FREE QUILT BLOCK TUTORIAL: Sawtooth Star

The Sawtooth Star​ is another classic quilting block that is simple to create and versatile to use. I used my Homestead Life Fabric from Riley Blake designs to show you how to create this block.

The Sawtooth Star consists of:

• A center square – great for fussy cutting a central image or in my case, I created visual interest by making a square out of selvage fabric! (CLICK HERE to learn how to make selvage fabric)
• 4 Flying Geese (the rectangles on each side that create the star effect) and
• 4 corner squares

I’ve provided cutting instructions for 6″, 12″ and 16″ blocks below.

Begin by choosing and cutting your fabric.

Making Flying Geese with the No-Waste (major time saving) Method

You will create your four flying geese for the top, bottom and sides of the Sawtooth Star with the large and small squares cut based on the sizes shown in the chart. Once sewn together, trimmed and pressed they will be the size shown in column one of the chart. (I put light green behind the measurements for the Flying Geese so you don’t confuse them with the center and corner squares.)

PART 1

DRAW a diagonal line on the wrong side of each of the 4 Flying Geese small squares with a washable marker, chalk line or quilting pencil.

PLACE the large Flying Geese square face up on your workspace.

Right sides down, PLACE AND PIN two of the small squares in opposite corners so the lines you drew now form one line that goes from corner to corner of the large square. The small squares will overlap a little in the center.

SEW a 1/4″ seam from each side of the line.

CUT along the line you drew (in between the two seams you just stitched) with a rotary cutter.

PRESS seams open. You now have two partial units.

PART 2

Right sides together, PLACE the third small Flying Geese square from the Corner of the large triangle and between the two small triangles.

SEW a 1/4″ seam from each side of the line as you did in Part 1.

CUT along the line you drew with a rotary cutter. PRESS seams open and trim to the size in the Cutting Chart. (The larger size in parentheses in the “Finished Flying Geese” column.)

REPEAT to create 4 Flying Geese.

Assemble the Sawtooth Star Quilt Block

LAYOUT your block on your workspace, a wool mat or quilt block board. 

Pay attention to any directionality you might have in your fabric so things don’t look “upside down” when you sew all the pieces together.

SEW each row together and PRESS seams.

Sew row 1 to row 2 and then row 2 to row 3.

PRESS seams.

Simple as that your Sawtooth Star quilt block is complete!

Pretty quick and easy – have a creative day!

– Tara Reed

P.S. If you make this block I’d love to see it!

Tag me on Instagram: @artisttarareed
Share it on Pinterest: pinterest.com/artisttarareed

P.P.S. Want to see more Quilt Block Tutorials? CLICK HERE >

P.P.S.S. Want to see more free projects using my Homestead Life Fabric? CLICK HERE >

Materials Used in this Project:

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