How to Make a Windmill Blades Quilt Block
The windmill quilt block uses colors and patterns that contrast each other in order to create a pattern that ends up looking like a pinwheel-style windmill. The blades of the windmill stand out against the "negative space" of pieces of exactly the same size and shape, based on the color contrasts. In order to get the full effect of the pattern, use colors and patterns that provide a sharp contrast with each other. Iron the fabric before sewing and be precise in piecing the fabric together in order to sharpen the contrast even more.
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Things You'll Need
- Patterned material, 10 inches by 5 inches
- Light material, 10 inches by 15 inches
- Dark material, 10 inches by 10 inches
- Scissors
- Fabric tape measure
- Needle and thread or sewing machine
Instructions
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1
Cut two squares out of the patterned material, and two squares out of the light-colored material -- all foiur squares should be the same size (5 inches along each side). Cut each square in half diagonally so that you have four triangles of patterned material, and four triangles of light-colored material.
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2
Cut four squares out of the dark-colored material, and four squares out of the light-colored material -- all four squares should be the same size (2 1/2 inches along each side). Cut the dark-colored material's squares in half diagonally, so that you have eight dark-colored triangles.
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3
Place the light-colored squares at the four corners of your block. Place the dark-colored triangles along the interior edges of the squares so that the hypotenuse of the triangle faces the interior of the square (it should look like there are four triangles -- each made up of a white square at the top and two dark triangles at the bottom -- with their hypotenuse facing the interior of the block, and that interior space should be shaped like a diamond). Pair the patterned triangles with the light-colored triangles. Place the pairs within the interior diamond area of the block, so that no patterned triangles are next to each other and no light-colored triangles are next to each other -- the patterned triangles will pop out visually and look like the blades of a windmill.
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4
Flip each light/patterned pair of triangles so that they are lined up along their hypotenuse and the fabric's wrong side is facing out. Stitch each pair together along their hypotenuse, so that you're left with four stitched-together squares.
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5
Pair the top two and the bottom two squares of the block's interior together, flip them so their interior edge is lined up and the fabric's wrong side is facing out and sew each pair together along their interior edge. Flip the two remaining strips so that their long sides are lined up and the fabric's wrong side is facing out, and sew them along the edge that will be closest to the middle of the quilt's block.
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Flip each dark triangle so that its fabric's right side is against its respective light-colored square's right side, and sew the triangles to the squares, so that you're left with four larger stitched-together triangles. Sew the triangles to the interior, stitched-together square.
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Tips & Warnings
Always add a 1/4 inch seam allowance to each edge of each cut piece.
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
