Tut - Four Square Square Illusion Quilts

The bestie sent me this pic from Pinterest.

I told her I loved it and she told me the post did not link anywhere (don't you hate that?!). I decided I would figure out how to make it since I have a bit of extra time...  I rifled through my fabric, found six pieces that didn't clash (I'm terribly terrible at choosing coordinating fabrics) and got started.
First I wrote out my pattern. I write out most of my quilts like this. I have a notebook full of future quilts that I want to make.

I just did the first two rows since the rest of the quilt is these two rows repeating.

So after I planned it out, I cut the squares into 4.5". I have a ruler for this, which makes it SO much easier. This quilt is actually pretty awesome because you don't have to worry about accuracy as much as you normally do. 

my apologies for the quality, these are taken with my iPhone

Then pair the squares from the first row, top and bottom with right sides facing (so B on A, D on C, etc). I put the two sets of pairs that make each square with each other. And then do the same with the second row.

F on A, D on E

two pairs together

I put them together so I can chain stitch them. I've found in this case it makes it easier, although I'm not normally a chain stitcher (I hesitate too much for it to be productive). 

So, after you get all of your pieces paired then chain stitch the two pairs for each block.

chainstitching - sewing one right after another without cutting the thread

the two chain stitched

Once you have all of one row chain stitched you will sew those together to make the four square square. Open each pair, lay them right sides together, then sew. (I always double check to make sure I'm laying them correctly so the pattern is right, but I'm paranoid)

Open them

right sides together

Once you've sewn all of your squares you will need to starch and press (not iron) them so you can trim them. The difference between pressing and ironing is laying the iron on the fabric and moving it around. Moving the fabric around it can stretch and distort it. Spray the fabric with starch on the right side, flip it over, press the fabric on the wrong side with seams towards the darker pieces. (I'm surprised by how long you can leave an iron face down on fabric and it won't burn. I've always thought it would leave a burn mark rather quickly, but it doesn't - especially if you have good fabric.) Spray the back with starch and flip it over and press the front. 

finished block, before starching

starching

pressing

pressed (you can even see that it lays flatter)

Once they are all pressed you'll cut them so they are wonky. The way that i did it so they could stay uniform was using a combination of my cutting mat and a 6.5" ruler. I lined the square up at the 7.5" mark on the left and the 8.5" on the right. That's just the angle that appealed to me the most, you could do more or less, whichever you like. I tried to keep the center of the ruler near the center of the sqaure, but (like I said) this dquare is fantastic because it really does camouflage flaws.

If you don't have a ruler that is smaller than your four square sqaure you can use one larger. This is a 12.5" square. You would just line it up with the lines on the cutting mat to the desired size (6.5 for me) on one side and then do the same on the other side.

Once you have  your four square squares cut at a wonky angle put them in order from left to right for each row. You will then pair them top to bottom, right sides facing each other, so you can sew them together. 

two rows of wonky squares

first square on top row, first square on second row, right sides facing each other

all six colums laid out, ready to sew

Sew them, two by two, the do the same thing with the two squares sewed together for the row. So, the first sqaure of row one and the first square of row two are sewn together, you will then sew those with the second square of row one and the second square of row two by putting the together, right sides facing, and sewing.

four squares of four square squares ;)

Then once you have the two rows sewn together you will starch and press them. Then create your next two rows and sew those rows to the first two rows... and so on and so forth. 

It really is neat how something that looks difficult is actually pretty easy. Time consuming, yes, but easy.

On a side note, when I am sewing something big like two rows to each other I will glue baste them to keep them in line. It's relatively easy to keep squares together, but big things can get out of line. If you are interested in glue basting (I much prefer it to pinning) you can read about it on PileOFabric.