Double Bars Quilt Block

This great oversized block is the perfect way to showcase your favorite printed fabrics, although I think it would work beautifully in all solids, too. I’m using yardage here, but this pattern would work great with pre-cut strips as well! Here’s the pattern and tutorial for one Double Bars block, that measures 16 ½” x 16 ½” unfinished. All seams are ¼” wide.

Materials: (for each 16 ½” block)

• Brother PQ1500SLPRW
  , with quarter inch foot
• 1/8 yard of printed fabric (I used my Color Dash Fabric by Robert Kaufman AHN-16263-2 in Black
  )
• 1/8 yard of solid fabric (I used Kona Cotton in White by Robert Kaufman)
• rotary cutter
• straight edge
• cutting mat
• coordinating thread
• pins
• iron
• ironing board

Cut two strips of the printed fabric, each measuring 2 ½” x the width of fabric, using a rotary cutter and straight edge. Then cut two strips of the solid fabric, each measuring 2 ½” x the width of fabric. I’m using yardage, but this is a great project for precut 2 ½” strips of fabric, like those found in jelly rolls or roll ups. Once the four strips of fabric are cut, press them with a hot iron to remove any creases or wrinkles. Take one strip of the print and one strip of the solid, and place them on top of each other, right sides together. Pin in place and sew together along the length of the strip, using a quarter inch seam allowance. Remove the pieced strips from the sewing machine, remove the pins, and press seam to the side, towards the darker fabric. Place this pieced strip set to the side. Repeat this process with the other two strips. Place them on top of each other, right sides together. Pin in place and sew together along the lengths of the strips, then remove pins and press seam to the side, towards the darker fabric. Here is what the two pieced strip sets look like at this point. Place one pieced strip set on top of the other pieced strip set, right sides together, and arranged so that the prints and solids are opposite of each other. Pin in place and sew along the length of the strips. Remove the fabric from the sewing machine, remove the pins, and press seam to the side, towards the darker fabric. Here’s what the strip set will look like now. You can see that the fabrics alternate between print and solid. Move the strip set to the cutting mat and cut it into 8 ½” pieces, using the rotary cutter and straight edge. You should be able to get five 8 ½” pieces out of the strip set, although you will only use four of them in each Double Bars Block. Take four of the 8 ½” pieces and arrange them in this layout, keeping the print-solid pattern as shown. Working with two of the 8 ½” pieces at a time, place them on top of each other, right sides together, and pin in place. Take the pinned fabric to the machine, and sew the pieces together. Remove the fabric from the machine, remove pins, and press seam to the side. Repeat the process with the other two 8 ½” pieces, sewing them together and pressing the seam to the side. Place the two pieced sections next to each other, and arrange them so that they follow this design, with the print and solid opposite of each other. Place the two pieced sections on top of each other, right sides together, and pin in place. Nestle each seam between each pieced section. Here’s how I pin the pieced sections in place. I place a pin on either side of the nestled seam to hold it in place as I sew them together. Once the pieced sections are pinned together, sew them together. Back stitch at the beginning and end of the seam to lock the stitches. Remove the pins, open up the block and press seam to the side to finish the block. Here’s the finished Double Bars Block. I hope you enjoy it, and I can’t wait to see your versions of it! Want to share it with everyone? Be sure to tag it on Instagram and Facebook with #DoubleBarsBlock.