Square in square quilt block tutorial Free Pattern 12 step

Square in square quilt block tutorial is more of a summer themed quilt, but just so you know, I DID start this project back in July with the intention to get the project up on the blog within a few days! That’s as easy as crocheting. Unfortunately, I’ve just gotten really slow with completing projects lately. I do admit though, I did end up creating a few extra problems for myself while making this quilt.

You know that old saying, measure twice, cut once?  Well, I hate to be a know-it-all type person who says this kind of stuff, but this is especially true in quilting too! When I first started this project, I wasn’t exactly sure what direction I was going to go with the jelly roll.

Square in square quilt block tutorial using a jelly roll

I eventually settled on sewing 3 strips together and making this square in square design by cutting the strips into 6.5-inch squares.  I put together a couple of blocks.  Admired them, took pictures, showed them off and then I put the project aside for about a month.

When I finally got back to it.  I finished sewing all the jelly roll strips together and cut them into squares.  I didn’t re-measure before cutting, I just cut the measurement I “remembered.”

I bet you can predict what I am about to say…  You know it – I totally remembered that measurement wrong!  So I had a whole stack of squares that measured 6.5 by 6.25.

UGH!

So I ended up having to recut everything AND pick apart the other blocks I had already done and recut those too.

This was a smaller than normal jellyroll I’d picked up from Joann’s so I couldn’t just start over. There weren’t enough strips Anyway, I finally got everything recut and could move forward.

When I googled what type of block this might be I came across a couple of different names, framed square, square in square, bento box, etc… Personally, I like the term square in square so that’s what I’m going with.

 Square in square quilt block

Since this block is made with a jelly roll, it comes together a bit differently, but I like it!  Plus there is a lot less cutting and piecing in this method.

You can get so many looks with this pattern just by using different fabric patterns and shades.

SEE ALSO: Crazy Baby Quilt best pattern for 2020

In this case, I used a jelly roll in a batik pattern very similar shades of blue and green from Joann.  Find similar jellyrolls here and here.

As I was putting together this quilt top, I seriously considered sending it out to be professionally quilted.  I’ve never done that before and don’t even know where to start looking.

Have you ever sent a quilt off (via mail) to be quilted professionally?  How was your experience?  I’m sure there are people that do it locally, but I live kind of far out and am not interested in driving 30 to 45 minutes when I could just package it up and have the mailman pick it up from my house.

Products used and/or recommended in this post:

• 6.5-inch triangle square up ruler (this sure would have helped me with that cutting mistake!)
• Rotary Cutter
• I love my large ruler and large cutting mat, but you may prefer to start off with a smaller Cutting set
• Dritz Dual Purpose Marking Pen
• Wonder clips
• Walking foot

How to make a square in square block with a Jelly Roll:

Materials needed:

• Several jelly roll strips  (depends on how many quilt blocks/ how big you want your quilt to be. 6 jelly roll strips will make 3 blocks)
• Rotary cutter
• rulers
• fabric pen
• basic sewing supplies

Step 1:  Separate out your strips of fabric and choose how you want them lined up.

Square in square quilt block tutorial

Step 2:  Sew the Jelly Roll strips together in sets of 3, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Press seams flat.

Step 3. Trim the up edges on one side.

Step 4: Cut the jelly roll strips into 6.5 inch squares.

Step 5: Line up 2 squares, right sides together and draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on your jelly roll squares.

Step 6:   Sew the two squares together with a straight stitch 1/4 inch on each side of the line.  (a 1/4 inch quilting foot is so handy for this!)

Step 7: Cut the square in half, along the line you drew.

When opened the new squares look like this:

Step 8: Press seams flat and trim the extra fabric.

Step 9:   Decide how you want to arrange your new squares.  Depending on your fabric choices, you can get all sorts of looks:

Step 10:  Once you have fabric squares lined up how you like:

Sew the top two blocks together and then the bottom two blocks with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Then line up the two rows and sew them together.  Press seams flat.

Step 11: Once you have all your blocks assembled, sew the blocks  together to make rows, and then sew the rows together to complete the quilt top. That’s it you’re done! Quilt as normal or send it out for quilting.

Now that you can download your PDF above and make this wonderful pattern. An interesting detail is that you can make this pattern to your style. We also ask that you comment here in this article, share it with your friends, share it on your social networks, this will help us bring you much more news.