two ways to make a diamond quilt top with courthouse Steps Blocks
I received a fun question the other day asking about how to approach figuring out a cutting plan to make a quilt top using Courthouse Steps quilt blocks that creates a scrappy diamond layout (thank you, LF, for writing in!).
The trick to this quilt is that the diamonds are “completed” across the blocks. This can turn this quilt top into a little bit of a brain teaser to figure out how to calculate your fabrics!
When I first sat down to come up with a step-by-step for this Courthouse Steps layout, I found my brain going in circles: do I start with the coloring sheet layout first? How many fabrics do I need? What’s the best layout of the diamonds? And what do I do if it’s scrappy?
But, then I started thinking in terms of blocks of solid fabric and that unlocked the puzzle for me. Follow along below to read my back-of-the-envelope approach to planning this quilt!
Before we begin, Determine your block layout
No matter what size quilt or layout option you make (see more below), the first step is to figure out the size and layout of your block.
You’ll notice that I am not being specific in spelling out block size, number of steps, or the width of those steps. This how-to is a general guide for how to do the back-of-the-envelope math for figuring out your cutting plan.
And while I do give examples of making a 14" finished block using 2½" wide steps, it should work for any square size Courthouse Steps block with equal width steps, regardless of the number of steps (though, it may look slightly different than the illustrations below which demonstrate the 14" finished block with 2½" wide steps).
If you decide to use a larger center piece (a classic variation on the Courthouse Steps block!), you may need to adjust the below.
My approach
Once I realized that it’d be easier if I approach my cutting as if each Courthouse Steps block was made from a single fabric, everything started to fall in place. And yes, I realize that this sounds a little counterintuitive as we want the diamonds to “dance” across the blocks, and we want each block to be made with different selection of fabrics, but stay with me here!
If you think about laying out your quilt top pieces and sorting them into diamonds, it turns out each Courthouse Steps “block set” of pieces will provide two diamonds for the quilt top, one horizontal and one vertical:
One “block set” breaks down…
…and becomes two diamonds!
Deciding on a layout
Once I started thinking about it in this way, the path to figuring out my cutting plan became much more straightforward. There was just one more thing to decide: what kind of diamond layout did I want?
With the approach illustrated above, I end up with two different sized diamonds. Which could turn into a lovely top like this:
But what if I wanted my diamonds to be more equal in size? I couldn’t use the same approach as above…
Creating same-ish sized diamonds
So, if I want to create a quilt top with same-ish sized Diamonds, the one-block approach above wouldn’t work. Why? Because I can’t come up with two similarly sized diamonds from one “block set” to make a quilt top like this one:
To get this effect of similar-sized diamonds, I needed to remember that I would be rotating every other block by 90 degrees to “balance out” the blocks.
And to account for this rotation, I needed to think in groups of two “block sets” to have enough pieces to create my diamonds. Not a big problem, but something to keep in mind!
Two blocks (one rotated!) get divided up like so…
…to create four diamonds!
Once you decide on which layout you’d like to make, it’s time to sort out your cutting plan!
How to Approach the Two-Sized Diamonds Layout
If you want to make a quilt top with two different sized diamonds, read on for how I would approach figuring out my cutting plan.
When it comes to fabrics, the more the merrier! I would suggest at least six so that it’s easy to make sure each diamond is a different fabric that its neighbor (illustrated here), though you can make it work with five.
The Block-by-Block Breakdown (A Reminder)
Before diving in, don’t forget that you’re thinking in terms of single blocks like so:
A single block gets broken down like so…
…to create two different sized diamonds!
Figuring out your Cutting Plan Step-by-Step
Decide how many blocks your quilt top will have.
Decide out how many fabrics you want to play with.
Divide the number of blocks by the number of fabrics.
If this is a whole number, great! This will be the number of block “sets” you’ll need to cut from each fabric (jump ahead to Step 6).
If this is a decimal (very likely), then you need to decide how to “divide” up your blocks by fabric. For some of your fabrics you will round up to the nearest whole number and for some you will round down. For example, if you’re making 20 blocks and working with 6 fabrics, your math is 20 / 6 = 3.33, which means you’ll be cutting enough fabric for (4) blocks from some of your fabrics and (3) blocks for others. If it was me, I would plan to cut the following:
Fabric A and Fabric B: (4) blocks
Fabric C, D, E, and F: (3) blocks
Once you have figured out how many “block sets” per fabric, then you’ll just need to cut that many “block sets” from your fabric.
Cutting instructions example
Now, if you’re making a 14" finished Courthouse Steps blocks with 2½" wide steps, then this is the width of fabric (WOF) that you would need to cut for one block if you’re working with yardage:
Cut (3) 2½" x WOF, and then subcut those as follows:
2½" x WOF (1): 2½" x 14½" (2); 2½" x 6½" (2)
2½" x WOF (1): 2½" x 10½" (4)
2½" x WOF (1): 2½" x 6½" (2); 2½" x 2½" (3)
And just multiply that by however many blocks you need to cut for each fabric! If you’re looking for step-by-step directions for how to assemble your Courthouse Steps block, make sure to check out this how-to.
How to Approach the similar Sized Diamonds Layout
Below I’ve captured how I would approach coming up with a cutting plan for the similar size Diamonds quilt top.
When it comes to fabrics, the name of the game is the more the merrier! I would suggest at least six so that it’s easy to make sure each diamond is a different fabric that its neighbor, though you can make it work with five (illustrated here).
One quick note to make: while you are thinking through this quilt top in pairs, you can have a fabric or two with an odd number of blocks and just use those blocks when “filling in” the border.
So if you’ve got an odd number of blocks in your quilt top or an odd fabric you want to sneak in, feel free! Just remember that the “odd” blocks will go around the border.
The Block-by-Block Breakdown (A Reminder)
Remember, you’re thinking in terms of blocks in pairs like so:
Two blocks (one rotated!) get divided up like so…
…to create four similar-sized diamonds!
Figuring out your Cutting Plan Step-by-Step
Decide how many blocks your quilt will have
Figure out how many fabrics you want to play with
Decide how to divide up your blocks by fabric, just remember that each number of blocks needs to be a multiple of two*. For example, if you’re making 20 blocks, and…
You’re working with five fabrics, then I would plan to cut (4) blocks of each Fabric.
If you’re working with six fabrics, then I would cut (4) blocks from Fabric A, B, C, D, and (2) blocks from Fabric E and F
Once you have figured out how many “block sets” per fabric, then you’ll just need to cut that many “block sets” from your fabric!
* Technically, you can have an odd number and just use the half diamonds from those blocks when “filling in” the border. So if you’ve got an odd number of blocks in your quilt top or an odd fabric you want to sneak in, feel free! Just remember that the “odd” blocks will go around the border.
Cutting instructions example
Now, if you’re making a 14" finished Courthouse Steps blocks with 2½" wide steps, then this is the width of fabric (WOF) that you would need to cut for two blocks:
Cut (5) 2½" x WOF, and then subcut those as follows:
2½" x WOF (2): 2½" x 14½" (2); 2½" x 6½" (2)
2½" x WOF (2): 2½" x 10½" (4)
2½" x WOF (1): 2½" x 6½" (4); 2½" x 2½" (6)
And just multiply that by however many blocks you need to cut! If you’re looking for step-by-step directions for how to assemble your Courthouse Steps block, make sure to check out this how-to.
One more variation idea
If you want to have each center square be another different color (the dark red in the example below) then you simply need to cut one less 2½" x 2½" piece for each block and then cut enough center 2½" x 2½" pieces for each block in your quilt top.
Diamond (Same-ish Sized) with Center Squares
“Plaid” Diamonds (Two Sizes) with Center Squares
Next Steps: Turn it into a quilt!
If you’re looking to make a quilt top using 14" finished Courthouse Steps block with 2½" steps as described above, here’s how many I would suggest sewing to make the following quilt sizes:
Crib (42" x 56"): 12 blocks
Throw (56" x 70"): 20 blocks
Twin (70" x 98"): 35 blocks
Full/Queen (98" x 112"): 56 blocks
King (112" x 112"): 64 blocks
One more thing to keep in mind
Remember that some of your diamond pairs will be “broken up” to fill in the border. So, before you dive into sewing, make sure you know which blocks are going to be a “border” block and which are going to be “inner” blocks and have full diamonds when all sewn together.
Which leads me to my final suggestion when working on this kind of quilt top…
And one last suggestion!
Regardless of whether you’re making a Diamond quilt or the Plaid variation, I would definitely recommend working with a coloring sheet here to plan your layout.
Because you’re working a design across blocks, having an illustrated plan will help know which fabric goes into each block. And to play it extra-safe (because I really don’t enjoy using my seam ripper if I can avoid it), I would physically lay out my pieces too!
Looking for Complete pattern arrangements?
If you’re looking for complete pattern instructions to make a Crib, Throw, Twin, Full/Queen, or King size quilt using a variety of Log Cabin or Courthouse Step quilts block layouts, you can find a selection of classic quilt block arrangements in the shop!