Union Jack Quilt Block Tutorial

How to Make a Union Jack British Flag. Union Jack Sewn Flag | Free Quilting Tutorial.

This is how I made my Union Jack block (without paper piecing)  in mostly pictures and a few words.


Materials Needed:

    1x rectangle of fabric 10"x14" mine is Green with Blue spots;
    2x WOF (Width of Fabric) 42"x2" in different colours mine are 1x Pink and 1x Blue;
    1x WOF 42"x0.75" of plain White;
    1x WOF 42"x 1and5/8" of plain White;
    2x WOF 42"x1" of plain White;

Use a 1/4 inch seam allowance throughout.

1. Sew the two unequal White strips, to the long side of whichever colour strip you want to use as your diagonal crosses.

2. It will look like this once sewn and pressed open:

3.  Now cut that strip into quarters.

4.  Now sew two of the quarters back together along their short side but make sure that you have flipped one around.  Its important that you sew this strip together so that it ends up looking like the picture below.

***I had to unpick my flag on the first go because my thick strips ended up on the wrong sides, so beware!***

5.  Now take your piece of rectangular fabric and cut in in half on the diagonal.

6.  Now sew your strip into it with a 1/4" seam allowance, ensuring that the join in the strip ends up in the middle of the block.   ***Again make sure that your thick and thin white stripes are in the right places as its so easy to mix them up and then your flag will be wrong***

7.  Now measure this strip.  We will be trimming half of this measurement off of each piece after the next diagonal cut.

8.  Now cut the block in half on the other diagonal and trim 1and (just over)3/8" inch off of each side along the diagonal.

9.  Sew the other strip into the middle.  ***Double check again that yours looks like the picture below with the thick and thin white stripes***

10.  Next cut the main block in half along the short side of the rectangle and this time trim either side of the cut by 1and1/8" (one and one eigth of an inch).

11. Then cut each part in half again this time along the long side and trim the middle of each side by 1and1/8" again.

You should end up with four rectangles that measure approximately 6 1/4" x 4 3/4" (Six and a quarter inches by Four and three quarter inches).  Each one as below.

12. Now take a 1" strip of White and sew it along the bottom of the top two rectangles and along the top of each of the bottom rectangles.  Trim the white strip to size as you go.

13. Then sew a 1" strip of White along the inside edge of each of the rectangles. Trim the white strip to size as you go.

14.  Now take the 2" coloured strip (mine is blue) and sew it to one inside rectangle side.  Cut it down to size.  Then join it to the other half.

15.  Repeat for the top.

16.  Nearly there!
Now sew one long strip of the 2" fabric across the whole length of the inside, first to the bottom and then to the top half.

17. You are finished!!!!!!!!!!
Hip hip hooray!

I hope you will enjoy this tutorial and make your very own Jubilee Union Jack block.  

Here's what my block turned into: