Birds in Air Quilt Block

The birds in air quilt block is a traditional quilt block  made with half-square triangles, but not with the traditional half-square triangle unit. This 12” block is made with four birds in air units. For the feature fabrics, you can use two different colours or two shades of the same colour.

The unit in the block is a large half-square triangle and the other half is made up of smaller half-square triangles. That can make it tricky to piece if you use traditional methods.

For this tutorial, I use the technique of paper piecing. But don’t panic! This type of block is a great pattern for beginner paper piecing.

Watch the video and scroll down for a written tutorial with images.

Tutorial

This tutorial is for a 12″ finished block made up of four birds in air units.

Fabric requirements

From each of two feature fabrics:

• 7-1/2” square
• 4-1/2” square

From background:

• – six 4-1/2” squares

Cut all of these squares in half on the diagonal to make half-square triangles.

These pieces look big for the pattern, but that is to make the paper piecing easier. It’s better to cut your pieces slightly larger than you need.

Drafting the paper piecing pattern

To draft the pattern, you will need a piece of graph paper and a ruler. Make sure the graph paper has exactly a 1/4” grid. If it is larger or smaller, your block won’t be the correct size.

On the paper, draw a 6” square and then mark a diagonal line from corner to corner.

On one half of the square, mark lines from the 3” points to the centre of the block and then a diagonal line from the 3” points.

The large triangle and trailing smaller triangle will be made with the feature fabric.

Mark the sections 1-5 as shown in the diagram.

Remember that you will need a 1/4” seam allowance around the edge of the block.

Making the units

You will need four copies of the paper piecing template. You can either draw each one on paper or you can photocopy them.

If you copy them, be sure that they are printing at the exact size and your machine isn’t scaling them. The squares should be exactly 6” square.

Assemble the units with the feature fabric on piece number one, background fabrics on two, three and four and then the feature fabric on piece number five. Join them in order with paper piecing techniques.

If you need a refresher, check out this paper piecing tutorial.

When the units are done, trim to 6-1/2” square and remove the papers.

Block Assembly

There are some different layout options for this block, so choose the one you like the best.

Birds in the same direction

Birds in opposite directions

Some in and some out

All birds pointing in

All birds pointing out

Once you have chosen the layout that you like, join the blocks in pairs and then join the pairs together.

The finished block will be 12-1/2” square.