How to Make a Monkey Wrench Quilt Square
Legend has it that the "Monkey Wrench" quilt pattern was one of the secret signal designs that spoke to runaway slaves in code. When this quilt was hung on the line it was supposed to have been a signal for slaves to gather their tools in preparation for escape. Whether this is true or not, the "Monkey Wrench" quilt pattern has been around for more than 100 years. This simple combination of triangles, rectangles and squares can create a striking quilt in either bold geometric form or simple country colors. Design your own pattern the old fashioned way for a custom quilt.
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Things You'll Need
- Cotton quilt fabric
- Measuring tape
- Scissors
- Straight pins
- Sewing machine
Instructions
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1
Cut two squares of a dark color and two squares of a light color. Make all four squares the same size, between 3 inches and 5 inches across, depending on the desired size of your finished quilt.
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2
Cut each square in half diagonally to create two triangles. Pair up each triangle with one of its opposite color. You will end up with four pairs of triangles. Place each triangle pair with edges matching and the right sides together.
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3
Sew each triangle pair together along the longest edge. Open up the pairs of triangles. You have four squares made from triangles.
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4
Measure one square in both directions. This is the size of your block component. You will create a quilt block square with nine components, each in this size.
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5
Divide the size of the component in half. Cut out rectangles of fabric with the component measurement in one direction and the half-component direction plus one-half-inch in the other. If your component measures 5 inches, you will have rectangles of 5 inches by 3 inches. Cut four rectangles in light fabric and four in medium.
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6
Place pairs of rectangles together with one light and one medium fabric in each. Stitch the pairs together along one long edge using a quarter-inch seam allowance.
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7
Cut one square from dark fabric in the complete component size. If you use the same measurements as above, cut a square 5 inches across.
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8
Lay out the square with three rows of three. The first row consists of a triangle pair with the dark triangle pointing in and down, a rectangle pair with the light color at the bottom and a triangle pair with the dark half pointing down and in. The middle row has one rectangle pair, the whole block and another pair. The third row is the mirror opposite of the first row.
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9
Sew the squares into rows, then stitch the rows into a quilt square block.
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