Easy Economy Block Tutorial

This quick tutorial shows you how easy the AccuQuilt GO! and the GO! Qube make Economy Blocks.

Hello! I’m Katy and I blog over at KatyQuilts. I’ve been using AccuQuilt products for over eight years now and they are indispensable to me. Today I’m going to share one of my favorite blocks with you. 

I love Economy blocks! They are also commonly known as a Square in a Square block. You see them everywhere. Not necessarily by themselves, but often as components of larger blocks.

Many people struggle with these. It is hard to know how to line up the triangles to get everything to turn out correctly, but it doesn’t have to be hard.

AccuQuilt dies make these a piece of cake...and we all like cake, am I right?

Today, I’m going to show you how to make an 8-inch finished size Square in a Square block.

I’m using dies #1, #3, and #4 from my GO! Qube Mix & Match 8" Block. 

To make a six-inch block, use dies #1 , #3, and #4 from the GO! Qube Mix & Match 6" Block. Easy peasy!

Economy Block Tutorial

• For a single block, cut one 4.5-inch square and four 4.5-inch half-square triangles from the print and four 4.5-inch quarter-triangles from your background fabric.
  
  

• Sew a background quarter-square triangle (QST) to two opposite sides of the center square.
  
  I love how these line up perfectly!
  
  

• Press the seams away from the center square.
  

• Now, add two more QST's to the remaining sides of the center square. This is how it looks when you line up these pieces.

• Again, press away from the center square.
  
  Pro Tip: Be gentle as you press. These are bias edges.

Time to add the print triangles!

This is how it looks when lining them up.

• Press away from the center. 
  
  
• Add the last two large print triangles. See how you can tell exactly where to place them?

• Press away from the center. Ta daaa!

Now, stand back and admire your perfect block!

I used to shy away from making these. They seemed just too fiddly to deal with, but now I love them!

Pro Tip: This is a great scrap buster block. You could cut every piece from a different scrap!

I had many small pieces all from the same line of fabric and wanted to use them all in the same quilt. This is what I came up with.

Did you see what I did there?

I ran out of fabric-making blocks, so I used my GO! Qube to slip in another block in the same size! 

I hope this little tutorial shows you how easy these blocks are to make using the AccuQuilt GO! and the GO! Qube. I’m off to make some scrappy Economy Blocks!

If you make your own Economy design using this tutorial, please share the photo on social media using the hashtag #AccuQuiltBuilt. Don't forget to tag @katyquilts and @AccuQuilt so we can see your fun creation!

Have a great day!