Fabric used:

• Black Kona Cotton Solids
  • One 4.5″ square
  • Four 2″x4.5″ rectangles
  • Four 2″ squares
  • Eight 1″x44″ strips
• Tomato Kona Cotton Solids
  • Four 4.5″ squares
  • Ten 1″x44″ strips

Timing:

8+ hours (or, you can use a red and black striped or red and black zig-zag print to save a heck of a lot of time)

Difficulty:

Hard

Steps:

1. Sew strips of four black and five red together in an alternating pattern, using red on both ends. Repeat with remaining strips to create two striped strips, each 44″ long and approx 9.5″ tall.
2. Press the seams of the striped strips, pressing all seams down on one and up on the other. Alternating the direction on the two strips will help with piecing the zig-zags later.
3. Using a ruler, cut the edge of the first stripe strip to a 45 degree angle. Following this same angle, cut 2″ strips of the stripes all the way down your first piece.
4. With the second stripe strip, cut the edge to a 135 degree angle. Following this same angle, cut 2″ strips of the stripes all the way down your second piece.
5. Piece full squares by stitching together 2 pairs of alternating angles, piece half (column) squares by stitching together 1 pair of alternating angles, and piece half (row) squares by stitching 2 pairs of alternating angles and cutting in half.
6. Press seams open on the back of the newly created zig-zag to help minimize bulk.
7. Trim zig-zag blocks to size: full squares to 4.5″; column half squares to 4.5″ tall; and row half squares to 2″ x 4.5″.
8. Piece zig-zag blocks together with solid colour squares, as shown.
9. Press the seams, then trim final block to 15″ square.