How to make: a Sawtooth Star quilt

Another one of my favourite blocks- the Sawtooth star. There are many variations on this design and many different ways to make it (including using Flying Geese). I personally prefer making Half Square Triangles (HSTs) to flying geese so made this quilt using HSTs- but feel free to use flying geese instead!

I have included instructions to make the throw size which is 72" x 72". If you want to know more about how I finished this quilt (eg quilting, binding etc, you can skip down to the bottom of this post).

So let's get started !

Fabric Requirements for the quilt top:

5 Fat Quarters (I used Devonstone Duck Egg, Devonstone Mud Pie, Japanese Gingham in Pink, Devonstone Seeded and Devonstone Light Peach)
4 yards Background Fabric (I used Robert Kaufman Essex Linen)- this is almost an exact requirement so if you like a little wriggle room, use 4.25 yards.

Cutting instructions:

From four fat quarters cut:

(4) 7" x 7" squares

From your remaining fat quarter cut:

(2) 7"x 7" squares

(We are making 9 sawtooth star blocks in total- from the four fat quarters, we will make two blocks from each and from the remaining block we will make one sawtooth star block)

Background Fabric:

Cut 3 strips 7" x WOF
Subcut each strip into (6) 7" x 7" to give you a total of (18) 7" x 7" squares
Cut 4 strips 4.5" x WOF
Subcut each strip into (9) 4.5" x 4.5" squares to give you a total of (36) 4.5" x 4.5" squares
Cut 2 strips 8.5" x WOF
Subcut each strip into (5) 8.5" x 8.5" to give you a total of (9) 8.5" x 8.5" squares (you will have one extra)
Cut 7 strips 8.5" x WOF - set aside- this is for the border which we will add later.
Cut 6 strips 4.5" x WOF- set aside- this is for the sashing which we will add later.

Now let's make our sawtooth star blocks.

For each block you will need:

(2) 7" x 7" FQ squares (the same colour)
(2) 7" x 7" background squares
(4) 4.5" x 4.5" background squares
(1) 8.5" x 8.5" background square.

My favourite method is the 4 at a time HST method (no marking) but feel free to use other methods if you prefer!

Take (1) 7" x 7" FQ square and (1) 7" x 7" background square and pin directly together on top of each other, right sides together

Sew around the four edges using a quarter inch seam

Cut your sewn squares into four pieces doing two cuts on the diagonal (corner to corner)

Four HSTS!

Press your triangles open- you can either press your seams open or to the side.

Trim to 4.5" each. Use the 45 degree line of your ruler to make sure your points stay perfect

Repeat using (1) 7" x 7" square of the same colour as above plus (1) background 7" x 7" square to make a total of 8 half square triangles in total.

Now gather:

(8) trimmed HSTs
(4) 4.5" x 4.5" background squares
(1) 8.5" x 8.5" background square

It's time to assemble our block!

Sew two half square triangles together, right sides together using a 1/4" seam. Repeat three times to make a total of four pieces:

Now sew each of your pieces together- first sew the rows, and then sew each of the rows together as shown:

Press your seams either open or to the side. And your block is formed!

Repeat (8) more times to make a total of 9 Sawtooth Star blocks.

Now it's time to assemble our quilt top- remember these pieces?:

Cut 6 strips 8.5" x WOF - set aside- this is for the border which we will add later.
Cut 6strips 4.5" x WOF- set aside- this is for the sashing which we will add later.

It's time to use these. Firstly cut all the selvages off each of these pieces.

Then take (3) 4.5" strips and subcut into (2) 4.5" x 16.5" pieces for a total of (6) 4.5" x 16.5" pieces.

We will now sew our rows- sawtooth star block + 4.5" x 16.5" piece + sawtooth star block + 4.5" x 16.5" piece + sawtooth star block .

Press your seams open or to the side. Repeat to make a total of three rows

Now take one of the 4.5" x WOF strips and cut in half so it's approximately 4.5" x 22" . Attach one of these halves to another 4.5" x WOF strip and the other half to another 4.5" x WOF strip using a 1/4" seam- you will have two strips that are approximately 4.5" x 62".

Now attach one of the pieces to one of your sawtooth star rows, aligning the end of the strip with the end of your sawtooth star row. You will have extra at the end as demonstrated below

Once attached, trim off the excess to align with your row:

Repeat to attach rows 2 and 3, and you will end up with something like this:

Finally, it's time to attach our borders.

Take one of the 8.5" x WOF strips and cut in half so it's approximately 8.5" x 22" . Attach one of these halves to another 8.5" x WOF strip and the other half to another 8.5" x WOF strip using a 1/4" seam- you will have two strips that are approximately 8.5" x 62".

Now take these strips and sew to either side of your quilt top, aligning the edges, using 1/4" seams. Press seams open or to the sides. You will have a little bit extra at the end to cut off.

Finally, we will take our remaining (4) pieces of 8.5" x WOF. Sew two pieces together to make (2) strips of approximately 8.5" x 84"

Align with the edge of the top and bottom of your quilt and sew them on using 1/4" seams. Once again, you will have some fabric leftover which you can cut off.