Sawtooth Star Quilt Block Tutorial
Sampler Quilt Sew Along Block 2
Welcome to week 2 of The Quilt Sampler Sew Along! I’ve been thoroughly enjoying getting a peek of the block 1 photos you’ve been sharing over the past week. Such beautiful work! Several folks have suggested we need a hashtag so let’s go with #folksamplersewalong because it’s not already taken. Tag you IG posts if you you’d like to share with everyone. Now that the bulk of everyone (1100 quilt people!) have had a chance to join and get caught up on block 1 we can settle into the block a week rhythm. This week I chose a very classic simple traditional block called Sawtooth Star which contains a lot less pieces than Block 1. I chose a slightly unusual color placement for mine by using a floral print for my geese. Color placement will completely change the look and feel of the block as you will see in the alternative block sample I share at the end of this post.
Sawtooth Star can be pieced either by making 4 Flying Geese or by making 8 HST’s. In this tutorial I’ll share the method of making it with Flying Geese. The finished size of the block is 12” because that’s what we’re working with in the sew along. If you want to make a different size block you can do so very easily by changing the size of the pieces within the block. Making custom size blocks is explained in this post. In the following instructions I will refer to the colors as the ones I chose (olive green, floral print, and sage green) so as you plan your block, swap them for your personal colors. For the natural dyers the olive green recipe is here, and the sage green is formula 19: sagebrush green in my book on page 78.
The Sawtooth Star block is made up of 9 patchwork shapes:
4 corner squares
1 center square
4 Flying Geese
Finished Block Size 12”
Seam Allowance 1/4”
Cut List
For the Corner Squares:
Cut 4 olive green squares- 3 1/2”
For the Center Square:
Cut 1 olive green square- 6 1/2”
For the Flying geese:
Cut 1 floral print square- 7 1/2”
Cut 4 sage green squares- 4 1/4”
4 corner squares and 1 center square
the squares that will become flying geese
Make the Flying geese
Gather your Flying Geese pieces and head over to my Flying Geese Tutorial to make the 4 geese. Follow the tutorial all the way to the end and trim the geese to their unfinished size of 3 1/2” x 6 1/2” as shown in the tutorial. When your geese are complete you will have all the shapes you need to make a Sawtooth block.
Assemble the Block
The Sawtooth Star pieces ready to become a block.
Lay out all the pieces on your work surface as shown below.
Begin assembling the block by sewing the pieces into 3 horizontal rows as shown below. Press the seams open or to the side if you prefer.
Sew the rows together being sure to match the seams together by pinning. Press the seams open or to the side if you prefer. And there you have a pretty little Sawtooth Star block!
Block 1 and 2 happy together on my design wall!
Below is an example of another Sawtooth block I made with a vintage floral shirt and weld dyed yellow. This color placement transforms the block to a trippy 3D shooting star as you can see in the zoomed out photo below. Just a tip to play around with color placement and see what kind of fun you might come up with!
Okay party people, I’ll see you back here next Wednesday for Block 3! If you have any questions please ask below in the comment section for all to see and reference.
