October Block- Jack-O-Lantern
The crisper weather, colourful leaves and Hallowe’en make October my favourite month of the year. Grinning jack-o-lanterns welcome the season.
(***scroll to the bottom of the page for a printable PDF version of this pattern)
Cutting Instructions (for one 12” finished block- it will be 12 ½” before sewing on 1 ½” strips):
From a variety of orange scraps:
cut twenty-four 2 ½” squares
cut five 3” squares
From black fabric (.25 m / ¼ yd or scraps):
cut two 2 ½” squares
cut five 3” squares
cut 2 strips 1 ½” x 12 ½”
cut 1 strip 1 ½” x 14 ½”
cut 2 strips 1 ½” x 6 ½”
cut 2 strips 1 ¾” x 4” (nose)
Cut one 1 ½” x 2 ½” brown rectangle
Outer border fabric (.25 m / ¼ yd): *** you might not want to cut the outer border lengths until your block is completed with narrow background borders in case seam allowances are not consistent
cut two 3 ½” WOF (width of fabric) strips (cut one 14 ½” and one 20 ½” length from each strip)
Binding: three 2 ½” strips (.25 m / ¼ yd)
Backing: one piece 23” square
Batting: one piece 23” square
Hanging sleeve: one piece 5” x 20 ½”
Sewing instructions:
*** ¼” seam allowances are used throughout. Refer to my Scant Quarter Inch tutorial for your own perfect ¼” seam.
Nose section: two 2 ½” orange squares and the 1 ¾” x 4” black strips
place the 2 orange squares on top of each other with right sides together
mark the centre point (1 ¼”) on the bottom of the top square (figure 1)
mark a point 2 1/8” on the right hand side of the square from the right bottom corner (figure 2)
draw a line from one point to another and cut that little section off (figure 3)
you now have 2 units that are mirror images of each other (figure 4)
figure 1
figure 2
figure 3
figure 4
stitch one of the 1 ¾” x 4” black strips to each cut edge and press seams toward the black (figure 5)...my strips are a little longer because they were already cut from scraps
line up the 2 ½” markings from the ruler on the opposite corner and trim the excess off (figures 6 & 7)
stitch the 2 units together to create the triangular nose, but don't press the seam until it's with the other squares in its row (figures 8 & 9)
figure 5
figure 6
figure 7
figure 8
figure 9
figure 10
Half Square Triangles (HST's): five 3” orange squares and five 3” black squares (the following squares are in different colours, but the technique is the same)
draw a diagonal line on the back of all the 3” orange squares
with right sides together place a black square with an orange square and stitch ¼” from both sides of the drawn line (repeat for all 5 sets) (figure 10)
cut them apart along the drawn line and press towards the black
Trimming HST's: (the following HST's are in different colours...the trimming is the same)
line up the diagonal line from the ruler on top of the seam line making sure that the entire 2 ½” area of the ruler is on top of the HST and trim the excess from the right and top of the square (figures 11 & 12)
turn the HST around, place the 2 ½” markings from the ruler on the already trimmed corner and trim the final 2 sides (figures 13 & 14)...repeat with all HST's
figure 11
figure 12
figure 13
figure 14
Block layout:
lay out the 2 ½' squares and HST's by following the photograph below for placement (figure 15)
stitch squares in each row together and press seams in each row in the opposite direction to the one before it (figure 16)
stitch all rows together lining up seam lines (sorry…forgot to take this picture!)
press seams in one direction
figure 15
figure 16
Narrow borders (figure 17):
stitch 1 ½” x 12 ½” black strips to the sides of the block and press seams toward the strips
stitch one 1 ½” x 14 ½” black strip to the bottom of the block and press seam toward the strip
stitch one black 1 ½” x 6 ½” strip to each side of brown rectangle and press seams to the black
stitch this unit to the top of the block and press seam toward the strip
*** If you plan on making a calendar quilt, just stop with this completed block. If you want to make a wallhanging follow the instructions below.
Outer border:
stitch 3 ½” x 14 ½” outer borders to the sides of the block and press seams toward the borders (figure 18)
stitch 3 ½” x 20 ½” outer borders to the top and bottom of the block and press seams toward the borders (figure 19)
figure 18
figure 19
Finishing:
layer the backing, batting and top together and either spray-baste or pin-baste the layers together
quilt as desired, also run a straight stitch within the seam allowance all around the outer edge...this stabilizes the edge for applying the binding
trim backing and batting even with the quilt top
follow my Hanging Sleeve tutorial
apply the binding using your preferred method (the hanging sleeve will be stitched in place as the binding is sewn on) or follow my Best Ever Binding tutorial