Star Chain Quilt Block

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Skill Level: Confident Beginner

The Star Chain quilt block is a blending of the Sun Rays and Double Irish chain quilt blocks.

It is constructed from the basic units of a planned nine patch and a triangle in a square.

The chain portion adds a bit of extra pizazz with no increase in piecing difficulty.

This block is based on a 3x3 grid and is made with three fabric choices.

The instructions that follow include directions for paper piecing the 'triangle in a square' unit, and strip piecing for the nine patch units.

General Instructions

The directions in this tutorial are for a 9" finished block.

The layout and color placement guide is to the right.

However, if you would choose to draft your own block and plan to rotary cut the patches, choose the finished size of an individual square in the nine patch first. This measurement must be divisible by .25 to be rotary cutter friendly.

EXAMPLE:  

You want a 4" finished 9 patch unit for a 12" finished block.  

You would need to cut strips that are 1.833" wide.  BLECHH!!

4" divided by 3 = 1.333" (finished size of each square in the 9-patch) 

+ 0.5 for seam allowances

______________________

1.833" is the cut measurement of each square

This number IS NOT rotary cutter friendly and if this is the required size, you will need to make templates for it.

Step 1: Download the paper piecing patterns/template

The Triangle in a Square (TiaS) units are paper pieced for accuracy. Click on each of the links below. This takes you to the PDF page where you can print.

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.

• 3" TiaS (print 1 copy for each block)

• Templates for 3" TiaS (print 1 copy - the templates are reusable)

Click here for more information on downloading patterns from this website.

After printing, measure the blocks to confirm they printed at the proper size.

Step 2: Cutting patches for a Star Chain

Sample Size: 9" finished / 9½" unfinished

Grid: 9x9

AKA: Yankee Star, Yankee Star Chain

Design Type: Even 9-patch

You need three fabrics to make this 9" Star Chain quilt block:

• A background (B), we used a pale gray; 
• A dark for the star points/chains (D), we used a funky pink circle print, and; 
• A medium for the center chain (M), we used soft yellow. 

The strips are all cut with a smidge extra so that the edges can be straightened if needed.

For the center square, cut:

Background: One 3-1/2" square

For the nine patches, cut:

Background:

• One 1½" x 13"

Medium:

• One 1½" x 13"
• One 1½" x 7"
  

Dark:

• One 1½"x 13"
• Two 1½"x 7"

For the TiaS, cut:

• Background: Four Template A
• Dark: Four 3" x 4" rectangles.

Layer the rectangles in two sets of right sides together, then stack the sets on top of each other with the paper template on top, all edges aligned. Cut along the solid diagonal line with a rotary cutter and ruler to create your star point shapes. This creates 4 left and 4 right star points.

Step 3: Assembling the units

Corner Nine Patches

Make 4

Sew the 1-1/2" x 13" dark strip to the 1-1/2" x 13" background strip.

Sew the 1-1/2" x 13" medium strip to the dark strip of the previous group. This creates a strip set 3-1/2" x 13". Set it aside.

Next, sew a 1-1/2" x 7" dark strip to each side of the 1-1/2" x 7" medium strip. This strip set measures 3-1/2" x 7".

Press the seams in both strip sets. First flat to set the seam, and then to towards the dark fabric. This creates seam allowances that will nest to make piecing the 9 patches easier.

Cut the longer, three fabric set into eight 1-1/2" wide units. Cut the shorter, two fabric set into four 1-1/2" wide units. In the photo below, on the left shows how these subcuts are arranged to form the nine patch.

Subcutting strip sets

TiaS

Make 4

Trim the our block patterns you printed in Step 1 to just outside the dotted line. No need to be precise. A rough cut will is just fine.

Do cut the templates out exactly on the line. It will make aligning edges, etc., easier.

To make this basic quilting unit, follow our Triangle in a Square tutorial. Click the 'Back' button on your browser bar to return here.

To trim to size, lay all four of the TiaS on your mat. (If you've got a small 12"x18" mat, this is a great use for it!)

Align the 1/4 inch line of the ruler with the solid outside line of a block (this is the sewing line) and then trim with your rotary cutter. Repeat for the same side of the other three. Now turn the MAT a quarter turn and repeat the process. Trim and turn and trim until all the sides of all the blocks are trimmed. I've found this manner of trimming to be very efficient.

Done with your Star Chain quilt block? Or looking for another block?

Just bookmark this page and then visit our Free Quilt Block Patterns Library.

You're sure to find something to tempt you!

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"

For even more blocks to make...

For you, are quilt block designs like potato chips...

...you can't have just one?!!

Check the amazing resources I rely on for all the quilt block designs you see on this website. 

To see if they're worthy of a spot in YOUR quilting library, CLICK HERE.

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

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