{Classic Quilt Blocks} Pinwheel - A Tutorial + Free Modern FPP Block Pattern

Last week in my Classic Quilt Blocks series, I introduced you to the gorgeous Pinwheel block. I'm a sucker for a pinwheel and these dainty blocks fill my heart with delight.

I talked about the blocks history and how they're designed and constructed, plus I found some stunning antique quilts to inspire you. Today I'm going to show you how to sew one of these little cuties in a step by step tutorial.

Hopefully you had time to plan some blocks using the colouring sheet from last week and you're ready to sew some of your own Pinwheel blocks.

I'll be sewing a 6" (finished) Pinwheel block and I'm sewing four HST units at once, which is the quickest and easiest way to piece this block. All seam allowances are 1/4" and I've included pressing instructions so everything butts together perfectly.

At the end of the tutorial there's a Cutting Chart for six of the most common Pinwheel block sizes to help you with any of your future projects.

For my fellow paper piecing lovers, I've also drafted a 6" (finished) Modern FPP Double Pinwheel block for you to download, and its super pretty.

Let's start with the tutorial:

From your background fabric cut:

• 1 x 5 3/4" square (A)

From your print fabric cut:

• 1 x 5 3/4" square (B)

• With right sides together, position the print square on top of the background square ensuring all raw edges are aligned. Add a couple of pins to secure while you sew.

• Sew around all four edges of the square, 1/4" from the raw edges.

Please Note: There are two ways to sew around this square. You can make one continuous seam around, pivoting 1/4" from the corners or you can individually sew straight across each side. I prefer the later method, but there's no right way. Do you!

• Cut the square diagonally twice to yield four triangles. These will become your HST units.

• Carefully press each unit towards the dark fabric. Please ensure you press not iron back and forth so you don't distort the seams.

• Carefully trim each HST unit to 3 1/2" square ensuring you don't cut off any points. A BlocLoc ruler and rotating mat will make trimming easy and accurate, but the same result can be achieved if you cut carefully with the tools you already have.

• Lay out your four HST units into two rows of two units as shown in the photo above. Ensure the correct orientation of each of the four HST units prior to sewing.

• Carefully matching the seams, sew the units together into the two rows, pressing the seams towards the dark fabrics.

• Carefully matching all seams, sew the two rows together along the long side and press the seam open to complete your Pinwheel block. 

• Your block should measure 6 1/2" square when complete.

Tada! One perfect Pinwheel block to use in your next project. That was fun wasn't it? I'm sure you'll be sewing lots of these blocks in the future and to help you out I've put together a Cutting Chart of six Pinwheel block sizes. Simply click on the link to download the free chart or right click on the photo below and save it to your computer:

I hope this chart is helpful to you.  All block sizes are constructed in exactly the same manner, but you will need the chart to reference the cutting sizes of the initial squares, and the unfinished size of each HST unit for trimming purposes.

For my paper piecing lovers I decided to include a Modern FPP Double Pinwheel block for you to download and sew:

It's a little more complex than the traditional Pinwheel block but it's super cute and lots of fun. You can download the free FPP pattern by clicking the link below:

And that's it for this week. I hope you enjoy sewing these Pinwheel blocks. Next week I'm sharing nine of my favorite Pinwheel quilt patterns and they're all stunning - it's going to be hard to pick which one you want to sew first.

Happy quilting :)