Why do some easy quilt blocks look so hard?
Your eye doesn’t stop at the edge of a block. When blocks are set side by side, triangles and squares from neighboring blocks join into new shapes: diamonds, octagons, stars and woven strips. Quilters call this a secondary pattern. Nobody sewed those shapes, but they look like the hardest part of the quilt.
Hourglass Workshop shows it well. Each unit is a plain hourglass, four triangles in a square. Where four hourglass units meet, their triangles line up into a diamond, and the quilt reads as rows of scrappy diamonds.
Contrast does the rest. A block only fools the eye if its lights and darks are clearly different, so the new shapes stand out. For more on value (how light or dark a fabric is), see quilt color palettes.
Which easy quilt blocks look the hardest?
All twelve blocks below use only straight seams. If you are still learning your first blocks, start with easy quilt blocks for beginners and come back. The Patchwork piece column names the piece to use if you draw the block in the Quilt Builder.
| Block | Pieces used | Patchwork piece | Why it looks hard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disappearing nine patch | Squares, cut after sewing | Solid Square | Pieces of different sizes look carefully planned |
| Disappearing four patch | Squares, cut after sewing | Solid Square | Strips seem to weave between squares |
| Card trick | HSTs and quarter triangles | Half-Square and Quarter-Square Triangle | Four “cards” seem to overlap |
| Jacob’s ladder | Four patches and HSTs | Solid Square, Half-Square Triangle | Diagonal ladders cross the quilt |
| Hourglass | Quarter triangles | Quarter-Square Triangle | Diamonds form where units meet |
| Snowball | Squares with sew-and-flip corners | Snowball | Octagons appear between blocks |
| Square in a square | Square and four triangles | Half-Square Triangle | Squares seem to float on point |
| Broken dishes | HSTs | Half-Square Triangle | Spinning, shattered look |
| Bear’s paw | Squares, HSTs and strips | Solid Square, Half-Square Triangle | Sharp claws on every paw |
| Bento box | Squares and strips | Solid Square | Boxes inside boxes |
| Attic windows | Squares, strips and small HSTs | Solid Square, Half-Square Triangle | Looks like 3D window frames |
| Woven lattice | Rectangles | Rectangle (H), Rectangle (V) | Strips seem to pass over and under |
How do you make each block?
Cut sizes are for a 12" finished block (12½" unfinished) with a ¼" seam allowance, unless a block says otherwise. HST means half-square triangle, a square made of two triangles. To make two HSTs, pair two squares, sew ¼" on both sides of the diagonal, and cut on the line.
Six of these blocks (card trick, Jacob’s ladder, hourglass, broken dishes, bento box and attic windows) are in Block Sampler, two of each, drawn on a 2" grid. Its bento box and attic windows units are scaled to that grid, so their proportions differ a little from the cut sizes below.
1. Disappearing nine patch. Sew a nine patch from nine 4¾" squares: five of one color in the corners and center, four of another. Cut it in half both ways through the center, so you have four quarters. Turn two of the quarters (diagonally opposite ones) a half turn, and sew the four back together. Trim to 12½". You end up with four big squares, eight rectangles and four small squares, which looks far more planned than it is. For the nine patch itself, see the nine patch quilt pattern. The builder can’t show the cut-and-turn step, but you can draw the finished layout with squares.
2. Disappearing four patch. Sew a four patch from four 7" squares, two light and two dark. It measures 13½". Cut 1½" away from the center seam on both sides, both ways, for nine pieces. Turn each of the four middle-edge pieces a half turn, and sew the nine pieces back together. The block comes out 12½" and the strips seem to weave between the squares.
3. Card trick. A 3 × 3 grid of 4" units in four colors and a background. Corners are HSTs (color and background). Middle edges are a big triangle of one color with two quarter triangles, one background and one of the next color. The center is four quarter triangles, one of each color. Cut two 4⅞" background squares and one 5¼" background square. From each of the four colors, cut one 4⅞" square and one 5¼" square. Cut the 4⅞" squares once on the diagonal and the 5¼" squares twice. You will have two quarter triangles of each color left over. Arrange each color so it runs from a corner, through a middle edge, into the center. It looks like four cards laid over each other.
4. Jacob’s ladder. A 3 × 3 grid of 4" units: five four patches and four HSTs. For the four patches, cut ten dark and ten light 2½" squares (or sew 2½" strips and cut 2½" segments). For the HSTs, cut two 4⅞" squares of a medium fabric and two of light. Put four patches in the corners and center, with the dark squares running corner to corner, and HSTs in between. When blocks meet, the dark squares link into ladders that cross the quilt, the same idea that makes an Irish chain.
5. Hourglass. Four 6" hourglass units in a 2 × 2 grid. Cut two 7¼" squares of each of two colors and cut each one twice on the diagonal. Sew one triangle of each color together, then join two pairs into an hourglass. Turn the units so matching triangles meet, and diamonds form across the quilt.
6. Snowball. One 12½" square with a 4½" square sewn onto each corner on the diagonal. Sew across each small square corner to corner, trim ¼" past the seam and press. Alternate snowballs with nine patches and the corners join into octagons. Snowball Lattice does exactly this with 6" blocks in navy and cream. The builder’s Snowball piece sizes its corners a little smaller than ⅓ (3⅞" at 12"), so its octagons come out narrower. Midnight Snowball is a dark palette made for this block.
7. Square in a square. One 9" center square and two 6⅞" squares cut once on the diagonal into four corner triangles. Sew triangles to opposite sides of the center, press, then add the other two. Trim to 12½". Garden Party alternates small square-in-a-square blocks with four patches.
8. Broken dishes. Four 6" HSTs in a 2 × 2 grid. Cut two dark and two light 6⅞" squares and make four HSTs. Turn them so the darks point in the same direction around the block. Each block seems to spin, and a quilt of them looks shattered.
9. Bear’s paw. A 7 × 7 grid, so it doesn’t divide into 12". With 2" units it finishes at 14"; with 1½" units, 10½". For 14": cut four 4½" paw squares, eight 2⅞" paw squares and eight 2⅞" background squares (for 16 HSTs), four 2½" background squares, four 2½" × 6½" background strips and one 2½" center square. Each paw is one big square with two HSTs along two sides and a background square in the corner. The strips and center join the four paws.
10. Bento box. Four 6" framed squares in a 2 × 2 grid, in two colorways. For each unit, cut a 3½" center, two 2" × 3½" side strips and two 2" × 6½" top and bottom strips. Make two units with a dark center and light frame and two with a light center and dark frame. Set them so matching units sit on the diagonal, and the block reads as boxes inside boxes.
11. Attic windows. This is the half-square triangle version, not the one with set-in seams. Each 6" unit is a window square with a frame on two sides that meets in a small HST. For each unit, cut one 5" window square, one 2" × 5" light strip, one 2" × 5" dark strip, and one HST from a 2⅜" light and 2⅜" dark square. Sew the light strip to one side of the window. Sew the HST to the end of the dark strip and add it along the bottom. Four units make a 12" block, and the frames look like 3D sills.
12. Woven lattice. A 3 × 3 grid of 4" units, each made of two 2½" × 4½" rectangles. Cut nine rectangles of the lattice color and nine of the background. Sew each lattice rectangle to a background rectangle along the long side. Turn every other unit a quarter turn, so the lattice strips seem to pass over and under each other. Woven Kilim builds a larger version of this look with mustard blocks and sky blue strips.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the easiest quilt block that looks hard?
- The disappearing nine patch. You sew a plain nine patch, cut it into quarters, turn two of them and sew it back together. The result has pieces in three sizes and looks carefully planned.
- What is a disappearing nine patch?
- A nine patch cut in half both ways through the center, with two quarters turned before you sew it back together. The center square “disappears” into four small squares, and the block gets big squares, rectangles and small squares from only straight seams.
- Which quilt blocks make secondary patterns?
- Hourglass, snowball, Jacob’s ladder, card trick and square in a square all make new shapes where blocks meet. Hourglasses form diamonds, snowballs form octagons, and Jacob’s ladder forms long diagonal lines. For other block families, see quilt blocks.
- What’s the difference between card trick and broken dishes?
- Both use triangles, but broken dishes is four half-square triangles turned in the same direction, in two fabrics. Card trick is a 3 × 3 grid in four colors plus background, arranged so four “cards” seem to overlap in the center.