Broken Wheel Quilt Block

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Skill Level: Confident Beginner

The Broken Wheel quilt block (also known as Mrs. Miller's Favorite) is made from basic Square in a Square units with a bit of strip piecing thrown in for good measure.

Choose your favorite technique.

Cutting charts and instructions are included for both paper pieced and Connector Corner patches.

If you're a machine embroidery enthusiast, check out the 12" version. The center patch is 4" finished—the perfect spot to try out a new embroidery collection.

For inspiration, several kissin' cousins of the Broken Wheel are shared at the bottom of the page.

Or try your hand at coloring your own blocks with the coloring page for the design.

Let's get started!

General Instructions

We use several abbreviations on this page:

• SA - seam allowance
• RST - right sides together
• SiaS - Square in a Square unit

Seam allowances (SA) are all 1/4". 

Cutting directions and instructions are included for both paperpiecing or using Connecting Corners to complete the corner units. You'll need to choose one method.

Starched quilt fabrics are easier to work with in my humble opinion. Yours cuts are more accurate. Your seams easier to fingerpress. Try it to see if you agree.

Step 1: Printing the paper piecing pattern

Skip this Step if you choose Connector Corners.

You'll need the most current version of Adobe installed on your computer to download the pattern.

On the Adobe Print Menu page, under 'Page Size and Handling' set 'Custom Scale' to 100% before printing for accurate results. Click here to see what it looks like on the Print Menu page.

After printing, use the 1" square graphic on the printed pages to confirm they are printed accurately.

Choose your finished block size below, note the number of copies you'll need and click the corresponding unit size.

Step 2: Cutting patches for a Broken Wheel block

The Broken Wheel design

Sample Size: 6" finished / 6½" unfinished

Grid: 6x6

Attributed to: Clara Stone

AKA: Mrs. Miller's Favorite (Needlecraft Supply), Peek-a-Boo (Joseph Doyle)

Design Type: Even 9-patch

Choose fabrics with good contrast. That way all your piecing shows.

In the cutting charts below, the yellow one includes some paperpiecing; the blue one uses Connector Corners instead.

To make the tables below easier to read, when you see a single number for a patch it means cut a square that size.

For example, the Center.1 patch for a 6" block reads 1 7/8". That means cut a 1 7/8"x1 7/8" square.

Includes some paper pieced units (Patches 1-5)

			Cutting Chart for a Broken Wheel Quilt Block ~ Paper Piecing ~
Patch	Fabric	Qty	Finished Block Size			Sub Cut
			6"	9"	12"
Center.1	L	4	1 7/8”	2 5/8”	3 3/8”	na
Corner.2-.5*	D	8	2 3/8”	2 7/8”	3 3/8”**
6	L	1	1 1/2” x 11”	2” x 15”	2 1/2” x 19”	na
7	D	1	1 1/2” x 11”	2” x 15”	2 1/2” x 19”	na
8	L	1	2 1/2”	3 1/2”	4 1/2”	na
Unfinished Block Size			6 1/2"	9 1/2"	12 1/2"	---
Grid Size			1"	1 1/2"	2"	---

*Remember to subcut these patches
**No, this is not a typo.

Includes Connector Corner units (Patches 1-5)

There is no subcutting in this second cutting chart.

			Cutting Chart for a Broken Wheel Quilt Block ~ Traditional Piecing w/Connector Corners ~
Patch	Fabric	Qty	Finished Block Size
			6"	9"	12"
1	L	4	2 1/2”	3 1/2”	4 1/2”
2 – 5	D	16	1 1/2”	2”sq	2 1/2”
6	L	1	1 1/2” x 11”	2” x 15”	2 1/2” x 19”
7	D	1	1 1/2” x 11”	2” x 15”	2 1/2” x 19”
8	L	1	2 1/2”	3 1/2”	4 1/2”
Unfinished Block Size			6 1/2”	9 1/2”	12 1/2”
Grid Size			1”	1 1/2”	2”

Step 3: Sewing the units

Square in a Square (SaiS) Corners

Make 4

For each technique:

• The #2 thru#5 shapes are exactly the same

• The numbers refer to both the patch and order of piecing
  

For both techniques, I prefer an open toe applique foot for stitching on the printed or drawn lines.

If you used the yellow chart, click here for  instructions.

If you used the blue chart, click here for instructions.

Sides

Make 4

Install your favorite quarter inch foot.

If you paperpieced, return to your normal stitch length for piecing.

With RST, stitch the #6 and #7 strips together on the long edge.

My favorite 1/4" foot has a guide on the right-hand side - perfect for sewing with starched fabrics.

Step 4: Assemble the Broken Wheel quilt block

Arrange the units into rows. Remember that light #6 patches are on the outside edges.

Variations on a Theme

There's a whole gaggle of blocks that use the same basic Broken Wheel design.

Broken Wheel

Yep! Same name, even though all the lights/darks are swapped.

AKA: Block Circle, Johnnie Round the Corner, Single Wedding Ring, Squirrel in a Cage and Wheel

Squirrel in a Cage

Darks/lights are again reversed.

Rolling Stone

AKA: Letter O, Wedding Ring

Fabrics are swapped in the side and center units.

Click here for instructions to make it.

New Hampshire Granite

A third fabric is added to the design

Friendship Quilt

A fifth Square in a Square is added to the center along with fabric placement changes.

In these last two blocks, the grid the block is drawn on is modified.

Rolling Square

Fabric placement exactly like the Squirrel in a Cage. However, this block is drawn on a 5x5 grid.

Click here for instructions to make it.

The Broken Wheel

This version by The Kansas City Star is drawn on a 8x8 grid.

The word 'The' is actually part of its name.

How will you color yours?

Click here to download and print a coloring page for this block to try your hand at.

Print as many as you'd like for your own personal use!

What about a different quilt block?

For a list of all the 215+ quilt block patterns on this site, start here.

If you know the name of the block, shorten your search by using these links:

A-D

E-M

N-Z

Click here if you're looking for blocks with at least some paper piecing.

Click here if you're looking for the basic building blocks of quilting, i.e., Flying Geese, half square triangles, quarter square triangles, etc., along with several techniques to make each.

And finally, use these links to find blocks in these finished sizes:

• 4"

• 4-1/2"

• 5"

• 6"

• 8"

• 9"

• 10"

• 12"

This article was printed from Generations-Quilt-Patterns.com

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