Snake Quilt Tutorial

I had the pleasure of getting back together with friends Kevin the Quilter, Cherie (Quilted Jonquil) and Dar (Dar's Patchwork Garden) recently to continue working on the snake quilt we started earlier this year. When we left off in March, we had 32 blocks done: 

Now we have all 48 blocks done!!!

Actually we'll set them in a 6 x 8 layout and our top will finish at 60" by 80" for a Quilt of Valor. Here's the plan, a traditional layout:

When I last posted about this back in March, several people asked me for a tutorial.

The snake block/quilt is a traditional pattern which Barbara Brackman discusses here, dating from the 1930s to the 1960s. In her post she mentions that she cannot find a commercial pattern for it. There is a similar quilt called Snake Trail in Denise Schmidt's book Modern Quilts Traditional Inspiration; Denise's block size, proportions, corners, construction methods, and pressing differ from mine.

The snake block is a very challenging block even for experienced quilters, and it requires templates. Here's a tutorial for how I made our templates and how my friends and I made our blocks. Our block is intentionally made slightly oversized and trimmed down for accuracy. Our block finishes at 10", and requires both paper piecing and sewing curves.

Snake Block Tutorial

Traditional block; instructions and images copyright Jan Ochterbeck 2017

Drafting the Block and Making the Templates

Supplies:

• Graph paper – must be at least 11" square, preferably larger; okay to tape pieces together keeping ruled lines aligned
• Ruler
• Sharp pencil
• Compass
• Eraser
• Paper scissors
• Plain printer paper
• Add-a-Quarter ruler if desired (or use your regular ruler)
• Large template plastic
• Glue stick
• Access to a copy machine

Drafting:

1. Draw a 10" square on the graph paper.
2. Make a mark on the outline 4" from each corner on all sides.
3. Using the compass set at 4 inches, draw arcs in two opposite corners.
4. Reset the compass at 6 inches and draw larger arcs outside the first ones.
5. Note that the ends of the arcs are on the 4" marks you made earlier. If they’re not exactly at these 4" marks, redraw the arcs.
6. Lightly draw a diagonal line from the same corners. Draw it more heavily within the arcs and erase the rest, but make sure marks show a little on the background and corner pieces.
7. From the same corners, draw diagonals within the arcs as shown, like spokes, spaced as evenly as possible. Make sure the lines extend past the curved line of the arc because these marks serve as match points. 

8. Very carefully and accurately, cut your drawing apart to separate the arcs from the center and the corners. Do not cut the arcs into little pieces.

-          Note: These pieces do not have seam allowances. 

Making paper piecing foundations:

1. Lightly glue both arcs to a piece of plain printer paper, allowing 1/2" clearance on all sides.
2. Draw 1/4" seam allowance all the way around each arc, using the Add-a-Quarter ruler or any ruler that gives you an accurate 1/4".
3. Make sure the lines at the ends of the arc are perpendicular to the edge.
4. Tip: Add additional 1/8" to the ends, shown here in red.
5. Make copies for paper piecing; one page will make two arcs for one block. 
   

Making templates for the background and the corners:

1. Lightly apply glue stick around the outside edges of the background piece. The moisture makes the paper stretch, so keep the glue only at the edges and work quickly.
2. Glue the paper down to template plastic, making sure you have 1/2" of plastic all the way around.
3. Draw 1/4" seam allowances on the plastic all the way around the paper. *

      4.  Tip: add additional 1/8" to the straight sides (not the curves), shown in the photo below in red.*

5. Mark match points where the seams in the arc will align.
6. Carefully cut out the plastic template.
7. With sharp scissor points, notch the match points, cutting about 1/8" into the seam allowance.

8. Repeat steps 1-7 for the corner piece; make only one corner template. 

Tip: It’s better to make the block slightly oversized and square it up to 10-1/2" after it’s sewn. Therefore I recommend adding 1/8" to the outside edges of all block pieces. 

This is planned in the instructions above, so the additional 1/8" is already included

on both templates and the paper piecing foundation. 

* I used a Sharpie marker for this step so the lines would show in the photos for this tutorial. Never use Sharpie with any templates or rulers in your sewing studio.  Some of the ink gets on – and stays on – the edge of the ruler or template. Some marking pens, such as water-erasable markers, dissolve the permanent ink of the Sharpie and allow it to bleed onto the fabric being marked. It’s permanent. It will never wash out, and your project may be ruined. Keep all permanent markers away from your sewing! 

Making cutting guide for arc pieces

1. Mark a piece of template plastic 2-1/2" x 3".
2. Draw a tumbler shape: With the plastic in portrait orientation, make marks on the bottom line 3/8" in from each corner. Draw a line from the top corner to the bottom mark on each side, creating a tumbler shape.
3. Cut out the plastic template on these lines.
4. Cut six plastic pieces exactly this same size.
5. Glue them together in a stack. Make sure the edges are exactly aligned when you add each layer. Six layers is sturdy enough to use with care with a rotary cutter (the blade will cut into fewer layers). 

Cutting
Background Fabric

• The background template requires 12" of fabric, 1/3 yard. 4 background pieces can be cut from one 12" width of fabric.
• On the wrong side of the background fabric, align the graph paper lines of the background template with the grain line of the fabric and carefully trace around the template.
• Mark the match points on the fabric so they’re visible on the wrong side of the fabric.
• Cut out the background fabric, making sure the match points are visible. Be sure to keep the extra 1/8" on the straight sides.
• For a 6 x 8 block layout (60" x 80" top) cut 48 background pieces.
• If using all one background fabric, 4-3/4 yards are needed. 

Corner Wedges

• The corner template can be cut from yardage, scraps, or from a 5" charm square.
• On the right side of the corner fabric, carefully trace around the corner wedge template, keeping the graph paper lines aligned with the grain of the fabric.
• Mark the match points on the fabric so they’re visible on the right side of the fabric, for matching up with the arcs later.
• Cut out the corner fabric, making sure the match points are visible. Be sure to keep the extra 1/8" on the straight sides.
• For a 6 x 8 block layout (60" x 80" top) cut 96 corner wedges. If using all one fabric for corner wedges, 1-5/8 yards are needed. 

Tumblers for Paper Pieced Arcs

• The tumbler-shaped cutting guide can be used with 2-1/2" pre-cut strips of fabric to cut pieces along the length of the strip.
• Or use the cutting guide with 3" strips of fabric and rotate the template up and down for each cut for less waste.
• Stack strips or scraps and rotary cut to save time and fabric.
• For a 6 x 8 block layout, 288 pieces are needed, the more variety the better. 

Sewing the blocks: 

Block Components: Corner Wedges (red), Arcs (blue), Background (white)

Paper piece the arcs:

1. Cut the two arc foundations apart and work on two at a time to chain piece.
2. Pre-fold the sewing lines for easy alignment of pieces.
3. Put two blue pieces right sides together, wrong side to the back side of the paper foundation.
4. Sew on the first line, open the fabric, and press.
5. Fold back the paper on the next line; trim the fabric 1/4" away from the folded paper.
6. Align the next blue piece right sides together, and sew on the next line. 
7. Repeat steps 4, 5 & 6 to complete the arc.
8. Cut on the outer cutting lines. Be sure to keep the extra 1/8" at the ends of the arcs.
9. Remove the paper.

Assemble block:

1. Pin an arc to a corner, matching the arc seams to the marked match points, pinning ends and match points. Sew with 1/4" seam. Sewing with the concave arc on top is recommended to ease it onto the corner wedge. Repeat for other corner. 

Tip: align edges and use a pin to “stitch a seam” (see arrows) which will prevent the ends of your arcs from swinging outward; this helps keep the arc seam perpendicular to the edges of the block. 

 2.  Pin center background piece to arc, aligning ends and matching match points to seams in arc. Sew with 1/4" seam. Piecing with the concave background on top is recommended to ease it onto the arc.

Tip: align edges and use a pin to “stitch a seam (see arrows).” 

3. Repeat to attach center to other arc. 

4. Press all seams toward the corners, away from center background piece.

5. Square up and trim the block to 10-1/2", making sure all the ends of the arcs are as close as possible to 4-1/4" away from the corners, shown by the arrows in the photo below. This assures that the arcs will line up smoothly and create the snake-like effect when the blocks are set together.

Completed block, 10-1/2" unfinished (will be 10" finished)

Note 1: If the block comes out wavy or seems to ripple, you may have taken too scant a 1/4" seam when attaching the background center to the arcs. Try increasing your seam allowance by one or two thread widths to eliminate the excess waviness. Do this before trimming and squaring up, while the block is still oversized.

Note 2: When sewing blocks together in the traditional layout, the seams will nest. Match seams and pin carefully for smooth transition of snake-like arcs from one block to the next. For alternate layouts such as loops, the seams of some of the blocks may need to be re-pressed to get the seams to nest.

Note 3: If you make a Snake Quilt as a group project, I strongly recommend that you use one set of templates for all the blocks rather than lots of individual sets of templates. Just like everyone’s quarter inch seam differs, everyone’s templates will come out just a tiny bit different. 

Traditional Layout

If you would like a PDF of this tutorial, please leave a comment and be sure to include your email address within the text of your comment. 

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