Baton Rouge Quilt Block

From our Free Quilt Block Patterns Library

by Julie Baird

This post contains affiliate links for which I receive compensation.

The Baton Rouge quilt block is a breeze to stitch up with half square triangles sewn 8-at-a-time. Add a pinch of strip piecing.

Your patchwork is finished before you know it.

Baton Rouge quilt block tutorial in three sizes

In this tutorial you'll find:

A cutting chart in three sizes and a place to download the chart and block design

A coloring page to download and print

Step-by-step illustrated instructions

A pinnable image to save this tutorial for later

It's time to cut up and sew!

General Instructions

Several abbreviations are used on this page. They are:

SA - seam allowance

RST - right sides together

HST - half square triangles

1/4" SA are used through this tutorial.

When instructed to press, first press the patches in the closed position—just as they came off your sewing machine. This sets the seam, melding the fibers of the threads into the fibers of the fabric.

Then press the SA to the dark unless otherwise noted.

Pressing instructions are highlighted in yellow throughout this tutorial.

For instructions to print this whole tutorial page, click here.

Step 1: Cutting for a Baton Rouge quilt block

The Baton Rouge patchwork design, 5x5 grid

Baton Rouge design

Sample Block Size:

10" finished
10 1/2" unfinished

Grid: 5x5

Three fabrics with nice contrast are needed to complete your Baton Rouge block.

Remember to label all your patches. We'll refer to their numbers in each step.

Click here to print a copy of just the block design above and cutting chart below to use at your cutting table.

			Cutting Chart for a Baton Rouge Quilt Block ~Traditional Piecing ~
Patch	Fabric	Qty	Finished Block Size
Patch	Fabric	Qty	5"	7 1/2"	10"
1	Light	1	4 1/4" x 4 1/4"	5 1/4" x 5 1/4"	6 1/4" x 6 1/4"
2	Dark	1	4 1/4" x 4 1/4"	5 1/4" x 5 1/4"	6 1/4" x 6 1/4"
3, 6	Light	9	1 1/2" x 1 1/2"	2" x 2"	2 1/2" x 2 1/2"
4	Dark	4	1 1/2" x 7"	2" x 9"	2 1/2" x 11"
5	Med	4	1 1/2" x 7"	2" x 9"	2 1/2" x 11"
Unfinished Block Size			5 1/2"	8"	10 1/2"
Grid Size			1"	1 1/2"	2"

My go-to thread for all my piecing is...

Step 2: Assemble the units for a Baton Rouge block

HSTs

Make 8

We use the 8-at-a-time method to make our half square triangles. Very efficient.

If you plan to make a lot of blocks, you may want to use another HST method like triangle paper.

On the backside of either the #1 or #2 square (whichever one it's easier to see on) draw a diagonal line from each pair of opposite corners.

Layer the #1 and #2, RST.

Stitch 1/4" away from both sides of both lines for a total of four seams.

Use your favorite quarter inch foot

Press flat to set the seams.

From the table below, find the Center or Midpoint Measurement that corresponds with your block's finished size.

HST Dimensions
Finished Block Size	Center/Midpoint Measurement	Trim HST to…
5"	2 1/8"	1 1/2" x 1 1/2"
7 1/2"	2 5/8"	2" x 2"
10"	3 1/8"	2 1/2" x 2 1/2"

At your cutting mat, align this Center Measurement with the side of your block (blue arrow) and cut through the center (red arrow) to cut your block in half.

The Center Measurement for our 10" Baton Rouge block is 3 1/8".

Turn your mat a quarter turn without disturbing the patches.

Again, align the same mark on your ruler with the edge of your block and cut through the center again.

At this point you should have four equal (or pretty darned close) squares.

Since we started with over-sized patches, if these are 'perfect' squares, don't worry. We've got a bit of wiggle room.

You can just barely see the chalked diagonal lines (blue arrow).

Cut these squares in half on the drawn line (blue arrow above) to create the 8 HST.

Press the units open with SA to the dark.

Refer once again to the table to find the 'Trim HST to...' size and trim to perfection. For our sample they're trimmed to 2-1/2" x 2-1/2".

These clean up nice, don't they!

Repeat for all eight HSTs.

Corners

Make 4

Now for the #1/#2/#3 patches. We'll be making 4 each of a mirror- imaged unit first.

With RST stitch a #3 to the right side of a HST as shown below. The SA is pressed toward #3 to reduce bulk.

Repeat for a total of 4.

Make 4

This time, with RST add the #3 to the left side of the HST, again pressing the SA toward #3.

Make 4

To complete the corner units, join one of each #1/#2/#3 together as shown below.

SA are pressed toward the top row so that your seams will nest when you assemble the block.

Make a total of four.

Sides

Make 4

We'll use a bit of strip piecing to create the sides for our Baton Rouge block.

In my humble opinion, it's more efficient and accurate than piecing individual squares together.

Press with the SA toward the medium #5 patch (the white/orange/yellow/blue fabric in our sample.

From the table below, find the StripSet Width that corresponds to your Finished Block Size.

StripSet Widths
Finished Block Size	Stripset Width after stitching	SubCut Width
5"	2 1/2"	1 1/2"
7 1/2"	3 1/2"	2"
10"	4 1/2"	2 1/2"

Check that your stitched stripset width is accurate. Make adjustments as needed.

Straighten one short end of your #4/#5 strip by lining up your ruler with the seam line (blue arrow). Trim away just a slight bit—less than a 1/4" is all it takes.

Sorry for the glare on the ruler. My bad!

Find the SubCut Width that goes with your block and cut four segments. For our 10" sample, that width is 2-1/2".

Here they are after cutting.

Step 3: Assemble your Baton Rouge block

Arrange the corners, sides and center patch to create the Baton Rouge design.

A dark #2 HST is in each corner.

With RST, stitch the units in each row together.

Press.

Finally stitch the rows together and give your block one final pressing.

This is the finished Baton Rouge quilt block.

Our Baton Rouge block

No time to quilt this week? Pin It for later...

Pin this Baton Rouge quilt block tutorial for later

For even more blocks to make...

These are my go-to resources for quilt block ideas.

Can you see the library sticker on the spine of Jinny Beyer's book? Yep. I check this copy out of our local library every few months for research.

Maggie Malone's 5500 Quilt Block Designs is my all-time favorite quilt block resource!

Can you tell?

It's in color.

It's got a ton of blocks.

What's not to love?

Next on my 'must-have' list is Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.

Unlike the Maggie Malone book, the blocks in this volume are hand-drawn and in black and white—no color—personally, I prefer colored drawings to work with.

This book is no longer in print.

If you can come by a copy expect it to be wickedly expensive. Once in awhile you can find it here on Amazon.com.

UPDATE: Electric Quilt, in cooperation with Barbara Brackman has announced they plan to republish the Encyclopedia sometime in 2020.

However, all is not lost if you can't find a hard copy.

BlockBase is the computerized version of the Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.

It contains designs for over 4300 blocks—pretty much every block published from the 1830's through the 1970's.

It can be used with Electric Quilt and is a Windows based program.

In fact, there are instructions included so that you can pull up the digital patterns within Electric Quilt (PC version for now) without having to open up BB program.

UPDATE: Electric Quilt has announced that they will be rereleasing the standalone BlockBase software for BOTH PC and MAC in 2020.

This is terrific news.

Finally there's The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns by Jinny Beyer.

Lots of detail and in color, it is a beautiful volume. That said, I check it out of my local library on a regular basis instead of purchasing it—can you see the library sticker on it's spine. Yep, it's from the Plainfield Public Library.

Why?

Simply because I own the previous three references and find this the least user-friendly of the group.

And it does make a fabulous coffee table book!