What are and Adding Sashing & Cornerstones

 

Something didn’t look quite right while I was playing around my Garden Tile blocks made with the fabrics from my Summer Streets curated bundle for Art Gallery Fabrics. The blocks almost looked like they got lost amongst each other as I was laying them out to form a baby quilt top (as shown in the photos above).

 

This blog post provides you with the yardage, cutting directions and quilt top layout for baby, throw, twin, queen and king sizes for sashing, cornerstones, backing and binding fabrics only. It excludes yardage for the individual  Garden Tile quilt blocks in between. The Garden Tile pattern is block based and fabric requirements for each block are in the pattern which can be downloaded here. It’s also assumed in the block pattern that you’d either be using scraps, fat quarters or eighths in your stash to make them. 

If you're keen on replicating the blocks shown in example above, check out my blog post on the 16 variations of my Garden Tile block. 

 

Sashing and Cornerstones

Before we get down to the nitty gritty stuff like fabric requirements and cutting directions, let’s talk about what sashing and cornerstones are, and what they could do to the overall look of a quilt design.
 

Sashing (yellow in the diagram above) are strips of fabric that help unify or divide quilt blocks from each other. They are found between blocks, in rows and columns of a quilt design. Sashing strips are rectangles, usually of the same width throughout the design and the length of the sashing strips are determined by the length and width of the quilt block. For example, if the quilt block size is 12in square (finished size) and the width of the sashing strips throughout the project are 2in (finished size), then add ½in to the finished size to take into account the ¼in seam allowance on each edge of the sashing strip. Thereby, when you cut your sashing strips, each of them should measure 12½in x 2½in (unfinished size).  

Cornerstones (navy in the diagram above) are squares found between the sashing strips and located at the corners of the quilt blocks. Cornerstones don’t necessarily have to be plain squares or cut from the one fabric. You could get a little creative and use smaller quilt blocks (i.e., half-square triangles, quarter square triangles, four-patches) that are of the same width of the sashing strips. For example, if the width of the sashing strips used throughout the project are 2½in (unfinished size), then the cornerstones should each measure 2½in square (unfinished size). Taking into the ¼in seam allowance, the finished size of the cornerstone mentioned in this example would measure as a 2in square. So essentially, taking the same idea as above, you would add ½in to the finished size to determine the size of the fabric you need to cut.   

As previously mentioned, you may consider using sashing and cornerstones to help unify or frame blocks, in particular with sampler quilts that have a variety of quilt block designs. Sashing also helps increase quilt dimensions. So, if you ever find a pattern that’s not quite the size you’re after, consider adding sashing and cornerstones to overcome that barrier. By using contrasting prints or coloured fabrics you could also change the overall look and feel of the design or help add negative space and breathing room for the eyes.

 

 Fabric Requirements and Cutting Directions

The following set of instructions are based on adding sashing and cornerstones with a 2in width (finished size) and 12in square quilt blocks (finished size) to make a baby, throw, twin queen and king size quilt, as well as binding and backing fabrics for each size.

Fabric requirements and cutting directions for the blocks between the sashing are excluded. The Garden Tile pattern is block based and fabric requirements for each block is in the pattern which can be downloaded here. It’s also assumed that you’d either be using scraps, fat quarters or eighths in your stash to make them. However, with that said, you can choose to use other quilt blocks in between the sashing and cornerstones, as long as they are 12in square quilt blocks (finished size). 

Quilt size	Number of 12in square quilt blocks (peach)	Sashing Fabric (yellow)	Cornerstone Fabric  (navy)	Backing Fabric	Binding Fabric
Baby 54in x 54in (138cm x 138cm)	Total of 16 blocks, 4 rows of 4 blocks	⅝ yd (58 cm) 8 strips, 2½in x WOF, sub-cut: 24 rectangles, 2½in x 12½in	⅛ yd (12 cm) 1 strip, 2½in x WOF, sub-cut: 9 squares, 2½in	3½ yds (321 cm)	½ yd (46 cm) 6 strips, 2½in x WOF
Throw 68in x 68in (173cm x 173cm)	Total of 25 blocks, 5 rows of 5 blocks	1⅛ yds (103 cm) 14 strips, 2½in x WOF, sub-cut: 40 rectangles, 2½in x 12½in	⅛ yd (12 cm) 1 strip, 2½in x WOF, sub-cut: 16 squares, 2½in	4¼ yds (389 cm)	⅝ yd (58 cm) 8 strips, 2½in x WOF
Twin 68in x 82in (173cm x 209cm)	Total of 30 blocks, 6 rows of 5 blocks	1¼ yds (115 cm)   17 strips, 2½in x WOF, sub-cut: 49 rectangles, 2½in x 12½in	¼ yd (23 cm) 2 strips, 2½in x WOF, sub-cut: 20 squares, 2½in	5 yds (458 cm)	⅝ yd (58 cm) 8 strips, 2½in x WOF
Queen 96in x 82in (244cm x 209cm)	Total of 42 blocks, 6 rows of 7 blocks	1¾ yds (161 cm) 24 strips, 2½in x WOF, sub-cut: 71 rectangles, 2½in x 12½in	¼ yd (23 cm) 2 strips, 2½in x WOF, sub-cut: 30 squares, 2½in	7½ yds (686 cm)	¾ yd (69 cm) 10 strips, 2½in x WOF
King 110in x 96in (280cm x 244cm)	Total of 56 blocks, 7 rows of 8 blocks	2⅜ yds (218 cm) 33 strips, 2½in x WOF, sub-cut: 97 rectangles, 2½in x 12½in	¼ yd (23 cm) 3 strips, 2½in x WOF, sub-cut: 42 squares, 2½in	8¾ yds (801 cm)	⅞ yd (80cm) 11 strips, 2½in x WOF

  

Directions

Step 1: Create 1 Row A unit by sewing together 12½in square Quilt Blocks and Sashing 2½in x 12½in rectangles. Starting with one Quilt Block, and alternating the Quilt Block and Sashing rectangle. Press the seams as you go.

 

Each Row A contains the following:

Baby	4 Quilt Blocks 3 Sashing rectangles
Throw	5 Quilt Blocks 4 Sashing rectangles
Twin	5 Quilt Blocks 4 Sashing rectangles
Queen	7 Quilt Blocks 6 Sashing rectangles
King	8 Quilt Blocks 7 Sashing rectangles

Repeat this step to create a total of: 4 Row A units for Baby size, 5 Row A units for Throw size, 6 Row A units for Twin size, 6 Row A units for Queen size and 7 Row A units for King size. Set units aside for step 3.

Step 2: Create 1 Row B unit by sewing together Sashing 2½in x 12½in rectangles and Cornerstone 2½in squares. Starting with one Sashing rectangle, and alternating the Sashing rectangle and Cornerstone square. Press the seams as you go.

 

Each Row B contains the following:

Baby	4 Sashing rectangles 3 Cornerstone squares
Throw	5 Sashing rectangles 4 Cornerstone squares
Twin	5 Sashing rectangles 4 Cornerstone squares
Queen	7 Sashing rectangles 6 Cornerstone squares
King	8 Sashing rectangles 7 Cornerstone squares

Repeat this step to create a total of: 3 Row B units for Baby size, 4 Row B units for Throw size, 5 Row B units for Twin size, 5 Row B units for Queen size and 6 Row B units for King size.  

Step 3: For all quilt sizes, sew together Row A and Row B units. Starting with Row A and alternating the two types of Rows. Press the seams as you go. See below corresponding quilt top layouts: 

Step 4: Press the quilt top and backing fabric. Baste, quilt and bind as desired.

 

Like what you see? Download the Garden Tile quilt block pattern here, check out Garden Tile 16 different ways blog post and search for “Art Gallery Fabrics Summer Streets bundle” in your web browser to find where you could get your hands on one of my curated fat quarter bundles. If you like the prints from the bundle and need to order yardage for your project, click here to view the fabric details from the bundle.