Patched Friendship Star – Block 1 of the Old School BOM

Jan 12, 2021
5 min read

Welcome everyone to day 1 of the Old School BOM 2021! If you missed all the beginning info you can find out all about this Block of the Month HERE. I’m the first quilt designer to share a block tutorial on this block of the month journey. I want this to be an opportunity for all quilters to learn different ways to do techniques and to have a little fun along the way!

Basic Knowledge

There are a few basics you should know how to do for this quilt along. Instead of me reinventing the wheel I will link you to sites that share some great info to get you going. If it’s still not clear please reach out and I’ll do my best to help you!

Sew a 1/4″ seam. – all seams should be sewn at a 1/4″ unless otherwise indicated.
- A tool that will help you sew 1/4″ seam – Perfect Piecing Seam Guide by Perkins Dry Goods
Set Your Seams – I did a tutorial about this a few years back. Not everyone is on board with seam setting but I was taught to do this from day one and it’s worked for me ever since.
Press don’t Iron your Seams
Nest your Seams – some like to press all their seams open – that’s personally not my favorite – I’m definitely a quilter that nests my seams.
Right/Wrong Side of the fabric. Most fabrics have a right and wrong side. The right side is the pretty side of the fabric and the wrong side is the less pretty side of the fabric. Some fabrics like batiks and solids may not have a right or wrong side of the fabric.

Patched Friendship Star Block Tutorial

Click -> Patched Friendship Star Block Tutorial <- for the downloadable PDF. It will be free until February 11th and then their will be a small fee associated with it.

One of the earliest things I learned in my quilting carrier was a really cool way to make a four patch block. Now – you could just cut out all the squares and sew them together to make a four patch or you could use the following method.

Cutting Instructions

I used Alphabitties from the Fat Quarter Shop to help me with this tutorial.

Fabric A (I used a navy blue dandelion print)

(1) 7.0″ square (2) 4.0″ squares

Fabric B (a white floral print)

(1) 7.0″ square (2) 4.0″ squares

Fabric C (landscape print)

(4) 3.5″ x 6.5″ rectangles

Fabric D (lime green print)

(4) 3.5″ squares

Directions

Construct a Four Patch Unit

Place a 7.0″ square of Fabric A and a 7.0″ square of Fabric B right sides together. On both edges of the blocks sew a 1/4-inch seam as indicated by the solid line drawn.

Cut the 7.0″ square in half parallel to the sewn seams – you will be left with two 3.5″ x 7.0″ rectangles.

Set your seams and then press towards the darker fabric.

Place your squares right sides together so Fabric A is against Fabric B. The seams will match in the middle – I just offset the squares so you could see how they should go together.

Sew a 1/4″ seam on both sides of the square – perpendicular to the first seam as shown by the solid line.

Cut the square in half – you will be left with two 3.5″ x 6.5″ rectangles. Press to one side. (Either side in this case is just fine!)

This will give you two 6.5″ four patch squares. BUT you only need one for this block so pick which one prefer to use and put the other one aside for a future project.

I personally feel like the busier the better for my quilts so I picked the four patch with the most crazy dandelion print.

Next – repeat the process for making a four patch with the two 4.0″ fabric A blocks and the two 4.0″ fabric B blocks. This will make the four 3.5″ four patches needed.

Construct a Half Goose Unit

Place a 3.5″ square of Fabric D right sides together on the right side of a Fabric C rectangle. If your fabric has a directional print I’d recommend flipping it at this point so it’s upside down. On the wrong side of Fabric D draw a line from corner to corner. Sew directly on this line. Trim a quarter-inch outside the line you just stitched – right where I drew a dashed line.

Now – this isn’t mandatory but I recommend sewing the triangles that were trimmed off right side together with a quarter inch seam as indicated on the solid line. This will gave you the start of a half-square triangle which will either be useful later in this quilt along OR you can use it to make other quilt blocks.

Press towards Fabric D on the half goose. Press the bonus half square triangle whichever way you please.

Repeat to make four half goose rectangles.

Piece the Patched Friendship Star

Layout all the pieces you’ve made as shown above.

Blocks

E, G, K and M – 3.5″ four patch squares
F, H, J and L – 3.5″ x 6.5″ half goose rectangles
I – 6.5″ four patch square

Sew unit F to unit E, unit I to unit H and unit L to unit K.

Sew these units together with a quarter inch seam.

Press towards the half goose units.

Sew unit G to unit EF, unit J to unit HI and unit M to unit KL.

Sew these units together with a quarter inch seam.

Press towards the half goose units.

Sew the EFG strip to the top of strip HIJ.

Sew together with a quarter inch seam. Press towards strip EFG

Sew the KLM strip to the bottom of strip E-J. Sew together with a quarter-inch seam and press towards strip KLM.

And that’s it! You now have a 12.5″ Patched Friendship Star! I hope you enjoyed making this fun little block and maybe learned a fun new way to sew four patches together!

Social Media

When you’re finished be sure to share your blocks to social media:

Instagram: using hashtag #OSBOM21 and please tag me @PersimonDreams
and/or the new Old School BOM Facebook Group!

And the blocks will continue to come! A new block will be featured on the 12th of each month on different bloggers websites! I have them all linked below but I’ll also post right here on my blog on the 12th of each month to get you in the right spot!