Jenny Doan shows us how to make the quick and easy Illusion Block Quilt using Layer Cakes (10 inch squares of precut fabric).

Hi, I am Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. Take a look at this great quilt behind me. Isn’t this fun? I call this the Illusion Block because it just makes those squares want to pop off the quilt. They just look so dimensional; I love how it goes. It is so easy to make and I can’t wait to show you how.

So, to make this quilt, what you need is one packet of ten inch squares and the fabric we use is called Basically, Basically Patrick and it is by Patrick Loosey for RJR, and it is just this bright, happy line. I just love it. You are also going to need two yards of white fabric here for your sashings and you are going to need one and a quarter yards of gray fabric and it just is going to go together so fun wait until you see.

So, how we are going to do this is, we are going to take a ten inch square, just like this, and we are going to cut it in half--right in half. So, this is going to give us a five, two five by ten inch rectangles. So, we have got these rectangles, right here, just like that. Each one of these is going to be its own block. Now what we have to do is sash each block. One of the important things to remember is that all of the sashing takes place on the left hand side only, so that is important to remember. Now our sashing, the first row of sashing is made with this gray, inch and a half strips. You are going to cut some inch and a half strips. The one side on the side of your block is going to be a nine inch strip, so let us go ahead and cut that. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. We are going to have a nine inch strip here on the side of the block, and it is nine because we are going to to add a one and a half inch square to the end of this strip. So, right here we have our one and a half inch square that we have also just cut a one and a half inch strip of white fabric and then cut our squares out of it and we are going to lay those right sides together, sew a quarter of an inch down there. Let us go to the sewing machine and do that.

I just, I just think this is such a fun quilt, it’s such a great look. Alright, let’s iron this out. And if i measured right and cut right, with any luck, it should fit just along side of this block. So, just like that, and it does. So now we are going to put these right sides together and we are going to sew down the left side of our block, our little half block. Alright, here we go, I am going to take a couple of stitches to anchor it, and then I am going to lift this up, make sure I am lined right up together, and then we are just going to sew straight down the side. There we go. Now, let’s iron this open, trim those threads off, and then we will iron it open, just like this, and then we have to add another strip right across the bottom. Same type of thing, we are going to have a strip right here. So, what I am going to do is, I am going to sew this right on here, like this, right sides together, then I am just going to trim off this edge. This is going to make...your gray strip is going to start out five inches and we are adding an inch and a half because that is what we have going on here. So let’s go ahead and lay this together.

Remember, I am just going to trim this off. Now, if I had gone ahead and cut that, it would have been a five inch square with an inch and a half corner square, right here, and then we are going to press that out. I just love how these look. They are so fun. Now, the next thing that is going to happen is the sashing that occurs in between the blocks, right here, and it is still all on that left side. So, what I like to do is, I like to take a strip and I like to just chain piece these so, normally, what I would do is, I would sew all my grays on my blocks, all my gray sashings on my blocks and then I would take them and I would chain piece them onto my white strip. Now, to chain piece, what that means is we are just going to put these on here and on the left hand side, we are going to sew, sew this one, I will add another one, we will sew it, I will add another one, we will sew it, and so you will have a whole bunch of these on one strip, well not a whole bunch, actually, probably only, like, a few, but I like to do it that way. It just makes it quicker for me, but you can always measure them and and cut them to the exact length that you want as well.

Alright, now when you get down to the bottom down here, I am just going to take this over here and we are going to lay it down flat, like this. I like to trim before I iron because it is folded over and it just, I just like the look of it, I think it lays a lot nicer, a lot flatter. Alright, so now let us iron that part back, right there. We are going to iron this back and now we just need to add one to the bottom and I will do the same thing, I will just lay this on here, like this, and chain piece them down. So, I would do that with all my blocks. I would do all the sides and then all the bottoms. But that is kind of personal preference, it is just really whatever you would like to do because you can always measure them and make them exactly before you get them done. It is all going to turn out the same in the end. Alright, so let’s trim this off and we’lll press it open, cut these threads over here. There we go. Now, just as quick as that, your block is done. This is the block we are looking for. So, you’re going to put those two sashings on the left had side on every block you have got and then it is time to lay them out and set them together.

So, here is what we are going to do. This is so fun to see when this starts happening because it just goes together so quickly. So, by putting our sashing on the left had side and just sewing our blocks together, like that, each block appears completely sashed but all we have done is sewn them on the left hand side. So you are going to sew your rows together, just like this, one after the other after the other. On the quilt that is behind me, I have ten across the top, and eight rows down. And so that’s all. I don't have a border on it, I just did it just exactly what I made out of my, with my ten inch squares and this is the size I made. It actually came out to be sixty-four by eighty-four. Now, one thing you have to remember is that over here you will see as I get my rows sewn together, all of these are sashed but this very last one, right here. So, once you get all of your rows sewn together, like this, the only thing left to do is to run a row of sashing down the side and across the top. That is all you have to do because the whole left side of everything is completely done. So, it just makes a really fun, quick project. I love how it came out. I love how it looks. I love how it looks dimensional. And we just hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the Illusion Block from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.