Heart Quilt Block Tutorial and Layout Options

It's just about February so I thought I'd share my favorite Heart Quilt Block. It's an easy block and uses up some of those pink or red scraps I know you have! Let's get started!

Fabric Requirements for a 10" Finished Heart Quilt Block:

• Light/Ivory: 1 - 4.5" square, 2 - 3" squares
• Medium/Dark Prints: 1 - 6.5" square, 2 - 3" squares, and 8 - 2.5" squares

Sewing Directions:

Half Square Triangle Units:

Step 1:

Using the two Light/Ivory 3" squares and the two Medium/Dark Prints 3" squares, sew together four Half Square Triangle units as shown in the picture below. Trim/square up the units to a 2.5" square. You can find my Half Square Triangle tutorial at: https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-half-square-triangle-block

Patchwork Units:

Step 2:

Now you can lay out two of the Half Square Triangle units you just made in Step 1 along with four of the Medium/Dark Prints 2.5" squares as shown in the picture below.

Step 3:

Sew the patches into two rows as shown below.

Step 4:

And press the seam allowances as shown in the picture below so that the seams will nest nicely in the next step. The top row seams are pressed away from the Half Square Triangle units, and the bottom row seams are pressed away from the center.

Step 5:

Sew the two rows together, and ...

Step 6:

Press the seam allowance away from the Half Square Triangle units as shown in the picture below. (I had some issues with the middle red 2.5" square and had to take a tuck! Should have probably done a redo but in the interest of time, decided not to) Repeat Steps 2 through 6 for a total of two Patchwork units.

Putting It All Together:

Step 7:

Lay out the Light/Ivory 4.5" square, the Medium/Dark Prints 6.5" square, and the two Patchwork units as shown in the picture below.

Step 8:

From here the Heart Quilt Block goes together like an uneven Four Patch block. You sew the units into two rows as shown below.

Step 9:

Press the seam allowances away from the Patchwork units as you can see in the picture below.

Step 10:

Sew the two rows together and you're done! (Except for the pressing.)

Step 11:

Press the seam allowance in whichever direction you prefer. I've pressed mine toward the Light/Ivory 4.5" square which you can see in the picture below.

Layout Options:

Here's a standard on-point layout for this Heart quilt block. With 10" blocks, it will finish at about 48" x 65" You'll notice that I added a border using the background fabric at the bottom of the quilt to balance it out. You will need about 2.5 yards of the background fabric and 1 yard for the border.

In this example, I put sashing in between the blocks. For this 57" x 77" quilt you will need about 3.5 yards of the background and 1 yard for the border.

Finally, for a little 26" x 26" table topper, I came up with this layout. It takes about 1/2 yard for the background fabric and 1/4 yard for the outer border.

Conclusion:

This Heart Quilt Block is a fun little block to sew together and to use up some of those scraps! And I'm so glad that my little tuck is barely noticeable now that the block is sewn together! 

What is your favorite heart-shaped quilt block? 

Happy Quilting!

Elaine

P.S. If you liked this post and want to see more quilting tutorials like this, simply click HERE to sign up for my newsletter and also receive a free PDF quilt pattern called "Chained Weathervane".