Perfect Pinwheel Tutorial

I was thrilled to find a way to sew two-tone quilting blocks that did not take tedious hours of cutting hundreds of small triangles! While it does take a decent amount of time to cut your own squares (if pre-cut fabric is lacking in the pattern or color you plan to use) by the time you complete one pinwheel, all of that measuring and cutting will be worth it! With this method, the resulting pieces are high both in quality and versatility. While this might be old news for seasoned seamstresses, I am fairly new at all of this, which was why it tickled me when I figured it out! I have included pictures for those visual learners (like myself!)

1. Cut your squares. I used a 4x4 inch square guide. If you have pre-cut squares, you can skip this step.

2. Place two squares (either the same color or differing colors depending on the look you are trying to achieve) right sides together. I take this opportunity to trim away any variation between my two squares. Inevitably there will be a slight discrepancy when I cut my own squares.

3. Move to the sewing machine with your squares (still right sides together) and sew a seam down one side. As you can see, I use a specific point on the foot to sight my seam allowance. When you have stitched down one side, turn the fabric and stitch down an adjoining side. Do this until all four sides are stitched together.

4. Move over to your cutting mat. Use a ruler to make a straight cut diagonally across the square from one corner to the other.

4 contd. Leave the square in place on the cutting mat. Take the ruler and place it across the other two corners, creating another cut line across the diagonal. It's time to decide what size pinwheel you want to produce. If you want larger blocks, only make the first cut. You will need to cut a total of two of your sewn-together squares to make one large pinwheel. If you want medium to small sized pinwheels make both cuts and you will produce one complete pinwheel from one sewn-together square.

5. Move over to the ironing board with your square - now four triangles.

Here is a glimpse of one triangle unfolded. They become two-tone squares!

Now, unfold each triangle into it's complete square and press. Make sure that your seams are pressed in the same direction with each new square. For instance, I pressed these seems in the direction of the yellow triangle.

Now you are ready to take a peek at your nearly complete pinwheel! Arrange all of your newly pressed squares in the pattern that you want.

6. It's time to sew your pinwheel together. Take the right two squares and turn them over on top of the left two squares so they are now right sides together.

Take the top bunch and move to the sewing machine again. Line up the bottom and right edges of these squares and stitch down the right side (you are making a neat center here, which is why the "bottom and right" matters). Set this aside. Now take the bottom bunch and line up at the top and right sides. Sew down the right side.

You should now have two double-width pieces with an alternating color pattern.

Take the unfolded top and bottom pieces and flip the bottom piece up onto the top piece so they are now right sides together. Move to the sewing machine and sew the bottom seam.

7. When you unfold this completed pinwheel, take it to the ironing board and press all of the seams flat. Then trim up the edges if needed to make the pinwheel a perfect square. You're done!