Scrap Heart Quilt Block | Free Pattern and Tutorial

I’m a big fan of turning scraps into useful items before they hit the scrap bin! So for Graffiti Hearts, I wanted to create tutorials to help you feel confident in turning your scraps into coordinating items. Plus, what’s more fun than turning your hearts into more hearts? It is never-ending hearts over here. Ha. This scrap heart quilt block is the perfect use of Graffiti Hearts scraps and makes a fun coordinating pillow!

There’s two different sized scrap heart quilt block tutorials for you below. If you can trim your small offcut HSTs to 1.75″, you can make the 10″ hearts. If you can’t, trim them to 1.5″ and make 8″ hearts. All the details and measurements are available below.

First, create HSTs using all the offcuts from Graffiti Hearts:

1. Sew together all the small stitch & flip offcut triangles to create HSTs, one background fabric right sides together with a color fabric. Trim to 1.75″. (depending how generous you were with your seam allowance, you may not be able to trim to 1.75″. If you can’t, then trim all HSTs to 1.5″).

2. Sew together all the large stitch & flip offcut triangles to create HSTs, one background fabric right sides together with the improv fabrics. Trim to 5.5″

You’ll have more offcuts if you made the throw size than if you made the baby or pillow size. Each Graffiti Hearts heart you made can make (1) scrap heart.

If you haven’t made Graffiti Hearts but still want to make these heart blocks, you’ll need to start off by making HSTs. I recommend 2-at-a-time method if you’re making a single heart block, or 8-at-a-time if you want to make multiple hearts. You can find my HST Quick Start Guide here for step-by-step HST construction, or use the Half Square Triangle calculator to determine what size squares to cut.

A quick note before you begin. You can choose to make the improv side of the HSTs the heart or the background fabric. That’s totally up to you. I made one of each so you could see what they both look like! If you choose to make the improv the inside of the heart, you’ll want to gather some more scraps from your quilt to make the necessary rectangles.

If you want to make the background fabric the inside of your heart, make sure you have enough background fabric before beginning. I decided for this version to do true improv sashing using up the rest of my fabric scraps. Because I was using stash fabric, I had some leeway in the amount of scraps I had. If you only have the amount listed in the pattern fabric requirements, you may or may not have enough fabric. Check your scrap bins for coordinating fabrics to use instead!

Supplies:

To make a 10″ Heart:

• (4) 1.75″ HSTs
• (2) 5.5″ HSTs
• (2) 3″ x 1.75″ rectangles
• (1) 10.5″ x 4.25″ rectangle

To make an 8″ Heart:

If you couldn’t quite get the small HSTs to trim to 1.75″ and had to trim to 1.5″, you can make 8″ hearts instead! Trim your large HSTs to 4.5″. For each block, you’ll need:

• (4) 1.5″ HSTs
• (2) 4.5″ HSTs
• (2) 2.5″ x 1.5″ rectangles
• (1) 8.5″ x 3.5″ rectangle

10″ Scrap Heart Quilt Block How-to:

• (4) 1.75″ HSTs
• (2) 5.5″ HSTs
• (2) 3″ x 1.75″ rectangles
• (1) 10.5″ x 4.25″ rectangle

1. Sew together 2 small (1.75″) HSTs with (1) 3″ x 1.75″ rectangle in the middle. Press seams towards the center rectangle. Repeat with the remaining small HSTs and small rectangle.

2. Stitch both units from step 1 together and press seam open.

3. Stitch both large (5.5″) HSTs together and press seam open.

4. Stitch together the unit from step 2, the 10.5″ x 4.25″ rectangle, and the unit from step 3 together to form a heart. Press seams towards the center rectangle.

8″ Scrap Heart Quilt Block How-to:

If you couldn’t quite get the small HSTs to trim to 1.75″ and had to trim to 1.5″, you can make 8″ hearts instead! Trim your large HSTs to 4.5″. For each block, you’ll need:

• (4) 1.5″ HSTs
• (2) 4.5″ HSTs
• (2) 2.5″ x 1.5″ rectangles
• (1) 8.5″ x 3.5″ rectangle

1. Sew together 2 small (1.5″) HSTs with (1) 2.5″ x 1.5″ rectangle in the middle. Press seams towards the center rectangle. Repeat with the remaining small HSTs and small rectangle.

2. Stitch both units from step 1 together and press seam open.

3. Stitch both large (4.5″) HSTs together and press seam open.

4. Stitch together the unit from step 2, the 8.5″ x 3.5″ rectangle, and the unit from step 3 together to form a heart. Press seams towards the center rectangle.

And you’re done! You can make a whole bunch of them to turn into a quilt, or just a few to turn into throw pillows or tote bags! If you want to make a pillow, keep scrolling to get the how-to!

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To turn the scrap heart quilt block into a 20″ pillow:

For 10″ hearts, add (1) 5.5″ x 10.5″ strip to the left and right sides of the heart block. (You’ll need a total of (2) 5.5″ x 10.5″ strips). Press seams towards background sashing. Then add (1) 5.5″ x 20.5″ strip to the top and bottom of the block. (You’ll need a total of (2) 5.5″ x 20.5″ strips). Press seams towards background sashing.

For 8″ hearts, add (1) 6.5″ x 8.5″ strip to the left and right sides of the heart block. (You’ll need a total of (2) 6.5″ x 8.5″ strips). Press seams towards background sashing. Then add (1) 6.5″ x 20.5″ strip to the top and bottom of the block. (You’ll need a total of (2) 6.5″ x 20.5″ strips). Press seams towards background sashing.

Once you’ve made your blocks, baste and quilt them as desired. Then follow my Zippered Throw Pillow tutorial for finishing technique. Depending if you like a pillow with a tighter or looser fit, use either a 1/4″ seam allowance or a 1/2″ seam allowance.

Or make a bunch of scrap hearts and turn them into a scrappy quilt! To find out more about this coral scrappy hearts quilt, check out this post.