New Achievement: Patchwork Boxers
Congrats! You’ve taken perfectly good fabric, chopped it into pieces and put it back together into something your family would be embarrassed to see you in.
Reward: You’ve created instructions to allow others to repeat the process so your mother gets your reward box. You should just be ashamed.
The block shown is a 24” square version because I’m thinking of making it the center of a medallion quilt. There is also going to be a bonus PDF of a 12” version included at the end of this post. The 12” version does have some very tiny pieces in it (1” squares) but it is a straightforward block so I have no doubts that you can complete it.
All instructions will be referencing the 24” block. (But if you’re making the 12” the construction is exactly the same…just with smaller pieces.)
Fabric needed:
Background: ½ yard
White: ½ yard
Red: ¼ yard (I do recommend a regular quarter here and not a Fat Quarter as you need a long strip)
Cut:
Background:
One (1) 4.5” x 24.5” strip
One (1) 3.5” x 24.5” strip
Two (2) 2.5” x 17.5” strips
One (1) 4.5” x 5.5” rectangle
White:
Three (3) 1.5” x 24.5” strips
Two (2) 1.5” x 8.5” strips
Two (2) 1.5” x 4.5” strips
Nine (9) 2.5” x 4.5” rectangles
Eighteen (18) 2.5” squares
Twenty (20) 1.5” squares
Red:
One (1) 1.5” x 24.5” strip
Eighteen (18) 2.5” x 4.5” rectangles
Block Construction:
Start by making the hearts. You’ll need all the 1.5” and 2.5” white squares. Plus all the 2.5” x 4.5” red rectangles
The corners of the heart are made using Stitch and Flip.
Left Half:
Align a 1.5” white square in the top RIGHT corner of one 2.5” x 4.5” red rectangle. Stitch and Flip this corner. Check the block diagram to make sure your flip is going in the correct direction.
On the same 2.5” x 4.5” red rectangle, Stitch and Flip a 2.5” white square in the bottom LEFT corner (again, checking diagonal direction).
Make nine left halves.
Right Half:
Align a 1.5” white square in the top LEFT corner of one 2.5” x 4.5” red rectangle. Stitch and Flip this corner. Check the block diagram for diagonal direction (it should go the opposite way of the left side).
On the same 2.5” x 4.5” red rectangle, Stitch and Flip a 2.5” white square in the bottom RIGHT corner.
Make nine right halves.
Join each left half to a right half to make a complete heart. Nine hearts total.
Make the block rows:
Let’s start from the bottom.
Start with the 4.5” x 5.5” background rectangle. Stitch and Flip a 1.5” square to both the top left and right corners (make sure your rectangle is oriented in the right direction, 5.5” is the height).
Next take one heart and add a 2.5” x 4.5” white strip to both the left and right sides of it. Then sew a 1.5” x 8.5” white strip to the bottom. Add this whole piece to the left of the background rectangle from step 1.
Make the second leg the same way (one heart + a 2.5” x 4.5” white rectangle on both sides, then a 1.5” x 8.5” white strip on the bottom). Add the second leg to the right side of the background rectangle.
Bottom row complete. Set aside for now.
Middle Row:
Working from left to right, start with one heart and sew a 1.5” x 4.5” white strip to the right side.
To the right of that strip, add another heart.
To the right of the second heart, add a 2.5” x 4.5” white strip.
To the right of the 2.5” wide strip, add another heart.
To the right of the third heart sew a 1.5” x 4.5” white strip.
Finish the row with the last heart at the end.
To the bottom of this row, sew a 1.5” x 24.5” white strip.
Middle row complete. Add this row to the top of the bottom row.
Top Row:
Again working from left to right, start with a 2.5” x 4.5” white strip and sew a heart to the right side.
To the right of the heart add another 2.5” x 4.5” white strip.
Sew a second heart to the right of the 2.5” wide strip.
Next comes another 2.5” x 4.5” white strip on the right of the second heart.
The third heart is added to the right of the 2.5” x 4.5” white strip.
Finish the row with a last 2.5” x 4.5” white strip.
To the bottom of this row, sew a 1.5” x 24.5” white strip.
Top row complete. Join it with the middle row.
Finishing the block:
Above the top row of hearts, add the last 1.5” x 24.5” white strip.
Then above that add a 1.5” x 24.5” red strip.
To the left and right side of your patchwork boxers, add a 2.5” x 17.5” background strip. Press towards the background strips.
The 4.5” x 24.5” background strip gets added to the bottom of the block.
Last, sew the 3.5” x 24.5” background strip to the top.
Block complete. Measures 24.5” square.
Congrats crawler. You completed a quest.
The button above will give you a single page PDF diagram of the block. It lists all the cut pieces needed and shows their placements. It does NOT have full step by step instructions written out on it.
Second button is a PDF block diagram for a 12” version of this block. Again it does NOT have full step-by-step instructions on it.
The block construction works the same as the 24” block that is written here.
Not gonna lie…. I’m tempted to start a full quilt of 12” blocks with the boxers all in different colors.
Now get on out there and sew, sew, sew.