How to Do a Schooner Quilt Block

A schooner is a two-masted ship. The schooner quilt block is a perfect addition to a nautical-themed quilt. This quilt block is a basic version of the schooner quilt block. It uses basic geometric shapes to create the image of a schooner. The finished size of the block is 8-by-8 inches.

Things You'll Need

• Fabric for the background
• Fabric for the sails
• Fabric for the boat
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine
• Iron

Instructions

1. Cut the fabric for the background into three sizes. You will need one piece that is 2 1/2-by-8 1/2 inches, two pieces that are 2 1/2-by-4 1/2 inches, and three pieces that are 2 7/8-by-2 7/8-inch squares.

2. Cut the white fabric for the sails into two squares that are both 2 7/8-by-2 7/8 inches.

3. Cut the fabric for the boat into one piece that is 2 7/8-by-2 7/8 inches and another piece that is 2 1/2-by-4 1/2 inches.

4. Cut the two squares out of the sail fabric and two of the squares out of the background fabric in half on a diagonal. This will give you 8 triangles.

5. Take one triangle of the background fabric and one of the sail fabric and sew them together along the diagonal seam. Iron the seam flat. You know have a square again with two different halves.

6. Repeat Step 5 for all the other triangle in the sail and background fabric. You will end up with four squares again.

7. Cut the last 2 7/8-inch background square and the 2 7/8 square made of the boat fabric in half so they are made into triangles.

8. Sew a triangle of the background material and the boat material together to form a square. Iron the seam.

9. Repeat Step 8 for the other triangle out of the boat and background fabric.

10. Stitch together the background piece that is 2 1/2-by-4 1/2 inches to the square that was just made out of the boat and background fabric. The larger background piece should be at the top, then the triangle made of the boat fabric and finally the background material. The boat triangle should slant from left to right.

11. Repeat Step 10 for the other background piece and background and boat square. The other difference is that the triangle for the boat should mirror the other piece you just made so that the triangle slants from right to left.

12. Sew all the squares made out of the background and sail material into a larger square. Make sure that the sails are all at the bottom of the smaller squares and pointing in the same direction. Iron all the seams.

13. Attach the 2 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch piece of boat fabric to the bottom of the sail square that you just made. Iron the seam.

14. Stitch the two pieces that you made in Steps 10 and 11 to the piece you just finished in Step 13. You want the piece where the triangle of boat fabric leans from left to right on the left and the piece that slants from right to left on the right. Iron all the seams. The pieces will now look like a schooner.

15. Attach the last background piece to the bottom of the piece that was made in Step 14. This will form the rest of the water under the schooner. Iron the seam and the block is finished.