Flipped Corners Tutorial for Quilt Blocks

Flipped Corners is an easy and versatile technique for making many kinds of quilt blocks. You can add a triangle to any corner by simply sewing a square on top of a base square or rectangle. Let's practice flipping the opposite corners on background squares.

Cut Your Squares

  • Cut four 3" squares for the dark background.
  • Cut eight 1 1/2" squares in a light color for the flipped corners.
  • Place a smaller square on the corner of a background square, right sides together. Make sure they are exactly lined up.

Sew Small Squares on Corners of Big Squares

  • Sew a diagonal line from corner to corner on the light square.
  • Put a piece of tape on your machine to mark a guideline straight from the needle.
  • Line the diagonal up with the tape and sew from corner to corner with no marking or pins. Marking the diagonal lines is time-consuming and you know I avoid pins because they are bumpy and they bite.
  • Chain piece the corners on one side of the background squares and then chain piece the opposite corners.

Check and Trim the Corners

  • Make sure the corners of the squares are lined up exactly before you cut.
  • If they have shifted, rip and resew before you trim because it is impossible to fix after you cut.
  • Trim 1/4" seam allowance outside each seam line.

Flip and Press the Corners

  • Flip the corners and press the seam allowance toward the darker fabric.
  • Admire your beautiful blocks!

Get Creative with Flipped Corners

  • You can combine the corner triangles in many ways to create interesting secondary designs in a quilt.
  • See the different blocks you can make with just these four flipped patches.

Tips and More Flipped Corners to Come

  • Sometimes the ends of the diagonal seams will open up because the stitching comes loose. Frustrating! To keep the seam ends neatly closed just shorten your stitch length. I usually set my stitch length to 2.0 for piecing, but you can experiment on your machine.
  • If your flipped triangle is not fully lining up with the background corner then try shifting your stitching line just a tiny bit closer to the corner instead of stitching exactly on the diagonal. This allows space for the thickness of the folded fabric and makes sure the flipped triangle will completely fill out the square corner.
This popular flipping corners technique has many different names: stitch and flip, snowballing, folding corners, or flip and sew. By any name it a great technique to have in your toolbox because there are so many great blocks that use flipped corners. ~ Cheers, Sandy Linking up with Quilting Jetgirl Tips and Tutorials Tuesday
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