How to Piece a Stars and Stripes Quilt Block

Published: Wed, 06/03/20

Hi ,

Happy June! We're in full summer swing with Mini Block Mondays and this month our theme is Americana for the upcoming national birthday on July 4th. Today's block is all about the classic stars and stripes.

It’s a bit easier than last week’s Patriot Star, and gives you another chance to try those Four at a Time Flying Geese!

Piece a Star and Stripes Quilt Block - Mini Block Monday #22

Do you know what helps me the most? Sharing the video! Please share this video with your quilting friends, or even consider including the photos in your guild newsletter. I would LOVE that!

Looking for a pattern for this Star and Stripes quilt block? It’s all in the video! I’m trying something new with these Mini Block Monday videos and including all the information in the video itself. Just hit “pause” when you need to and write down the pieces to cut.

Is that just not your thing? Here’s a snapshot of the patchwork pieces to get you started:

Buying a Toy Sewing Machine

This weekend I strolled through an antiques & consignment mall and got to see a wide collection of sewing machines, and one particularly stood out: a simple sewing machine from the 80s marketed to children. It made me think of a blog post I wrote a few years ago titled Don't Buy Your Kid a Toy Sewing Machine which was a bit of a rant against the cheap, plastic toy machines that aren't worth the box they are packed in.

I was once given a cheap machine like this when I was around 14 years old. I can remember well the total letdown of that little toy machine - all the parts were cheap plastic and the foot attachment was so wobbly stitching a straight seam was absolutely impossible.

A machine should never be described as flexible, but that is exactly what that flimsy plastic machine was! Click Here to read the rest of my rant on toy sewing machines.

Of course, as soon as I shared this post, several quilters commented to let me know that toy sewing machines weren't ALL bad, or at least they were once built much better, once upon a time.

This ultimately led me to researching different machines and then off to Ebay to see what was available. Yes, after telling you straight up not to buy a toy sewing machine, I then bought myself vintage toy Singer!

This beautiful little machine is a Singer 20, one of the most popular toy sewing machines ever built from 1910 - 1970. It's a hand crank operated chainstitch sewing machine that only requires one top thread (no bobbin).

The design is extremely simple, requiring very few parts which means very few things to break, so even though this machine is between 50 - 75 years old, it still runs beautifully.

So I guess my original toy sewing machine post needs an addition - it's perfectly fine to buy your child a toy sewing machine, so long as it is a vintage toy Singer in good condition! As stated in the little machine manual:

"You'll want to take your machine with you on vacations with the family, weekend visits with friends, and finally to college. Ever ready for mending or making a simple garment."

Clearly this was a machine designed to teach children real sewing skills. I can't wait to get more familiar with this little machine and share a video on how it works next week.

Finally, before we close for this week, here's a video on the vintage Essex sewing machine if you too are interested in these classic great machines!

Let's go quilt,

Leah Day

Sewing on my Essex Minature Sewing Machine!