Mr Roboto – or off-set square – block tutorial

We made it! And here we are finally, a week later. When you see how easy this block is you are probably going to feel like this is the most anti-climactic tutorial ever. It’s that easy. This block was used for the Robot quilt here.
For this particular quilt I started with a 13″ square of fabric per finished block. So in this case, 16 squares because I wanted 16 blocks at the end. (I will say at this time that this method is really quick and easy, but it does use/waste more fabric as a result.)
Start by making one cut 2 1/2″ from the left end of the square. Then make a second cut 4 1/2″ from the first cut.
Take the middle section and cut 2 1/2″ from the top and then 4 1/2″ from the first cut. This will create a 4 1/2″ square in the ‘middle’. You can easily do this part with 3-4 squares of fabric stacked on top of each other. I always do and the cutting for the whole quilt gets done REALLY fast.
Take the center 4 1/2″ square and replace it with a contrasting square. (Always save those squares because you’re going to use them as the contrast in other blocks.) Sew center section together first by sewing top to contrast square and then bottom. Press seams out.
Sew sides back on center section. Don’t worry about matching-up ends, you’re just going to square them off. Press seams again.

I start squaring-off the block using the top of the middle section as my guide.

Now square-off opposite end.

I wanted my finished blocks 11″ square, so I use my cutting mat to measure 11″ from the top and square-off the opposite end.

Then I square-off other opposing sides to get an 11″ square block.

Ta-dah! Can you believe it? Easy-peasy-chunky-cheesy.

Now, you can use this method to make any old size of off-set blocks you want. For this baby quilt I wanted my finished blocks to be 10 1/2″ blocks to make a 4 x 4 block quilt measuring 42″ x 42″. You could probably start with a smaller 12 1/2″ square if your are careful. If you want smaller finished blocks you could start with a smaller square of fabric, but make sure it’s at least 1 1/2″ bigger than what you want to square-up to.

Don’t worry if each of your blocks are a little different or imperfect. Remember, wonky is cool and this quilt is all about not being perfectly centered.

As I explained above, this method does create more waste as you square-up but it’s a much faster method because you don’t have to measure and pre-cut all the individual pieces. So you may have to weigh the waste/ease ratio and decide if it’s for you.

In the mean time, have fun! It’s so quick and a great stash-buster. I’m excited to try it on other projects and in different sizes. I’d love to see what you do with it too.