Lattice Quilt Tutorial

Today I have one of my go-to charity quilt patterns for you! Here is the latest one I made using this pattern.

If you want to make this scrappy, like I did, then you will need 48 6" squares (other sizes of squares will work too). I like to keep the strips consistent when I'm doing scrappy squares so you'll need 1/2 yard of fabric for the strips. These are cut 1.5" by 9.5" and you will need 48 of them. The finished size of the quilt above is 33" by 44". If you don't want to do the blocks scrappy, you will need 1 1/4 yard of fabric for the 6" squares.

If you want to use another size of square, like 5" charm squares or 6.5" squares, you need to measure the diagonal of your square so you know how long to cut your strips.

Measure the diagonal

For a 6" square, the diagonal is about 8.5" long. I added an inch to that measurement to make sure I didn't come up short on any blocks. Actually 9" long would be sufficient, but I have a 9.5" square ruler that makes it really easy to cut 9.5" long strips. If you want to use another size square, just measure the diagonal and add 1/2" to 1" to that measurement for the length of your strips.

Once you have your 48 squares and 48 rectangles (strips) cut, you need to cut all your squares on the diagonal. I just stack up 8 or 10 squares and cut them to make this process go a little faster. You will be squaring up your blocks at the end so if you don't cut precisely on the diagonal for every square it will still all work out in the end.

Cut squares on the diagonal

Line up a strip with half of a square, right sides together, along the diagonal of the square. Sew them together with a quarter in seam allowance.

Sew strip to one half of the square on the diagonal

I just make sure that the strip is hanging off the points of the triangle about 1/2" on each end. The photo below shows the piece above from the other side so you can see how much of the strip is hanging off each end.

Strip centered on the diagonal of the square

Press your seam open or to one side, which ever you prefer. Then put the other half of the square, right sides together, with the other side of the strip. Center it as best you can on the strip.

Center other half of square on the strip

Then sew them together with a quarter inch seam.

Sew other half of square to the center strip

Again, press your seam using your preferred method. Your block should look like this now.

Block before squaring up

Now you need to square up your block. You should be able to cut this down to the same size square you started with. In this case that is 6".

Preparing to square up the block to 6"

Try to get the diagonal line of the ruler centered better on your strip than I did!

Squared up to 6"

This is a fairly fast quilt to cut out especially if you have a stash of pre-cut 6" squares. The hardest part for me is choosing the squares I want to use and trying not to use the same fabric twice. If you get everything cut you can just stack these next to your machine and use this as a Leader and Ender project. If you've never tried a Leader and Ender project before, this one is a great one to start with. You will be surprised how quickly you can make a charity quilt while working on your main project! When people ask me how I make so many charity quilts, the Leader and Ender method is the answer.

Blocks waiting to be sewn together

There are many ways you can arrange your blocks in a 6 block by 8 block layout. While making the quilt I showed in the first picture in this post I played with several different arrangements. You can see them here. Those where just the ones I photographed, there are more. Play around with your blocks before sewing them together to see what you can come up.

If you make a quilt using this tutorial I'd love to see it! If you click on my picture at the top of the right hand side bar you can contact me and email me your photos.