Monday, May 22, 2017

More Old Italians

Obviously I was a little hasty in putting together that mini tutorial that I gave you a couple of posts back on how to sew the Old Italian block as I had a question from a reader as to what size to cut the strips that create the crisscross, so here's a few more details.

My initial instructions suggested starting with one 8" block, but you really start with two, one light and one dark.










Cut 2" wide strips through both diagonal lines of the blocks, measuring 1" on either side of the line that runs from corner to corner. Here's a better picture of how to lay your ruler to get the first cut - the 1" line runs through the block from point to point. For the second cut just flip the ruler around and cut 1" away from the centre line of the block, or 2" from the first cut.

Repeat this cutting sequence across the second diagonal.





After you have cut the strips through the diagonal of the block in both directions they look like this, so with only four cuts per block you have all of the pieces that you need to make two blocks.












Now, just switch up the corner strips; the centre square and triangles stay where they are - and voila, two blocks ready to assemble. If you press all seams to the dark side they will nest together nicely to finish off the blocks.












This one still needs to be trimmed, but it doesn't take long before you have a nice little pile of blocks that will finish at 6.5" square....M

8 comments:

  1. Great tutorial, easy to understand. Love those fabrics!

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  2. I think I missed your previous post and tutorial so thanks for updating it. There are several great things about doing it this way. The first is that it's so easy. The second is that the diagonals are cut on the diagonal so there are no bias edges to deal with. I think it would be easy to make larger blocks, say if you want 8", or whatever size. Thanks for sharing. I have never made a quilt with Old Italian blocks but it's a block I want to use.

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  3. That looks great. It seems like a simple block that you can have fun with.

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  4. Thanks for the tutorial. I have lots of fabric that I could use to make a quilt using this block...

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  5. Beautiful! I have this on my list of quilts to make! :-)
    It seems that quilts made from many "quick blocks" are more appealing to me to make these days... I think I tired of following complex pattern instructions (for awhile anyways)...lol!

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  6. Thanks for the tutorial! I've had this block on my list for awhile. I made some yesterday. They are kind of addictive. I'm going to use my 30s reproduction fabrics.

    Thanks again!

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  7. Ah, i was also looking for some more details on this old Italian blocks. thanks that you share this post in detailed manner. the instructions are easy to follow and your creativity and color selection is awesome really.

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  8. I am making this quilt! Love! Thanks for the tutorial.

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Thanks so much for stopping in - I look forward to reading your comments.