Last year, I spotted an intriguing quilt online and discovered One Block Wonder quilts. I’m really behind the curve on this – it looks as if the first books on this technique were published around 2010, and it’s similar to Stack and Whack quilts, a technique that’s even older.

The idea is that you organize six layers of fabric so that the repeat of the design lines up, then cut 60 degree triangles (often 3.75″ on a side). The resulting hexagons are a bit like kaleidescopes, and from any given print with a bit of scale, you get many many variations of hexagons. You can play with the arrangement, then piece the hexagons into a quilt top. It can be an easy way to create a striking quilt.

A Google Images search brings up some real gems, like this gorgeous quilt. How inspiring is that? It looks as if there are even more on Pinterest and Flickr, but I’m not going down that rabbit hole. 🙂

The only trick seems to be choosing the right fabric. The print has to be of some scale to allow variation in the blocks. I decided to experiment with a cheaper fabric the first time, until I have a better idea of what works best. I found this discontinued print on the $5/m table at my local fabric store:IRL, the print is a bit brighter. It’s called Toucan Do It, designed by June Bee for Ink and Arrow Fabrics. This shows an 18″ square of the fabric.

I also found it in a second colourway that coordinates. The background is pale green:

Again, the colour is a bit dark in this screenshot compared to real life.

The second colourway is my insurance plan, in case the print itself doesn’t create enough variation.

There is a really nifty online tool to help visualize results before you cut. Here’s the One Block Wonder Design Helper. You upload a scan of your fabric, set the scale and generate hexagons. Here’s the cutting plan it generated – this isn’t how I cut my strips, since this is crosswise. That left edge is the selvedge, so I cut my strips lengthwise. I’m not sure why anyone would cut without using the lengthwise (stable) grain for one edge of the triangles. (Hmm. I probably could rotate the image before uploading it. Hmm.)I uploaded the screen shot of the turquoise toucans and here was the result: I had to take the screenshot in two images, but it gives you a good idea of the possibilities. You can rearrange them, rotate the triangles, change the block size, and have all sorts of fun without sewing a thing.

I bought 2m of each colour – the repeat in the repeat is about 60cm. I assumed the pattern would repeat twice across the width, but this was a bad assumption on my part. The pattern repeats about 3/4 across the width. Hmm. So, I cut off the repeat, which was just over 11″ wide, and lined it up with the pattern against the first selvedge. Then I cut a 3.75″ wide strip from the selvedge through the two layers, trimming at the end of the first repeat. I did this three times and stacked them up. Then I cut triangles out of the strip – I got nine sets. Rather than cutting the next two strips out of that 11″ repeat, I started to sew.

This is kind of addictive piecing. Have you ever made a one-block wonder quilt? What do you think of my toucans?