The Hourglass quilt block is a basic quilt block that is super easy to make. Also called a quarter square triangle block, it is made up of 4 triangles of contrasting fabrics to give an hourglass appearance. These blocks can be stand alone quilt blocks, or even a unit as part of a larger block. Let’s dive in and see just how easy Hourglass blocks can be!
When purchasing through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you.
When purchasing through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you.
Supplies Needed
You won’t need any fancy tools here! Just basic quilting supplies are all you need to make perfect Hourglass quilt blocks. This method makes two hourglass blocks at a time.
- Cutting mat
- Rotary cutter
- Quilting Ruler (at least as wide as your final quilt block)
- Sewing machine
- Two contrasting fabric squares
Related Post: Essential Quilting Rulers
Hourglass Quilt Block Sizes
The best thing about an Hourglass quilt block is that by cutting the two contrasting fabric squares slightly larger in the beginning, you can easily trim the quilt block down to the exact size needed.
I made a simple downloadable cutting chart to give fabric cutting sizes for finished hourglass blocks.
Starting Fabric Squares
As I mentioned, you start with two contrasting fabric squares. If your fabric doesn’t have enough contrast, the hourglass shape of the final block can get lost.
Once you have your two initial squares, you’re going to cut each piece on the diagonal twice. This will give you four quarter square triangles out of each piece.
Next, rearrange your pieces so that they are laid out in the color configuration that you want. Place two identical colors on the left and right, and two of the other fabric on the top and bottom. Reminder, this method makes two Hourglass blocks.
Sewing the Hourglass Blocks
Now it’s time to sew the quarter triangles together. You can chain piece the pieces into sets of two triangles sewn together at a time. Be mindful that you always have the same fabric on the top of your sandwich, and that you feed each set into the machine the exact same direction. If you don’t, you could lose your fabric placement and have to spend some time with a seam ripper. (ask me how I know!)
After all of the triangles are sewn into sets of two, we need to move over to the iron and press the seams over to one side. I usually press to the dark side here to hide the seam allowance behind the darker fabric.
Now for the final seam. Here we are going to do what is called “nesting” our seams. This means that when placed right sides together, the seams we sewed in the last step will bump against each other, or nest. Doing this, ensures that we have a crisp point in the middle of our block. Depending on your confidence, you can pin the pieces together here, or just hold it snuggly as you feed the final seam through the sewing machine.
Finally, we can press the final seam open. Most of the time, I press this final seam open to reduce bulk. Another option is to spin your seam, but that is a more advanced technique for another blog post. For right now, pressing open works perfectly fine.
Trimming the Final Hourglass Block
The final step is to trim down the Hourglass block to the unfinished size that we want. In quilting terms, the unfinished size is 1/2 inch larger than what the final block will be in the quilt top. This accounts for the 1/4 inch seam allowance all the way around the block when we sew the blocks together into a quilt top.
Notice when I trimmed my block, I placed the 45 degree angle line on the ruler right along one of the diagonal seams of the block. I then lined up the 1 3/4″ measurement line right at the intersection of the four triangles since that would be the center of my 3 1/2″ quilt block. Trim all four sides until you have the desired hourglass block size (in this case 3 1/2″)
There isn’t any need to buy a fancy ruler for this part. I use whichever of my two favorite rectangle rulers is the same size or larger than the width I need to trim. This will either be my 4.5″ x 8.5″ Creative Grids ruler or my 6.5″ x 12.5″ Creative Grids ruler. If my Hourglass blocks need to be larger than 6.5″ then I will use a Creative Grids 12.5″ square ruler.
I hope that you find my hourglass quilt block tutorial helpful and have the confidence to make a few of these easy quilt blocks.
Happy quilting!
[…] Hourglass Units […]