Last year, I traveled to the fashion district in downtown Toronto with my mom to check out the various fabric shops.  We didn’t go with a specific project in mind, instead, just enjoying the experience of touching all the different fabrics.  I picked up two quilting cottons on my trip that I fell in love with, knowing I would come up with an idea for them later.

the finished baby blanket, quilted

I discovered two other fabrics in my stash that coordinated well, two prints that I had ordered from Connecting Threads a few years back.  I wanted to make a quilt that had big blocks so that the fabric prints could shine.  I decided to make the quilt into a baby size; I think mint is a great option for a gender-neutral quilt.  I could see this working in a grey nursery!

The finished quilt measures 37.5″ x 55.25″.

I moved ahead with a slice-and-dice technique to create the blocks.  To create the quilt above, I needed to make twelve 14.25″ blocks which would then be sliced and rearranged into 6 even larger 18.75″ mega blocks.

finished baby quilt by Craftcore

How to Create the Diagonal Slice Diamond Quilt Blocks

This tutorial will create large blocks – 18.75″ unfinished blocks!  (If you want to modify the blocks to be smaller, simply create thinner strips and cut down your mega strips into squares based on the final width of your sewn strip. )

  1. Start by cutting 4″ strips of fabric by the width of your fabric, selvage to selvage.  Cut four strips out of each fabric design for a total of 16 strips.
  2. Sew the strips to each other, one of each design print, forming a 14.25″ wide mega strip like the one below.  Trim off the selvages and press all your seams, then cut this mega strip down into three 14.25″ unfinished blocks.  Repeat until you’ve used up all of your strips.  Be sure that all four sets of strips are sewn together in the same order.
    How to Make the Diagonal Slice DIamond Quilt Block - Step by Step Tutorial by CraftcoreThe order of your prints will determine the placement of the design in the final block, so plan carefully before sewing your strips together:

    fabrics strip placement for diamond slice quilt block - tutorial by craftcore to make this slice and dice quilt block
    Fabric Placement Outcome Diagram: Depending on your fabric choices, the diamond in the center will be the focus or one of the secondary diamonds created by the repeating of the block will be the focus. Play around with your fabrics and see what you like.  In my fabric choice, Fabric 3 was dark/dominant, so the secondary diamond became a focus.  Fabric 1 and Fabric 4 become the main diamond.
  3. After cutting down the mega strips into 14.25″ blocks, you should now have twelve 14.25″ blocks to work with.  Pair these blocks into six pairs.
  4. Layer one block right side up on a flat surface with Fabric 1 strip at the top. Then layer a second block right side down on top of your first block, Fabric strip 1 on the left.  Pin around the edges of the block, then sew a 0.25″ seam around the outside of your block, all the way around.
    How to Make the Diagonal Slice DIamond Quilt Block - Step by Step Tutorial by Craftcore
  5. Using a ruler and a rotary cutter, make two slices on the diagonal from corner to corner (like an X), forming four triangles.  Iron them open to reveal four squares and trim off the little dog ears.  Rearrange the blocks into the diamond pattern below, then sew them back together using a 0.25″ seam. Press your new block flat.
    How to Make the Diagonal Slice DIamond Quilt Block - Step by Step Tutorial by Craftcore
    Repeat for each of your five remaining pairs of blocks and admire the beauty of these blocks which look much more complicated to put together than they really are!  Bam, jumbo diamond quilt blocks!

Putting the Rest of the Baby Quilt Together

Since the blocks are so large, the quilt comes together fast.  Pair up your six quilt blocks and sew them into three rows.  Then sew those three rows together to form your quilt top.

How to Make the Diagonal Slice DIamond Quilt Block - Step by Step Tutorial by Craftcore

All that’s left after that is sandwiching the quilt with some batting and backing fabric, then sewing on some binding.  I used a really cute mint fabric with little silver flecks.

baby blanket - getting ready to add the binding using wonder clips for security

The Quilting Process

  • For this quilt, I stitched-in-the-ditch down the centre of each quilt block.
  • Around the inner and outer edge of the centre diamonds, I sewed lines 0.25″ from the seam lines.
  • When combining those diamond stitch lines with the stich-in-the-ditch lines, this forms a handsome diamond X pattern  on the back:

baby blanket quilting design

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial as much I enjoyed making this quilt!

2 thoughts on “Diagonal Slice Diamond Block Baby Quilt in Grey and Mint with Tutorial

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