Bear's Track Quilt Block
The bear’s track quilt block is a cute block for sure. After looking at the construction I knew I wanted to assemble this quilt block differently than the book suggests.
Summer Moon Overview
I realized with this block and by flipping through the rest of the book, that the wiggle room for sewing the half-square triangles were too small for me. So with all the fabric squares that create half-square triangles, I cut them 1/8th” bigger. This way your sewing don’t have to be perfect for those HSTs to be perfect.
Tips and Tricks
The trouble that I and other quilters have is shrinkage…in quilt blocks. The more seams you add the more the shrinkage.
This is where my math enthusiasm came into play. I decided I was going to strip-piece the 4 patches in the block so there was less shrinkage. I cut my strips 1/4” wider and a bit longer than needed to give myself some wiggle room. I like lots of room.
Now the trick is to figure out what size my 4-patch squares needed to measure. Thankfully, I was able to figure this out and I am happy to pass it on to you.
Cut each block to measure…
- Small 4-Patch: 1 3/4” square
- Medium 4-Patch: 2 1/4” square
- Large 4-Patch: 2 3/4” square
This means you should measure your blocks….
- Small: 7/8”
- Medium. 1 1/8”
- Large: 1 3/8”
From the center of the 4-patch out. Diagram Below
This is only for the 4-patch block if you stripped-pieced it like me.
Once I had my 4 patches complete I added the claws to my paws. This is simple as you would sew together two claws together. Then another set of two claws and a background square. Be aware of your orientation
Sew together your two claws to your 4-patch. Then sew your final set of claws with the background to the rest of the paw.
The only other deviation I made to this is the pressing directions. I pressed everything open for the bear paws. Then I pressed to the side when I sewed the fabrics C and F for the final assembly. This helped with keeping your points nice and allows your seams to nest.
Was this helpful in making sewing the Bears Track quilt block easier? What tip was the most helpful? I would love to know in the comments below.
