There’s something so relaxing about hand piecing a quilt block. Slowing down, stitching each piece together, and watching the design come to life—it’s like a little bit of magic with every stitch!
In this post, I’m sharing how to hand piece a Swirling Star quilt block. It might look a little tricky at first, but take it one step at a time, and you’ll have a gorgeous block before you know it.
If you prefer you can watch the YouTube video tutorial here. Get your FREE template here!
Have fun picking your fabrics, you can go super scrappy or keep it more uniform.
First things first—cut out your fabric pieces. Accuracy is super important when hand piecing, so take your time tracing around the template onto the fabric. I use a Patchwork Board to help with this.
Now for the fun part! Grab two pieces and pin through your marked lines being sure to go through the line both on the front piece and back piece. Sew them together using a running stitch with a backstitch thrown in every 4 of 5 stitches. Be sure to start and end with a little backstitch to keep everything secure.
Once your block is fully stitched, press it with an iron to set the seams. And just like that, you’ve got a beautiful Swirling Star block ready to be part of a quilt (or any other fun project you have in mind).
Hand piecing is great for accuracy, plus it’s super portable—you can stitch anywhere! It’s also a great way to slow down, relax and really enjoy the process.
Want to see this block come together in real time? Check out my YouTube tutorial, where I walk you through every step!
📺 Watch the tutorial here! 👇🏻
Give it a try and let me know how it goes! Have you done any hand piecing before? Drop a comment below—I’d love to hear about it!
Happy Stitching!
I help creatives achieve beautiful, heirloom needlework projects when they haven’t gotten great results in the past so they can stop worrying that they’re going to ruin a piece and start stitching and being proud of what they create.
