If you are curious about making this pattern, I hope this post will encourage you to give it a try. Below you will find detailed photos and tips, a video explaining how I sew the strips to the diamond blocks, the best way to sew the feather blocks together and how to square up the finished blocks.
The waverly star blocks are made of eight 45 degree angle diamonds, similar to a lonestar quilt, and layered with the A-D strips in the pattern. I do offer the cutting instruction to make a test block in the pattern using scraps and highly encourage you to do it before diving into your fabric pull. I find once you get the hang of the first block they get faster and easier as you go.
Attaching the A-D units
- Lay out the A- D units and the diamond for your first block.
-Starting with units A and B, note in the photo below, I line up the strip just a 1/4" from the side of the diamond edge and then sew up, leaving enough room at the top to trim. In order to create no waste and keep it FQ and 1/4 friendly I made sure to only size the units with enough to trim from the top.
-line the ruler up with the edge of the diamond on both side to trim away the extra fabric.
-You will repeat this method for all the A-D units, but it is important to follow the trimming directions in the pattern. This helps keep the diamonds on a 45 degree angle. If you are worried about judging the 1/4" hang over and want to cut your strips longer by an inch, add a 1/4 yard to the fabric requirments for both versions. For example instead of (6) FQ's to make the baby size, use (6) 3/8" or 1/2 yards and then cut your A-D units 1" longer then directed in the pattern.
- Continue to attach the C and D units, but make sure you are following the pattern to make both Feather Blocks, and this is where the final trim is important in steps 3, 6 and 9. Trim carefully and slowly, and make sure you are only trimming the C and D units first as they are greater in width and will need to be trimmed. As you will notice in the second photo below, I align my ruler with the sewn seam as well before trimming to make sure I am keep my block on a 45 degree angle as I go. Once you get the hang of the block construction and trimming them, they come together much quicker.
Video: How to sew the A-D strips on and the best way to construct the block.
Sewing the feather blocks together
-To sew the blocks together, follow the pattern directions to attach the background triangles. Once you have those sewn on, make sure to trim up the four sections of the block, cleaning up the edges of the background fabric to make four square sections..
-Line up and pin the A-D strips on both halves. Then pin the center point of the block. Sew from the center point towards the outside of the block. Don't worry if the background fabric doesn't match up at the end of the corners. The block will be trimmed down and squared to the correct dimensions.
- Again when sewing the two halves of the block together, align and pin the A-D units on both side as well as the center seam.
-Press open and trim the block to the dimensions listed in the pattern. To see how I trim and square up my block scroll down and watch the video below.
Video: How to trim the waverly winter star block.
I turned my blocks for this blog post into a table runner for the fall and used the West Wind pantograph to quilt it.
Quilting for both versions below I used Chunky Knit and Modern Ogee for the quilting.
If you are interested in Longarm Services for you quilt as well visit my quilting page and fill out a form. I would be thrilled to help you finish your quilt as well.