Quilt Blocks: Simple Math Part 1

Just the word “math” scares some people away from quilting, but it’s simple when you break it down into parts.

The March/April ’13 issue of Quiltmaker is #150, a milestone! To celebrate, we featured a Block Bonanza of 150 quilt blocks on page 75.

The Block Bonanza is diagrams of quilt blocks you can make. There aren’t cutting dimensions or sewing instructions. So…how can you make those blocks? It’s easy if you know a few simple recipes (that’s a familiar word used in place of the more scary word “formulas”). See? We’re making it simpler already.

Today let’s talk about one simple block, the very first one shown. And let’s talk about just the first step in figuring out the block math.

Look at the diagram and notice how the block is divided. How many equal sections across are there? Another way of  looking at it is in “columns”: How many equal columns of patches do you see? For our sample block, there are just two.

Being able to see how many divisions there are across the block is the first (easy!) step in knowing how to make these blocks. Here are a few more blocks for you to practice on.

How many equal columns or divisions do you see in this block?

You can see by the lines I’ve drawn that there are five.

If you drew the lines like this, you could say there are 10 divisions or columns. That would be another way of looking at it. But for simplicity’s sake, let’s stick with the idea of five divisions. (If your lines are cutting some patches in half, you’re probably using too many lines.)

Here’s another practice block.

How many columns or divisions? Again, without cutting patches into awkward parts, you’d have to say two.

Here’s another practice block.

This one’s a bit more tricky. I would draw the lines like so:

And I would call it four columns or divisions. I did cut the center patch in half, but that’s okay, you’ll see how that works in Part 2 next week.

This is the Big Block Baby Quilt from our Jan/Feb ’13 issue. It’s really just one big block. How would you divide it?

I’d do this and call it five divisions.

Practice on the blocks below. In Part 2 next week, I’ll tell you what to do with this information—how it can be used to figure the size of your patches. This is exciting stuff!!

The block:

The block’s divisions:

The block:

The block’s divisions:

The block:

And the block’s divisions:

I can hardly wait to show you more!