Starry Night Block 4 | Cat’s Tooth

Hi, I’m Heather from The Sewing Loft. Normally, you can find me stitching up a storm and sharing easy tips to help improve your everyday sewing but today, I’m excited to kick off our new Block of the Month series.

Once a month, I’ll be stopping by to share a new block and a few sewing tips with you. At the end, we’ll put them altogether and create this lap size quilt. I’m excited to watch your blocks come together as we stitch along.

Today, we are kicking off block 4 the Cat’s Tooth of the Starry Night Quilt Sampler but for those of you just joining us, don’t worry, you can catch up here with the material list and first block. Remember, you can join in at any point during the sew along.

Our block today will measure 12″ finished, let’s take a look and get started.

The Cat’s Tooth block is designed to help you become comfortable with half square triangles (also called HST’s) without worrying about matching every point.

Cutting Instructions for Cat’s Tooth block:

Sky Polka Dot

• Cut 1 square 8 1/2″ (a)

Indigo Polka Dot

• Cut 1 square 3″ (h)
• Cut 1 squares 3″ (e) sub cut into 2 HST’s
• Cut 3  squares 2 1/2″ (c)

Mint Net

• Cut 1 square 3 1/2″ (g) sub cut into 2 HST’s
• Cut 1 square 3″ (e) sub cut into 2 HST’s

Solid White

• Cut 2 rectangles 8 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ (b)
• Cut 2 rectangles 6″ x 2 1/2″ (d)
• Cut 1 rectangle 5 1/4″ x 2″ (f)

Click here to download printable instructions. 

Sewing Assembly for Cat’s Tooth block: 

1. Attach 8 1/2″ solid white rectangle (b) to center square (a); press set aside. Stitch 2 1/2″ squares (c) to 8 1/2″ rectangle (b); press and set aside.
2. Join center unit to 6″ solid white rectangle (d); press. Join center unit with completed side rail; press and set aside.
3. Join 6″ solid white rectangle (d) to 2 1/2″ square (c); press and join to center unit. Open and press again. It will look oddly shaped but we will be fixing that in a later step; set aside.
4. Join sub cut HST’s (g) to 3″ square (h); press and trim. **Be very careful not to stretch the bias edges. 
5. Position sub cut HST’s (e) together like a banner with a 1/4″ overhang on each side. Stitch; press and trim. Repeat in the opposite direction to create two like drawing.  Repeat the process to your center band (f) to make one long strip. Don’t forget that overhang. 
   
6. Trim band to a clean 2″ wide; join to corner unit and press.
7. Join the corner unit together with the center unit to create a 12″ finished block (12 1/2″ including outer seam allowance). **Quick tip- Match corner points to keep seams aligned. 
   

Remember, you will need 1 finished Cat’s Tooth block to complete the Starry Night Quilt Sampler.

Be sure to check out my extra tips for this month’s block here. They are sure to help those feeling unsure about sewing and pressing on bias.

Well, that’s it for now. Don’t forget that I’ll be back in June with a next block in the Starry Night Quilt Block of the Month series. In the meantime, be sure to come find me on social media and share a few pictures of your finished block using #StarryNightQuilt as a tag, I want to see how your blocks are coming along!

Be sure to share a few pictures of your block and tag me along because at the end, you’ll have a cozy lap size quilt to snuggle under and watch tv or read your favorite book.