying geese unit. If this is confusing make sure to read to the bottom of the instructions to see a photo of the end result.
9. Lay out two flying geese units and 1 red print 2½” x 2½” square as follows. Stitch together and press seams towards the red print. Repeat for second Sawtooth Star block.
10. Lay out units created in steps 7 and 9 above as follows. Stitch together and press seam towards the red print. Repeat for second Sawtooth Star block.
You should end up with the following:
Strange, I know, and hard not finish off these pretty little blocks, but trust me, I’ve got a plan!
As I mentioned in my first post, we’ll be doing some simple embroidery and wool appliqué with this project, and I thought it might be helpful for you to know what materials you’ll need.
We’ll be using red, green, blue, ecru, and gold embroidery floss. I used DMC’s #221 (red), #936 (green), and #796 (blue). The gold I used was a variegated Valdani floss that I had lying around. I also used some size 8 DMC perle cotton in brown (#898), green (#937), and red (#815) because I happened to have them on hand, but you can absolutely use all embroidery floss — it’s cheaper and much more accessible.
For the wool appliqué we’ll be using green…
and brown…
You won’t need much wool — a 2½” x 6″ piece of green and a 2½” x 8″ piece of brown should do. I actually used scraps of different green and brown wools, but this is not necessary. And if you don’t have access to wool, feel free to substitute flannel or quilting cottons.
Finally, you’ll need 10 red buttons. I used a variety of ⅜” and ⁷⁄₁₆” buttons, but if you prefer, all of your buttons can be the same — whichever is easiest for you.
That’s it for today! Enjoy your Sunday and happy quilting!