{Classic Quilt Blocks} Ohio Star - A Tutorial

Classic Quilt Blocks have been sewn for centuries, are easy to recognise and are every quilters favorite. Let's celebrate these gorgeous blocks and add them to our quilting projects!

Welcome to Week Two of my Ohio Star Classic Quilt Blocks series! It's my favorite week because we get to sew a block together in my step by step tutorial. YAY! Last week I provided a colouring sheet for you to download and print, so hopefully you had a few minutes to plan your block/s and pull some fabrics.

The Ohio Star block is made up of simple squares and QST's (quarter square triangles), and it's very quick and easy to sew. Beware though, these blocks can become quite addictive!

So what are QST's? Quarter square triangles are square patchwork units comprised of four equal 90 degree triangles. The triangles are cut from a square of fabric, and you simply cut diagonally across the square, corner to corner, twice to yield four triangles from one square.

When I'm sewing QST's, I like to cut the initial square a little larger than required and then trim the QST units to size once they're sewn. QST's can get wonky and I remember being very disheartened the first time I sewed an Ohio Star block because I lost most of my points. Cutting the triangles larger and trimming at the end fixes that problem and you should get perfect points every single time.

The other important thing to remember is block orientation. Make sure your blocks are laid out as per the step by step photo's, and double check before you sew to avoid any pesky unpicking! This is extremely important if you decide to add another colour to the QST's - you want them all in the correct position.

Today we're sewing a 6" block (finished) using two fabrics and at the end of the tutorial I've provided a Cutting Chart for you to download which includes cutting requirements for six sizes, so you don't have to do the math for future projects.

Ok, that's all the business out of the way. Let's have some fun and sew an Ohio Star block together:

From your background fabric cut:

• 4 x 2 1/2" squares (A)
• 2 x 3 1/2" squares cut diagonally twice to yield 8 triangles (B)

From your print fabric cut:

• 1 x 2 1/2" square (C)
• 2 x 3 1/2" squares cut diagonally twice to yield 8 triangles (D)

• Sew a white (B) triangle to each of the eight print (D) triangles along the right short side.
• Press seams towards the print triangles for nesting.

• Carefully matching the centre seam, sew two units together along the long sides to make a QST. Repeat for the remaining three QST's.
• Press seams open to create a flat seam.
• Carefully trim each QST to 2 1/2" square - use the seam lines and the markings on your ruler to trim accurately and to retain those precious points. 

• Arrange the four white background (A) squares, the four QST units and the print (C) square into three rows of three squares, as shown in the photo above.
• Please ensure correct orientation of QST units prior to sewing to avoid unpicking seams.

• Sew the squares together into the three rows, pressing seams away from the QST's for nesting.

• Carefully matching all seams, sew the three rows together, pressing seams open to complete your Ohio Star block which should measure 6 1/2" square.

And that's it! A beautiful Ohio Star block to add to future projects! Did you have fun? I guarantee you'll want to sew many many more of these cuties - it's hard to stop at one!

To make it easy for you, I've put together a Cutting Chart for six different sized blocks, so you can use this block in other projects and you don't have to worry about doing all the math. I've also included the trimming size for the QST's to use as a reference.

Simply click on the link to download and print your chart or right click on the photo below and save it to your computer.

I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial and if you have any questions please leave me a comment or shoot me an email - I'm always here to help!

Next week in my Ohio Star Classic Quilt Blocks series, I'm sharing my favorite quilts using this gorgeous block. There's a lovely mix of traditional and modern designs and I'll give you all the links and information so you can make these quilts yourself.

Thanks for sewing with me today!

Happy quilting :)