ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A FUN NEW QUILT BLOCK FOR ALL THOSE HALF-SQUARE TRIANGLES YOU HAVE HANGING AROUND? MIX AND MATCH THEM INTO A GORGEOUS DUTCH PINWHEEL!
I was scrolling through Pinterest the other day, as I often do, and saw this beautiful, complicated-looking block called the Dutch Pinwheel quilt block. It was love at first sight! I decided I needed to know just how to put this lovely design together.
And now I’m sharing it with you!
I don’t know about you, but I often stumble upon some really cute fabrics whenever I clean my sewing room. After uncovering these adorable Spring-themed charm packs, I decided to make room for a “quick” new project. Even though I literally have other quilts on my sewing table!
My plan was to pair the Welcome Spring charms with another charm pack of low-volume prints, Hush Hush 2 by Riley Blake. I paired the two charm packs and created 84 HSTs, planning to make a slightly larger version of my Simply Charming Pinwheels wall quilt.
However, as I said, I was on Pinterest and stumbled upon the gorgeous Dutch Pinwheel quilt block and decided to make the switch before I got any further.
Luckily, I had not yet started stitching anything together other than my HSTs so it was simply a matter of deciding on the layout.
Supplies for the Dutch Pinwheel Quilt Block
Once again, we will be starting our project by choosing our fabrics. This block really lends itself nicely to a fairly scrappy look. I’ve chosen to use a Welcome Spring Charm Pack by Andover Fabrics, which was in my stash, paired with Hush Hush 2 by Riley Blake.
Each Dutch Pinwheel quilt block is built entirely from half-square triangles, which makes it such a great skill-building project. I started with a charm pack to keep things simple — it’s amazing how versatile HSTs can be when arranged in different ways.
This is a great stash-buster, as you can make these blocks really scrappy, plus you can choose any fabrics you like in any size you like!
Go ahead and gather up your basic quilting supplies:
- Rotary cutter and mat – You can absolutely use a good pair of scissors, but I do find that you get the most accurate cuts using a rotary cutter.
- Quilting Ruler
- Sewing machine
- Thread
- Iron and ironing board or pressing mat
- Pins or clips
- Fabric marker
- Spray starch – optional for this project.
FABRIC + NOTIONS FOR EVERY PROJECT
From charm packs and jelly rolls to rulers and thread, Fat Quarter Shop is packed with everything a quilter or sewist could need. It’s one of my first stops when planning a project.
An easy way to be prepared for any project is to keep all your quilting tools in one place by creating a Portable Sewing Room.
If you have a ton of scraps that you plan to make into HSTs, you could use a cutting tool like the Accuquilt to make your life a little easier!
To see how I put my Dutch Pinwheel quilt blocks together, you can watch my YouTube video here:
Remember to SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel and turn on your notifications so that you never miss a project!
For full instructions, keep on reading below.
Dutch Pinwheel Quilt Block: Step-by-Step Instructions
Start by preparing your Half Square Triangles. I have a full tutorial on Half Square Triangles that will be very helpful if you are new to quilting!
Each Dutch Pinwheel uses 16 HSTs. These can be any size. I’m using Charm Packs for this projects, so my HSTs will be 4 ½” unfinished and 4″ finished. My full quilt block will be 16″ finished.
FOR MORE DUTCH PINWHEEL QUILT BLOCK SIZES, BE SURE TO VISIT THE HANDMADE HOME LIBRARY!
I’ve taken the mystery out of the math for you. It’s a free download to help you make the most of this tutorial. Just click the HERE to visit the HANDMADE HOME LIBRARY and download your FREE copy!
As you can see from my diagram below, the centre of this quilt block is a simple pinwheel.
Here’s a digital version of the Dutch Pinwheel quilt block to help visualize fabric placement. Playing with contrast and print scale really helps the pinwheel design stand out — especially when mixing florals with low-volume text and polka dots.
To the top, bottom, left and right of the centre pinwheel, you’ll be placing two HSTs in a modified Flying Geese pattern.
The corners are the remaining four HSTs. I’ve chosen to put the low volume fabric to the outside, but you can switch this up any way you like. You can see that on each side of the corner HST, you make an hourglass.
And that’s it! These quilt blocks look very complex, but really are very simple to piece together.
I know that I’ll be using this block in lots of my upcoming projects!
This Dutch Pinwheel quilt block came together beautifully with soft vintage-style fabrics in shades of pink, aqua, and cream. I love how the prints add a playful, nostalgic charm without overwhelming the design.
For more of my Essential Building Blocks of Quilting, be sure to check out these tutorials:
- How to Make Half Square Triangles: Essential Building Blocks of Quilting
- How to Make a Four-Patch Quilt Block: Essential Building Blocks of Quilting
- How to Make a Nine Patch Quilt Block: Essential Building Blocks of Quilting
- How to Make a Churn Dash Quilt Block: Essential Building Blocks of Quilting
- How to Make an Hourglass Quilt Block: Essential Building Blocks of Quilting
If you’d like some inspiration on how I use these essential quilt blocks in patterns, you can check out my Etsy shop! Specifically, visit these patterns:
- Nine-Patch: TREAT TRAIL HALLOWEEN QUILT PATTERN
- Half-Square Triangles: SIMPLY CHARMING PINWHEELS
- Four-Patch: HARVEST PATCH QUILT PATTERN
- Hourglass: HOURGLASS QUILT PATTERN
Want to remember this? Save “Dutch Pinwheel Quilt Block: Making Use of Half-Square Triangles” to your favourite Pinterest boards!
