Pinwheel Variation Quilt Block Tutorial

Today let's look at this variation of the Pinwheel quilt block. While there is a basic Pinwheel block in the center, there's a lot more going on! Made entirely of Half Square Triangles, this Pinwheel block is easy too. At the end I also show a few ways to lay out Half Square Triangles for other blocks. Let's get sewing!

Fabric Requirements for an 8" Finished Pinwheel Quilt Block:

• Light/White: 8 - 3" squares
• Medium/Hexie Print: 6 - 3" squares
• Dark/Aqua: 2 - 3" squares

Sewing Directions:

Half Square Triangle Units:

Step 1:

Using all of the fabric 3" squares, sew together 16 Half Square Triangle units as shown in the picture below. You can find my tutorial for making Half Square Triangles at https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-half-square-triangle-block

Putting It All Together:

Step 2:

Lay out all the Step 1 Half Square Triangles as shown below.

Step 3:

Sew the Half Square Triangles together into four rows as shown in the picture below. I did repress four of the Half Square Triangles so that the seam allowance went toward the Light/White fabric. I did that so that the seams would nest nicely.

Step 4:

Press the seam allowances in Rows 1 and 3 in one direction, and Rows 2 and 4 in the opposite direction. You can see how I pressed mine in the picture below.

Step 5:

Now you just sew the four rows together and you're done! That was quick and easy!

Step 6:

All that's left is the pressing. Here you can see that I pressed the top and bottom seam allowances toward the outside of the block, and the center seam I used the tweak/twirl/furl method of pressing. However, you can press however you like for this Pinwheel Variation quilt block.

Conclusion:

Okay, this went together way fast! The pressing was the only tricky part and even that wasn't bad. I like this Pinwheel Variation quilt block. When multiple blocks are sewn together, it will have a nice Light/White diamond pattern around the pinwheel and the four corners will come together to make a diamond shape as well. Very pretty. 

Other Ways to Lay Out Half Square Triangles:

Here are a few layouts using the same 16 Half Square Triangles (HST).

In this example I've simply switched the four corner HSTs with the center ones.

In this Sawtooth layout, I've put the four Dark/Teal HSTs in the center surrounded by the rest.

If you put this layout on point, you kind of have four little fishies with the Dark/Teal HSTs being the tail of the fish.

I hope you enjoyed this variation of the Pinwheel quilt block. 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.

Happy Quilting!

Elaine

P.S. To figure out how much fabric you need to make a quilt using this block (or any other block for that matter) see the tutorial https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-much-fabric-do-i-need