How to Make a Pinwheel-and-Heart Two-Sided Quilt

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Heart side

Think how great it would be to make two quilts at once! Try this timesaving idea—reversible quilts. You can employ with technique with any quilt that uses sashing. Be sure to utilize a walking foot for this no-baste quilt.

Pinwheels & Hearts Quilt
book - Reversible Quilts: Two at a Time by Sharon Pederson
coordinating fabrics
rulers, cutting mat, rotary cutter

Editor's note: Guest Sharon Pederson did not provide specific fabric amounts or block sizes on-air, but did recommend working in blocks no bigger than nine inches finished to avoid distortion. She's made quilt blocks as small as four inches finished using this method.

Steps:

Figure A

Two-Sided Block

Select two fabrics for the heart blocks—one as background fabric and one for applique hearts. Cut fabric squares. Dissect the squares in half diagonally rendering four triangles. Cut four hearts from applique fabric. Center and applique a heart onto each triangle with the point of the heart situated toward the long edge of the triangle (figure A).

Figure B

Select two pinwheel fabrics—one as background fabric and one as pinwheel fabric (use multiple colors of pinwheels if desired. Cut squares from the background fabric. For every three big squares, cut one square of the same size from pinwheel fabric. Dissect the background squares diagonally rendering half-square triangles. Cut the pinwheel squares in intersecting diagonal lines to render small right-side triangles. For every two right-side pinwheel fabric triangles, dissect one of the background half-square triangles. Stitch a right-side background and pinwheel triangle together, forming a half-square triangle (figure B). Repeat for remaining right-side triangles.

Figure C

Cut a narrow, a medium and a wide strip from each fabric (figure C). Pederson starts with a 1-1/4 inch and moves up to 2-1/2 inches.

Figure D

Cut a precise nine-inch cotton batting square (figure D) for each block of the quilt. It's important to cut the batting squares accurately because it's the only reference point you have when you start to build the two-sides of the quilt. It will trim down later to a finished eight-inch square.

Figure E

Position a triangle with appliqued heart right side up over half of a nine-inch batting square. Place the long edge of the triangle so it overlaps an imaginary diagonal centerline of the batting square by 1/4 inch (figure E).

Figure F

Place a wide strip cut from step 3 right side down over the triangle on the batting square, trimming away the long tails of the strip (figure F), reserving the excess strip for later. Position the strip precisely over the triangle, leaving just a sliver of the triangle fabric exposed along the edge to insure the bottom triangle doesn't slide out when stitching the layers together.

Figure G

Without pinning, gently flip the stacked fabric and batting block over to build the other side. You should be able to clearly see the 1/4-inch seam allowances of the fabric from the first side of the block (figure G).

Figure H

To build the second side, position a Pinwheel background triangle right side up over half of a nine-inch batting square. Place it so it's opposite of the one on the first side with the long edge of the triangle overlapping an imaginary diagonal centerline of the batting square by 1/4 inch (figure H).

Figure I

Place the right sided-triangle unit right side down on top of the triangle place in step 8 (figure I). Pin all layers together directly on the stitching line. Stitch on the line. Flip open the Pinwheel side of the block and finger press. Turn the block over and repeat on the applique heart side.

Figure L

To finish the block, add four more strips (cut in step 3) to the applique heart side of the quilt one strip at a time. To do this, place a strip right side down over the existing strip (figure J) and stitch with a 1/4-inch seam through all layers. Flip the piece open, finger press and repeat for remaining strips until all the batting is covered (figure K). Square up the block to 8-1/2 inches using a square ruler (figure L).

Diagram L-1

Assembly

Once you've made all your blocks, layout the quilt design with the Pinwheel-side up to be sure the "wheels" are going in the right direction. See diagram L-1 for placement. Guest tip: Place pins in the sides you're planning to seam so wheels don't get turned in the wrong direction.
Cut two sashing strips—one that 1-1/8 inches wide and a second at 1-3/4 inches wide. Fold the wider strip in half right sides out along the 1-3/4-inch width, and press. Place the doubled sashing strip along the edge on the top side (Pinwheel side along the edge where the pin is) of the block and place the more narrow sashing strip right sides together along the edge of the bottom side (applique-heart side) of the block. Sew to attach the strips to the block with a 1/4-inch seam allowance, attaching both sashing strips at once.

Figure M

Guest tip: When pressing sashing strips, use a safety pin with a center opening the width of the doubled sashing. Cover your ironing board cover with a piece of flannelette fabric then pin the safety pin through it so the long length of the pin is exposed. Fold the strip and slip it underneath the exposed "bar" of the pin. Pull strip slowly through, under the pin, creating an even fold (figure M) then press as the folded fabric comes through the pin.

Figure O

To join to the block with sashing, place the second block (side marked with a pin) along the sashing on the first block (figure N). Match up the edge of the single thick sashing strip to the edge of the second block (figure O). Stitch together along the edge with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Guest tip: Push the sashing seam allowance out of the way if necessary. The sashing on the heart side should be completely finished.

To finish the sashing on the Pinwheel side, flip the doubled sashing strip over the exposed batting seam then hand- or machine-stitch to finish.

Employ the same sashing strip method to join finished rows together as described in steps 1 through 4, using long sashing strips. Be careful to line up the sashing strips of each row. Pin before stitching to ensure straight sashing.

Borders

Attach sashing strips to sides of quilt, then attach side borders in the same manner as you attached rows. Remember, one strip of sashing is 1-1/8 inches wide, while the second is 1-3/4 (and you'll double the 1-3/4 strip).