How to Make Pinwheels for a Quilt or to Embellish a Garment

August 29th, 2008 in sewing, fashion, quilting

Mary Ray, contributor

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Traditional pieced pinwheels embellish a silk dupioni jacket.

Space the pinwheels apart by inseting them into strips of the background fabric.

Place two squares right sides together, and mark a line from point to point.

Traditional pieced pinwheels embellish a silk dupioni jacket.

Photo: Mary Ray

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Pinwheel quilts are very traditional and they just look like fun—especially when executed in bright colors. They’re one-patch quilts—all triangles—that are easy to piece. And if you’re an overachiever, you can divide up the triangles and make a double pinwheel.

A few years ago, I made this jacket I call “Pinwheel Galaxy.” I stitched a bunch of pinwheel blocks, in various sizes, from silk dupioni. Then I inset them into larger pieces of dupioni so they appear to be stars floating around in the night sky. To inset them, I basically made strips that included the pinwheel blocks and then sewed the strips together.

Space the pinwheels apart by inseting them into strips of the background fabric.

A pinwheel block is a four-patch, and each patch consists of two triangles.

To construct each patch:
1. Cut two light squares and two dark squares each 1 inch larger than the finished size. (If you want each patch to measure 2-1/2 inches, cut the squares 3-1/2 inches).
2. Place one light and one dark square, right sides together, and mark a line through the top square from point to point.

Place two squares right sides together, and mark a line from point to point.

3. Sew the squares together, 1/4 inch from each side of the line.

Sew 1/4 inch from each side of the marked line.

4. Cut in half along the line.

Cut the triangles apart along the marked line.

5. Press the seam allowances toward the dark triangle.

6. Sew two patches together so the light and dark triangles alternate. Press the seams open.

7. Sew these sections together to form a pinwheel. Press the seams open.

Sew the double triangle patches together to form a pinwheel.

8. Even if you’ve measured and stitched very accurately, you still may find some unevenness in your blocks. Trim each four-patch block so they are all exactly the same size. Sew the blocks together to form your quilt.