Hi I am Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt
Company. Oh my gosh take a look at this quilt behind us. It is the Missouri Star. I am so
excited to bring this to you of course you know that is what our shop is named after
but this has always been kind of a difficult block but I think I have figured out a way
to make it easy. So what you are going to need if you are going to make this quilt is
you are going to need a layer cake, a layer cake, a layer cake of color. I actually have
some layer cake squares here but I open the all up and used them so I brought this fat
quarter bundle to show you which you can use a fat quarter bundle you just have to cut
it up a lot. But I used layer cake and then some background yardage, you are going to
need about three yards of background yardage and it is going to make a quilt that is, I
think its like oh gosh eighty by ninety, yeah actually eighty by ninety-seven so it is a
pretty good sized quilt. The fabric we used is Rustic Weave and it
is beautiful I just it but of course a Missouri Star will look beautiful with anything. So
to make this block what you are going to need is three layer cake squares and you are going
to want kind of a light, medium, dark, little bit of contrast there. You are going to need
one solid background color, ten inch square, you are going to need four, six and a quarter
inch squares these are the squares for the corners and then you are going to need four,
seven inch squares and those are the ones that we are going to set our half square triangles
on, our quarter square triangles on. So let’s get to this, this is really fun.
So for the middle part of the block , the center, which is this one right here, we are
going to do it just like we do our half square triangles. But this has to be cut down to
nine and a half so what I have done here is I have laid my two blocks together and I am
just going to cut half an inch off two sides like this, there is one side, and here is
the other side over here. And then we are going to sew all the way around it, just like
we do for our half square triangles and cut it diagonally both directions. So let us head
on over to the sewing machine. Alright here we go, here we go. I am so excited to do this,
it is so fun when you, when you find a way to make a block that actually makes sense.
You know some of these instructions you know you look at them and it’s like ah. You know
they get just so complicated looking, but this, this makes it really easy to do. Alright
now what we are going to do is we are going to cut this diagonally both directions and
so I am just going to cut here and I am going to turn these. Try not to move them too much,
use a rotating mat if you have one that makes it a lot easier. Alright now what we are going to do is we
are going to iron these open, there we go. And I just leave the dark fabric on the top
and then I can just lift it up and roll that back. So then, this is the middle of our block
so what we are going to do now is put this together like this with all the whites to
the center and that is going to make the middle of our block, so let’s go ahead and put
that together. Okay so now we just have to do is sew these blocks together, I have the
white on white and we are just going to sew a quarter of an inch and then these two, we
just chain piece them right through. And then I am going to clip these apart and then I
am going to sew the two pieces together here like this, lay them out so you can see them,
we are just going to fold these together like this and sew these. Now you want to make sure that when your blocks
come out, they come out pretty close to six and a quarter it helps to make your block
lay really nicely if your blocks come out to about six and a quarter and you can square
them up if you want. Mine looked pretty good so I didn’t bother with that, but you may
want to check yours and make sure they measure out at six and a quarter. Alright so this
is the center of our block, now we have to do the half square triangles and this is really
fun because this is a really easy way to do half square triangles. So what I am going
to do with this, is I am going to take my two, ten inch layer cake squares right here,
and I am going to cut them into fourths, so I am going to lay my ruler on there and I
am going to cut one cut here, and I am cutting in five inches because these are ten inch
squares and I want to cut them right into, right in half both directions. And I am going
to leave them together in pairs, just like this I am going to leave them together. Then
what I am going to do is I am going over to the sewing machine, and I am just going to
sew on the sides like this on all four blocks. So I am going to stack them up like this and
take them to the sewing machine and sew just the sides. Alright and I chain piece these as I go along.
Alright so now I am at the end of the first side, I have done all these sides, what I
am going to do is I am going to flip this around and I am going to do the other sides.
Alright now we are going to clip these apart, like this, and this is going to make our quarter
square triangles. So now what you want to do, this is important, is we are going to
lay two sets of these on top of each other with our, with our side stitching you can,
you can see only, we have only stitched on the sides. So we just have the side stitching
done on this and then what we are going to do is we are going to make sure the colors
both, both greens are facing up, or your same colors are facing up. And then what we are
going to do is we are going to cut one set going this way and one set going this way.
So I have two, I have two in this little pile and I am going to cut these two this direction
and i just lay my ruler on the corners and then these two I am going to cut the opposite
direction, this one needs to be stacked a little better, you want to make sure they
stack pretty well. And so then I am laying my ruler on this one this way. What this should
do for you is it should give you four triangles, these are quarter square triangles now, that
are, that go with green on the right with this stack, like this and then four over here
with green on the left, there we go. So you get two sets of opposite triangles just from
sewing on the side, making one diagonal cut and I just think that is pretty cool, that
is a fun little trick way to do that, get a quarter cut triangle. So now we have these two, now what we need
to is take our seven in squares, you should have four of those, and we are just going
to cut those on the diagonal, make sure these get lined up real good, you can do them in
one cut if you have them lined up well, like this. And that is going to give you eight
triangles like this. What we are going to do then is we are going to go ahead and press
these but we are going to sew one of these to each of these white triangles. So we will
put white on the bottom, and lay our triangle on top and then we are just going to sew a
quarter of an inch right down this side. Now I have some I have started over here so I
am going to go ahead and finish this pile up these are my pink and yellow ones and I
have got a couple and I am just going to chain piece these through just like I would normally
chain piece anything. So I am going to finish up these three and we will show you where
to go from there so let’s head to the sewing machine. Alright let us see what we have got now. There
we go, now when you get done with these you will have eight of these, and you are going
to want to take them to the iron and iron them open like this and then we have to square
these. And I am going to show you the easiest way I have found to do that. So to square
these you are going to want a square that has a forty-five on it and this one has the
measurements like they are going to square up to six and a quarter. SO what I am going
to do because I don't really want to mess with my quarter square triangle I am going
to lay this over here and I am going to put my forty-five line on m y seam line of the
quarter square triangle. I am going to move this in until it hits four and a quarter on
both sides right there and then this white part is the part I am going to trim off. And
I am not sure why but it always comes out kind of funny big on just one side. So now
my square is trimmed up to six and one quarter. And sometimes you know you have to square
things up if you want to make your blocks fit exactly right. And this is one of those
that you want, you want it to fit right. So you have a little shaving on both sides of
that one, let me get that corner off right there. And one more, and this is just really
important you know a lot of times people talk about squaring up blocks and I don't do a
lot of squaring because once you square up one you have to square them all up but this
is one that you want it to lay together really nice because there are so many biased seams
you just want it to lay together nice and have it not, not be all wonky and warbley.
There we go, alright so six and a quarter, now we get to start assembling. So here is our block right here in the middle
and I like to do this where I can just, you know, see it I kind of lay it out and then
I put them together. So for these right here, generally the Missouri Star is laid out dark,
light, dark. So we are going to put our light squares to the middle this way, wait, this
way. And you, oh wait, this is important first, first you need to make sure you stack your
squares up so that you make sure you have one set of blocks where the yellow is on the
right and one set of blocks where the yellow is on the left, because for each one of these
you are going to take one of each. So we are going to put one from the left, one from the
right. One from the left, one from the right, like this, one from the left one from the
right. You can see the star is coming, you can see it is happening. One from the left
one from the left this way, your whites meet in the middle. Because I am so angle-y challenged
I have to remember this. So my whites are going to meet in the middle. So now I am going
to sew all four of these together and then on these on two of them they will get a corner
square right here. And that makes our whole block right there. And what I like, I just
like to sew them together in rows. Look at that! A Missouri Star! So now what we are going to do is I am going
to go ahead and sew, sew all of these sets of twos together right here. So I am just
going to pile those up and sew them together with my whites like this, making sure that
the yellow is right here in the middle, because I want my lights to be in the middle. So I
am going to do that with all four of these, and then we will start putting rows together. So now I have got my groups sewn together,
I went ahead and pressed them, I have laid them back in the star so you can see how it
is all going to go. And now what we have to do is sew the rows together. There are three
rows. We have got the two outer rows right here and this big one in the middle. And this
big one basically we are just going to lay it on here and sew the pieces over. For these
small rows we have this center section that we are attaching two six and a quarter inch
blocks on either end, of both of those rows. And then we will just attach them right together
so let’s get over to the sewing machine and do that.
Alright we are so close, we have got all our pieces sewn together now we just get to assemble
our star. Now what we are going to do is we are going to put these side pieces onto this
middle piece right here and its cool because you want to make sure that on each little
junction it helps you, it just keeps you lined up so if you have a seam that is actually
going the wrong way when you nest them just go ahead move it and nest it together and
you want these things to lay flat and we can iron these things the way that we want them
to go after we are done, but right now what we are going to do is we are just going to
sew these three rows together. Alright so now we have got this all sewn together.
We need to press it a little bit, so let us just bring it over here and press it out!
I love this it is so cute! Look at that. I love this Missouri Star block, of course I
am a little prejudice you know it does have a special place in my heart, but it is so
cute. So let’s talk about the quilt for a minute.
We have put three blocks across by four blocks down. We just did a little three inch border,
I mean you can do any size border you want, but we just want something to kind of frame
it a little bit, goes together quick and easy. If you decide that you just want to make one,
because you just want one Missouri Star, it makes a darling wall hanging, really a cute
wall hanging. I even think if you bordered this a couple of times it would make a really
cute baby quilt. So we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the
Missouri Star Quilt Block from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. Thanks for joining us.
