3 Free Halloween Quilt Blocks: Jelly Roll Trick-or-Treat
Are you ready to have a hauntingly happy Halloween? Well these three free Halloween quilt blocks will certainly help with that! And an added bonus? Quilting Daily’s Executive Producer, Vanessa Lyman, has pulled together three fa-boo-lous video tutorials to go with each block so you can stitch them up with ease. Keep reading to trick-or-treat yourself with these fun, free projects!
Make Your Halloween Extra Happy
I treated myself to a Jelly Roll of Halloween prints. So what’s the trick? Making three quilt blocks that finish at 6”…WITHOUT templates, specialty rulers, or foundation piecing! But even though I’m not using templates or foundation paper, I do get a little tricky.
Many quilters I know refuse to trim down Jelly Roll strips. What’s the point of buying a Jelly Roll, then?, they ask. Well, I wanted quilt blocks that finish at 6”, and it just doesn’t really work without cutting a few patches to measure less than 2-1/2”. So if I can’t do foundations or special tools, I’ll pick my poison: cutting down a pre-cut strip.
I also trimmed off the pinked edges. Most strip rolls—Jelly Rolls, Rolie Polies, Treat Strips, Design Rolls, whatever the manufacturer calls ‘em—have pinked edges to prevent raveling, but how they’re pinked varies, and can impact your measurements. Check out this article I wrote for more information.
Drop the quilt blocks into a wall hanging, a table runner, a trick-or-treat bag, or make a full sized Halloween sampler quilt — whatever you like. But enjoy the challenging treat of these 3 fun, free quilt blocks!
Materials Used
Pumpkin Block
The pumpkin quilt block was a blast to make, and easy! It depends entirely on the super-simple stitch-and-flip technique. Now, confession time: I dug into my stash for a tiny scrap of green. My Jelly Roll did not include a green print, but the pumpkin just wasn’t a pumpkin without a green stem! (You can see the video after the instructions.)
Cutting List for the Pumpkin Block
From 1 Gray strip, cut:
✓
6 squares, 1-1/2” (A)
✓
3 squares, 2-1/2” (B)
From 1 Orange strip, cut:
✓
3 rectangles, 2-1/2” x 4-1/2” (C)
From 1 Green* strip, cut:
✓
1 square, 1-1/2” (A)
Instructions for the Pumpkin Block
1
Use the stitch-and-flip technique to build the pumpkin. (Check out this no-mark method!) Do this by marking a diagonal line corner to corner on the wrong side of 1 gray A square.
Beware! My prints were directional, and I wanted to keep it that way—no wee ghosties floating upside-down! Before marking my diagonal sewing line, I laid the A square on the rectangle, and flipped it back to ensure any ghosts were right-side up, and only THEN marked my diagonal sewing line!
2
Position the marked A square (wrong side up) on the upper left of 1 orange C rectangle, and sew along the marked line. Flip the corner back to ensure it covers the corner completely. Press and trim away excess.
Pro Tip: When you sew stitch-and-flip corners, have your needle land ever-so-slightly to the outside of the sewing line, just whispering against the line. This ensures that your square, when flipped back, covers the corner completely.
3
In the same manner, attach 1 gray A square to the upper right corner. Repeat, attaching another gray A square to the lower left corner. This creates the left side of the pumpkin.
4
For the right side of the pumpkin, use the stitch-and-flip technique to attach 1 gray A square to the upper right corner, 1 gray A square to the upper left corner, and 1 gray A square to the bottom right corner of 1 orange C rectangle.
5
For the center of the pumpkin, use the stitch-and-flip technique to attach 1 gray A square to the upper right of the remaining orange C rectangle. After pressing and trimming, attach 1 gray A to the upper left corner.
6
Using the stitch-and-flip method, attach the green A square to the bottom right of 1 gray B square.
7
Sew all the units together to create the pumpkin.
8
Smile and say, “Boo!”
Witch’s Hat Block
Wow, this “trick” is a treat! Without foundation piecing, how do you create the unique angle of a witch’s hat? This trick needs a better name, but I call it the “non-mirrored rectangle unit” technique. (I learned it from episode 3508—Ribbons of Valor on Love of Quilting TV.) This approach yields 2 “hat” units, so the measurements below are enough to create 2 blocks, even though I only show one in the video (after the instructions).
Cutting List for the Witch’s Hat Block
From 1 White strip, cut:
✓
2 rectangles, 2-1/2” x 4-1/2” (A)
✓
4 rectangles, 2-1/2” x 5” (B)
From 1 Black strip, cut:
✓
2 rectangles, 2-1/2” x 4-1/2” (A)
✓
2 rectangles, 2-1/2” x 6-1/2” (C)
From 1 Orange strip, cut:
✓
1 rectangle, 2-1/2” x 3-1/2”, sub-cut in half lengthwise to yield 2 rectangles, 2-1/2” x 1-1/4” (D)
Instructions for the Witch’s Hat Block
1
On the wrong side of 1 white A rectangle, mark ½” in from the upper right and ½” in on the lower left. Draw a line from corner to corner. (We’ll call this the ‘Wicked Witch of the East—White’.)
Note: I highly recommend watching the video at the end of the instructions for this technique. It can be a fiddly bit of magic.
2
On right side of 1 black A rectangle, mark ½” in from upper left corner and ½” in from lower right corner. (We’ll call this ‘Wicked Witch of the East—Black’).
3
On the wrong side of another white A rectangle, mark ½” in from upper left corner and ½” in from lower right corner. Draw a line from corner to corner. (This will be ‘Wicked Witch of the West—White’.)
4
On right side of 1 black A rectangle, mark ½” in from the upper right corner and ½” in on the lower left corner. (This will be ‘Wicked Witch of the West—Black’.)
5
Align your Wicked Witch of the East—White on top of your Wicked Witch of the East—Black, matching the ½” marks. The corners of the fabric won’t align; pin-matching your marks can be useful. Pin to secure.
6
Align your Wicked Witch of the East—White on top of your Wicked Witch of the East—Black, matching the ½” marks. Pin to secure.
7
On both Wicked Witch units, sew ¼” away from the marked line on either side. Cut apart on marked line, and press.
8
Pair a Wicked Witch of the West unit with a Wicked Witch of the East unit, and sew. Repeat for second pair of Wicked Witch units. You now have 2 witch hat points; either pick the most accurate unit to proceed, or create 2 Witch Hat Blocks.
9
Sew 1 orange D rectangle to base of the Wicked Witch unit.
10
Sew 1 white B rectangle to left side of Wicked Witch unit, and 1 white B rectangle to right side. Trim the unit to 6-1/2” wide.
11
Sew black C rectangle to base of Wicked Witch unit, and trim block overall to 6-1/2” square.
12
Cackle, and make second block if desired.
Moon and Bats Block
Flying Geese? No way! These are Flying Bats! Using the oh-so-simple stitch-and-flip technique, I created 3 flapping gray bats and a full moon. Watch the video at the end of the instructions to see it all come together.
Cutting List for the Moons and Bats Block
From 1 Orange strip, cut:
✓
1 square, 2-1/2” (A)
From 1 Black strip, cut:
✓
10 squares, 1-1/2” (B)
✓
1 rectangle, 2-1/2” x 6-1/2” (C)
✓
1 rectangle, 2-1/2” x 4-1/2” (D)
✓
1 rectangle, 2-1/2” x 3-1/2” (E)
From 1 Gray strip, cut:
✓
1 rectangle, 2-1/2” x 4-1/2”, sub-cut into 3 rectangles 1-1/2” x 2-1/2” (F)
Instructions for the Moons and Bats Block
1
Use the stitch-and-flip technique to build the Moon unit and Flying Bat units. Do this by marking a diagonal line corner to corner on the wrong side of all 10 black B squares.
2
Position 1 marked B square (wrong side up) on one corner of orange A square, and sew along the marked line. Position another marked B square wrong side up on opposite corner, and sew along the marked line. Flip the corners back to ensure complete coverage. Press and trim away excess.
Note: Repeating my pro tip—when you sew stitch-and-flip corners, have your needle land ever-so-slightly to the outside of the sewing line, just whispering against the line. This ensures that your square, when flipped back, covers the corner completely.
3
In the same manner, attach black B squares to remain corners of orange A square to complete your Moon unit.
4
Position 1 black B square to the right corner of each of the 3 gray F rectangles. Sew along the diagonal line of each, from top center to lower corner. Flip the corners back to ensure complete coverage. Press and trim away excess.
5
Position 1 black B square to the left corner of each of the 3 gray F rectangles. Sew along the diagonal line of each, from top center to lower corner. Flip the corners back to ensure complete coverage. Press and trim away excess. These are your Flying Bat units.
6
Sew 2 Flying Bat units, top to bottom, and press.
7
Attach black rectangle D to the bottom of the 2 Flying Bats unit, and press.
8
Attach Moon unit to black rectangle E. Attach remaining Flying Bat unit—tip pointing toward moon—to the bottom of black rectangle E, and press.
9
Sew each of these sections to black rectangle C, and press.
10
Howl at the moon.
And there you have it — three free halloween quilt blocks that will make your holidays hauntingly happy! Did we miss any of your favorite Halloween quilt blocks that you like to make? We want to hear from you! Share with us on Instagram, Facebook, or in the comments below. Happy Halloween, and happy quilting!
Originally published October 20, 2023; updated on October 15, 2024.
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