The One Block

Now that I have three Slashed Square flimsies completed, it's time to make the backing for them. Since I had so much pink fabric lying around, I decided to start with that one first. But I didn't have enough of any one fabric, so it meant I had to make a pieced backing. As it happened, I didn't have much more than half yard pieces of anything I felt would work.


But then I got an idea.

 How about if I made the backing one big Slashed Square block, but make it BIG! So I worked out some dimensions in my sketchbook, and then started laying fabric out on the floor.

Since I wasn't quite sure how much of what fabrics I had or where they'd go, I did a quick little mockup...

 I thought it looked pretty good, so I kept going.

It was coming along, but that big middle square was lost. I'd need to replace it.

 The more I worked, the less I liked the littlest square too.

Now, this LOOKS easy, but I gotta tell ya, cutting blocks 16 x 32 inches isn't easy. There are no templates that big, and "constructing" a piece that size using cutting rulers and hoping your pieces comes out with four 90 degree corners is a recipe for a mess.

But when it works, it's a hell of an effect. This big block is almost the same size of the finished flimsy, so I have to add fabric on all four sides for the longarm quilter, but that's not going to be a problem.


(You should click, then double click the last photo to see what I used for the smallest square.)



If you want to make some more normal sized slashed squares blocks for your own quilt, you can get my tutorial here at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download so you can get started right away.