3.7/8″ squares: one each in white and yellow, white and blue, white and green, white and red
3.7/8″ by 6.7/8″ rectangles: four white and four coloured as above
3.1/2″ squares: four white
Make half square triangle units
Make half square triangle units with the 3.7/8″ squares. Place a white square right sides together with a coloured square and mark a line along the diagonal. Sew a 1/4″ seam either side of the marked line and cut along the line. This will produce two half square triangle units which are now 3.1/2″ squares.
Make half rectangle triangles
Make half rectangle triangles with the rectangles. Cut each rectangle along one diagonal to create two triangles. Place a white rectangle with a coloured rectangle to re form a rectangle. Sew the two triangles together along the diagonal seam. Press the seam allowances towards the coloured fabric and trim the two corners where fabric sticks out. I always cut the rectangles from the folded fabric (as it comes from the shop) so I end up with two different half rectangle triangle units which are mirror images of each other.
Fancy foot quilt block layout
Each quarter of the fancy foot quilt block is made with a half rectangle triangle, a half square triangle and a white square. Sew the three pieces together within each quarter and then sew the quarters to each other to complete the quilt block.
Alternate layout
The layout above uses only one half rectangle triangle unit in each colour. In order to use up the remaining ones, I designed a block which is similar to the true fancy foot quilt block but with two significant differences: in this alternate block the feet all point towards the middle (rather than pointing in an anti clockwise direction in the original block) and there is a white square formed in the middle, rather than the diamond formed in the original block. It is sewn together in the same way by completing the quarters first and then sewing the quarters together.
Basic fancy foot quilt design
For quilt suggestions, I have shown sixteen blocks sewn together in four rows of four. This would make a bright and cheerful scrappy quilt.
Alternate quilt design
In order to use both versions of the block, the design shown here uses eight blocks of each type alternating across the rows. I feel that this design gives a more interesting quilt – and it uses up all the patchwork pieces!
Here’s the video: