Vintage Block Along Block Two - Pattern Basket Block Tutorial!!

Pattern Basket Block

finished size

15" x 15"

Well here we are again 

because I have another vintage block

 from my grandma's pattern stash 

that I want to share with you.

I have big plans to do several vintage block tutorials for you...

in several different sizes and then

 put them all together in a quilt!

I would love for you to come along 

on this vintage sewing journey with me!

I'm so grateful that my grandma's

 (both of them) 

shared so many patterns with me.

 I have often shared some of them 

here on my blog and of course 

while teaching my workshops:)

 I'd like to continue to share even more

 of them with you here 

on a regular basis.

I appreciate you and I am thankful

 from the bottom of my heart 

for the quilty love and support 

that you have given to me.

Sew... let's do this!

I have been waiting for my

 Farm Girl Vintage fabric collection 

to get here so that I could start my 

Vintage Block Along 

There is today's vintage pattern page

 tucked underneath my design board...

a basket block from the 

1930's depression era.

I love it and have sewn 

this basket several times.

If you are wondering about the tags...

I make fabric swatches for each 

of my fabrics so that I can have them

 at my fingertips when pulling for a block.

It works out great for me because 

I choose from the swatch without getting

 all of my fabric out at once

 and that saves so much time:)

While I have been going through 

grandma's patterns and choosing which ones

 to share first... 

I have felt close to her and 

I'm thrilled to come across pages

 where she made a note or underlined something...

or bookmarked a page:)

I love looking through the things

 that she did and also reading about

 what was important news or going on

 at that time in their lives.

I'm sure my grandpa read all about

 the latest farming news!

This page talks about

 cattle, wheat, eggs, hens and butter:)

I'm sure that some of the patterns 

that are only just a clipped page 

are from a newspaper and may have 

come from her mother...

my great grandma Martha 

or even one of her 

sisters, friends or aunts.

They all quilted together and 

I'm sure swapped patterns often!

I also love the vintage ads and

 vintage graphics are so so darling!

Look how happy this housewife is

 to be saving all that money by 

sewing clothes for her family 

in the latest fashions 

using professional short cuts!!

Just goes to show that 

DIY never goes out of style:)

And speaking of style and the latest fashion...

how adorable are these dresses?

I remember my mom and my grandma wearing "everyday dresses" 

that they had sewn themselves.

If I had that plaid dress...

those would be handy pockets

 for my cell phone! lol

Okay let's move onto the block tutorial

 and talk about fabric first.

Of course I'm going to be using 

a few prints from 

Farm Girl Vintage for this block.

You can just grab vintagey style fabric

 from your stash if you'd like...

because scrappy is happy!

You need a background and

 2 colors for this block

So many vintagey color ways to choose from...

And I decided that I really wanted to

 use the aqua apple print...

and of course some red gingham!

I chose to use this print from my

 Bee Backgrounds...they are my go to!

From the background you will need to cut:

2 - 6 1/2" x 6 1/2"

2 - 3 1/2" x 9 1/2"

2 - 3 1/2" x 6 12"

8 - 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Fabric One you will need to cut:

1 - 6 1/2" x 6 1/2"

1 - 3 1/2" x 6 1/2"

5 - 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" 

Fabric Two you will need to cut:

7 - 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Now let's start sewing!

Grab 2 - 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" background rectangles 

and 2 each of the 3 1/2" squares.

We are going to make 2 flying geese.

Either mark your fabric or use the 

Seams Sew Easy Guide 

to add your easy corner triangles 

onto each side of the rectangles.

If you are not familiar with my method CLICK HERE 

for the last block tutorial 

shown in more detail.

Take note that you will need to

 do one side before adding the other side.

Your flying geese should look 

just like this.

Set them aside for a bit.

Now grab 7 of the 3 1/2" squares 

from your background and 

5 from the red...

and 2 from the aqua.

You will make these into

 half square triangles.

Trim away excess...

and press!

Set these aside for later.

You will need to make 

one half square triangle from the

 6 1/2" aqua square and one of the background squares.

When my squares are this large 

I draw a line from point to point.

Trim away excess and press!

If my easy corner triangle trimmings

 are big enough to cut at least 1 1/2" squares I do so.

Then I add them to my scrappy stash 

to use for later:)

I can get a 3" square from both pieces

 and I cut them at the same time...

easy peasy!

After cutting the 3" squares

 I still have 2 smaller triangles

 left from that...

So I measure to see if I can 

cut 1 1/2" squares and I can!

This little Bisley file cabinet 

sits on my cutting table and the

 top drawer opens up very deep into

 4 compartments. 

That's the drawer where I stash my 

leftover squares in for convenience

 when I'm cutting.

When each compartment of the 

top drawer is full 

(I keep other supplies in the other drawers)

I move them into larger containers 

that I keep squares in that are

 cut all the same size.

I only cut leftovers into squares in increments of  

1/2" not 1/4".

For example:

 1 1/2", 2, 2 1/2", 3, 3 1/2" etc.

I keep those bins in the bottom 

of this aqua cupboard in my studio.

You would be surprised how often

 that I use those squares!

They are my go to for scrappy happy projects.

"Use it up...wear it out...

make it do...or do without!"

My grandma would be sew proud:)

I have used my scrappy storage and

scrappy sewing method for years

 and I love it.

If you want to see how I 

keep it organized in my studio

CLICK HERE 

to watch Kimberly taking a secret tour

 of my studio and going through 

my drawers and things while I 

was upstairs getting ready 

for filming lol

She is a hoot!!

Okay...back to the block!

Sew these two remaining pieces together...

Like this and you are ready to 

start putting segments 

for the block together.

You should have a 6 1/2" background

 square leftover afterwards.

Keep it handy because we will use it last!

Add two half square triangles

 onto the bottom of a flying goose 

exactly like this.

Now do one exactly like this...

And finally...one just like this!!

Now you have 4 segments to sew together

 into a square...basically ...

a four patch!

Each segment should measure 

6 1/2" square at this point.

Now is the time to make sure that 

all of your half square triangles

 are going the right way or you may be spending time with "the ripper" haha

Now you have a square that should measure

  12 1/2" at this point:)

Add the shorter strip onto the bottom 

and then the longest strip 

to the right side after that.

Looks strange right now but wait...

Mark your last background square 

and sew an easy corner triangle 

onto the bottom!

I pin them when they are this large.

YeeHaw!!!

Your Pattern Basket Block should measure

 15 1/2" x 15 1/2" ...

that is the unfinished size.

I named this block Pattern Basket because

 of course it's full of my grandma's patterns!

It looks great when on point as well:)

Oh! I forgot to say that 

of course I cut these squares 

from the leftover after trimming 

that last large easy corner triangle.

So this is my 6" Grandma's Star

 from my tutorial a few days ago...

The colors of both blocks 

look super cute and patriotic too!

12" Grandma's Star 

and 

15" Pattern Basket

CLICK HERE

for the Grandma's Star tute:)

It's going to be fun to make

  different sized blocks 

and have them all in one

 Vintage Block Along Sampler Quilt!!

I have one more block 

that I'll be posting this weekend ...

So please stay tuned:)

Take note that when posting on 

INSTAGRAM

 use the hashtag

#VintageBlockAlong

because we all want to see them!

Thanks for going back in time

 with me

 and sewing vintage!!

We will chat again in a few days:)

xx

Lori