Signature Blocks

Today, I'd like to introduce you to signature block components. Signature blocks are often used for... well... signatures! Often, the signature block components are cut from light colored solid fabric, to provide a place for signatures. People sign the signature portion of the blocks, and then the blocks are made into a memory quilt, usually given as a gift from a group of people. You can see lots of exampes on Pinterest.

However, signature blocks don't have to be used just for signatures! They can be great shortcut pieces to make complex-looking, yet very simple-to-make quilts. For example, this quilt medallion contains signature blocks. They're the dark green 'V' shapes surrounded by light background fabric:

 

As you can see in the picture below, having the dog ears already trimmed from the HSTs is going to make stitching a 1/4" seam much easier! Not only do you have a point of beginning and ending clearly marked by the trimmed angle, but you don't have a 'triangle tip' that your sewing machine feed dogs want to grab hold of and eat! Two HSTs sewn to both long sides of a signature block make a square.

 

Below is an example of a quilt top made from signature blocks:

This quilt is super-easy to put together.  This pre-cut quilt kit is available here.