Who's Got the Button?

All summer long, Fabrics N Quilts has been running their fourth annual Scrap Quilt Challenge. As a sponsor, I promised to post a tutorial for a scrappy quilt block. And since it's October, and October is 'my' month . . . here we go!

For my scrappy quilt block, I was inspired by the Ikea carpet that I used in my booth at the AQS Quilt Week in Grand Rapids this summer. Buttons. Lots of scrappy buttons. This Cute-as-a-Button block finishes to 5" square, so we're dealing with some fairly small scraps. Especially in the very center.

Most of you may know, that I like to cut and store three scrap sizes: 2, 3-1/2, and 5" scrap squares. And if you aren't aware of that, you can learn all about my thought process in either of my ScrapTherapy books.

Therefore, whenever I start a new scrappy project, I dig into my bins of pre-cut scrap squares. For one button block, I'll need two matching 5" scraps, and from some white yardage in my stash, I cut two 2-1/2" squares and up to four 1" squares. On the back of the 2-1/2" squares, draw a diagonal line, corner to corner. 

I'm choosing to work with white yardage, because I want a consistent background. So, grab something from the stash or from the quilt shop to make the scrap fabrics really pop in the finished project.

Cut two 2-1/2" squares from one of the 5" scraps . . .

 . . . and four 2" squares from the second 5" scrap. Use the leftover 1" strips to cut . . .

 . . . at least five 1" squares.

Arrange the 1" squares into a nine patch for the center of the button block . . . wait a minute! Sewing those itty bitty squares can be a bit of a pain in the patootie. . . SO . . .

I'm going to use one 9-patch worth of the ScrapTherapy Mini Scrap Grid! Align the 1" squares on the fusible side of the printed grid interfacing to form the 9-patch block.

Fuse. Now, instead of handling tiny little 1" squares, I'm dealing with a significantly more comfortable-to-handle, stabilized piece of fabric! Notice that there's a little bit of interfacing showing between the scraps--that's on purpose to make the next step easier.

Fold the 9-patch on the first dotted line and pin to secure. . .

Sew on the solid line. . . Repeat for both seams.

Then snip the interfacing at the intersections, snipping just past the stitching line (there is a little + sign printed on the interfacing right where you want to snip)

Rotate the block 90˚ to sew the last two seams. The snipping allows you to oppose the seams. Fold on the dotted line, then oppose and nest the seams. Front seams away from each other, and back seams toward each other. (Or vice verse, as long as the seams are 'toward' and 'away' on opposite sides.)

Pin the seam intersections so they don't get a mind of their own while you sew.

Sew . . .

These next few steps aren't necessary, but I like to do them because I'm a tidy butt (right, Maureen?!) Pull out the last few stitches on both sides at all four seam intersections as shown. . . .

Then furl-pop-twirl-twist (this technique is called many things in various quilt patterns) the center of the seam so it flattens. The interfacing creates a little flattened triangle on the back of the mini 9-patch. See how the seam intersections rotate around each seam intersection?

Then press real quick from the front.

The block will be a tiny bit larger than 2" square. So I (tidy-butt Joan) like to trim them up nicely. Look how that ruler helps align dots with seams! Trim to 2" square. Exactly 2". Not a thread more! (*wink*)

Set the little 9-patch aside and let's move to making half-square triangle units. Place a scrap 2-1/2" square and a background 2-1/2" square right sides together, with the background fabric on top so you can see the drawn line.

Sew 1/4" seam on both sides of the drawn line. Repeat both pairs of squares (hey, that rhymes!)

Cut them apart . . .

And press the seam toward the scrap fabric.

Now, trim all four half-square triangle units to 2" square. I like to use the small Blocloc ruler to do this, but any square ruler with a bias line will do a nice job, too!

You should have four half-square triangle units, four 2" squares cut from the original 5" scrap square, and one center 9-patch. Arrange them into a bigger 9-patch and sew it together. Sew the parts into rows, then sew the rows together. Press to best advantage. 'Best advantage' means press to fewer seams in this case--it'll feel like the right way to press. When in doubt, follow the red pressing arrows below.

There's the Button Block! Looks a little weird to me, but it gets much better when you sew it into something. And even better when you quilt it! Scroll back up to the Mug Mat at the very beginning of this post--I found a couple of kitchen items that were just the right circular size to use as quilting templates.

Here is the back of the block. See the 'best advantage' I was talking about?

Now make more. I switched up the center mini 9-patch on each of the button blocks to make four-hole and two-hole buttons.

It's just a collection of goofy-looking blocks until you make something from them. I chose to make a table runner. 1-1/2" sashing strips in between the blocks, and a 2-1/2" background border all the way around. I can't wait to get this quilted in time for my next stitch-in event with my quilty girlfriends! And I have the perfect multi-color striped binding to pull all the scrappy goodness together.

By the way, each panel of the ScrapTherapy Mini Scrap Grid makes 54 mini 9-patches. Wow! That's a lot of buttons!


Now, it's your turn. Submit a quilt following the guidelines listed at the very bottom of this Fabrics N Quilts blog post by October 15th, and you could be a lucky, lucky winner. Tons of great prizes!

Good luck and . . .

Happy Stitching!
joan