I loved making Jenny from the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt and not just because it put this ear worm in my head for days. It’s another block that creates the sense of movement through the use of the angled piecing and I love it. The block comes together really quickly, you just need to pay attention to cutting the shapes. I thought this block was the perfect excuse to cut into some of my treasured Lizzy House (The Lovely Hunt) and Tula Pink (True Colours). They play so nicely together and the Carolyn Friedlander print from Botanics gives a nice focal point in the middle. (Those middle two triangles are a great place to use a print that has white in it if you’re planning on sashing in white because they don’t “touch” any sashing so you won’t lose your points.)

Tutorial: Block #45 “Jenny”General Information

• I pressed my seams open.
• I used a Schmetz 70/10 needle.
• I used 50wt Aurifil #2600 (Dove) thread for piecing.
• I used the From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates Set A.
• I used  Flatter by Soak in Yuzu 248ml as my starch.
• Fabrics shown in the tutorial are from the Gnome Angel Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Bundle from Fat Quarter Shop.

If you’d like to know “My Top 10 Beginners Patchworking Tools” you can find them by clicking here.

Measurements for the pieces needed to construct this block will not be provided in this tutorial. It is a pre-requiste of making this block that you have a copy of the book, The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird – available from: Amazon | Pink Door Fabrics | Fat Quarter Shop | The Quilting Company | Interweave (Affiliate Links). Measurements can be found in this book and it’s associated media.

On Point Blocks

Please note I am not doing my blocks on-point. If you are fussy cutting your blocks please be mindful of your fabric placement so that the motif will sit correctly if you decide to put your blocks on-point.

Conversion Chart

You can find the From Marti Michell Patchwork Template Conversion Charts by clicking here.

Helpful Links & Videos

Marti Michell shows you how to cut using your ruler and templates:

For another video on this template set click here.

How to Make the Block

General advice:

• Tolerance Levels: you need to decide what is an acceptable tolerance level for “mistakes”. For example if your blocks are consistently 6¼” instead of 6.5″ are you ok with this. Or if your seams matching are less than an eight of an inch “off” are you ok with this. There’s no hard or fast rule and it’s different for everyone, so remember it’s your quilt so make your decision for you.
• Press your seams at each step. Click here for a great article on how to press your seams for patchwork.
• You can iron and starch your fabric prior to cutting. I also starch when pressing bulky seams.
• When pinning, pin away from you so that you don’t move your pieces when pinning.
• Where possible I chain piece all the pieces I can in one step. If you’re unsure of what chain piecing is, click here for a tutorial on how to do it. However, for the purpose of the tutorials I will step you through all the seams individually.

Please note: This tutorial shows how to use the From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates Set A to make this block. Parallelograms are directional. Unless you are working with hand dyes or most batiks, you cannot turn them over to point the “other” direction. These point to the upper right. Please read all instructions before starting the block.

1. Cutting 45B with the From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates Set A: Cut two strips of 2″ x 10.5″ pieces of your fabric. For greater stability (less chance of stretching) cut them on the lengthwise grain (parallel to the selvage).

Tip: This tutorial will show you the way to cut the pieces if you are right handed. If you are left handed there are additional cutting instructions specifically for left handed cutting on the conversion chart.2. Stack these strips on top of each other, right sides (print) facing up on all pieces. Place them on your cutting board so that they are angled up to the right of you (as per diagram 2). To help with this I imagined that the strips formed the longest side of a right angled triangle. To illustrate this I’ve drawn in the two lines of the right angle on diagram 2.

3. Pay careful attention to how you position the template for this step. Position the template on the strip of fabric as per diagram 3. Please not the position of the template, you need to line up the first corner of the top of the triangle (where the arrow is pointing) with the corner of the strip closest to you. When you make this cut you will need to continue your rotary cutter past the edge of the template in a straight line (see diagram 4). Do not cut the engineered corners. Diagram 3a shows a complete view of the template and the strip.

4. Once you have cut away the first corner of your strip (as per diagram 4) you need to line up your template again (as per diagram 4) and cut the engineered corners. I have circled the only corner you need to cut in this step – it’s the one with the arrow pointing to it in diagram 4.

5. Rotate the template and align one 45° corner at the top of the cut edge, as per diagram 5. Cut at the right side edge and trim the corners. This will make your first 2 parallelogram.

6. Repeat steps 3 to 5 to make the remaining parallelograms. Your parallelograms should look like diagram 6.

7. Use your rotary cutter and ruler to cut all remaining pieces required for the block as per the instructions in the book. Cutting instructions can be found on the disc that came with the book. Block directions are located on page 204. You can also use the cutting instructions on the conversion chart. I have used the From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates Set A and accompanying conversion chart to cut all my pieces for this block.

8. With this block we will be working from the outside in. You need to join 45A to 45B, as per diagram 8.  This step can be chain pieced to make the 4 large parallelograms that make up this block.

 

9. Join the the remaining 45A pieces to the tops of your parallelograms as per diagram 9. Note the engineered corners will line up as per the arrows in diagram 9.  This step can be chain pieced to make the 4 large triangles that make up this block.

10. Join two large triangles together to make one half of the block, as per diagram 10. Pay careful attention to lining up the straight seam (as indicated by the arrows in diagram 10). Repeat for the remaining 2 triangles.  This step can be chain pieced to make the 2 halves that make up this block.

11. Join the two halves of the block together. Pay attention to lining up the seams as indicated by arrows in diagram 11. Shazam! You just made Jenny.

Book Details

The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird – available from: Amazon | Pink Door Fabrics | Fat Quarter Shop | The Quilting Company | Interweave (Affiliate Links).

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase those items through my links I will earn a very small commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link, in fact in some cases I can offer you a better price via an affiliate link. I will not recommend something that I do not use myself. These commissions help me keep being able to provide you with great content for free. Thank you, in advance for your support!