The Endless Stairs quilt block is a four-patch quilt pattern. It can be made with 2, 3 or 4 fabrics. It is sometimes referred to as London Stairs or Winding Stairway.
Michael Miller sent me fabrics to make this baby quilt. I really enjoyed working with the Michael Miller Cotton Couture Solid fabrics. They are 100% high density cotton and come in 234 colors from the full spectrum of the color wheel. Their silky soft touch makes them perfect for quilting and any other project you can dream up.
The blocks go together super quick if you cut strips and sew together and then cut into the blocks for the four patch. This part was easy! I will admit, sewing the blocks together in the quilt requires paying attention. It’s easy to turn a single block the wrong direction – and then the stairs don’t line up. Don’t ask how many times I had to ‘un-sew’ a seam in putting the final quilt top together! 🙂
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How to Make the Endless Stairs Quilt Block
The Endless Stairs quilt block is a simple four-patch quilt block, perfect for beginners. It is sometimes referred to as the London Stairs quilt block or the Winding Stairs quilt block.
Materials
- Eight (8) pieces of fabric cut to 4-1/2 inches by 2-1/2 inches; I used two fabrics from the Michael Miller Basics Cotton Couture collection, so four from each fabric. To be able to have the 'stairs' show in the final quilt, it is important to have different values of fabrics.
- Thread
Tools
- Sewing machine
- Iron
- Pressing surface
- Rotary cutter
- Cutting mat
- Quilter's ruler
Instructions
- Start by cutting your fabrics. I used a rotary cutter, mat and quilter's ruler.
- Layer one of each color of fabric with the right sides together and sew along one of the long edges with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Use a 1/4-inch foot on your machine for more accurate seam allowances.
- I like to chain stitch this step, sewing them one after another, leaving a small bit of thread between each set. This makes it quicker and easier.
- Press the seams to the darker fabric. Lay out the squares in this format. I like to do this close to my machine so that I don't mix up which piece goes where when I go to sew. 🙂
- Sew the the top two squares together, right sides together with a 1/4-inch seam. Sew the bottom two squares together. This shows the top row sewing together, with the upper left square layered on top of the upper right square.
- Press these seams to the solid color. Now we sew the final seam. We layer the right sides together and nest the seams we just pressed. This means to butt the seam bumps so that they just nestle into each other. Here is a close up.
- Sew this seam with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. When you get close to that center point where you have nested your seams, you can make very minor adjustments to make sure they are nesting perfectly.
- I like to press this seam open. For more about pressing seams in quilting, read our article. Now you have your finished quilt block!
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Put the quilt square together and you see how the endless stairs show up in the design! This is a simple pattern that ends up looking like a very complex design. It can be made from fabric scraps – the key is to use two different values of fabrics – darks and lights.
Tips for making a quilt with the endless stair quilt block
Cut out as many strips of fabric as you will need. To calculate the number of strips, start by figuring out how big you want your finished quilt. Do you want a border? If so, subtract that measurement from the finished size. (Remember that you’ll have two borders for each dimension – one on each side of the quilt. Subtract border times two.)
Then, determine how many ‘stairs’ you want across and vertically on your quilt. Divide the height and width that you determined above by the number of stairs. Here are some basic calculations to get you started:
To make the quilt, sew strips right sides together on a long edge. To make it quicker, sew them ‘chain style’, which is to sew them one after another, with just a stitch or two between each set of strips.
Here is my stack behind my machine of sewn together strips.
Press the seams. Then, cut each strip into smaller squares. Cut them the same length as the width of the strip set – we are making squares!
Next, sew two squares together, one perpendicular to the other.
Then sew the blocks together as outlined above for your quilt top. Here are my blocks done, sewn in rows and ready to sew the rows together to make the quilt.
The finished quilt in the nursery ready to keep baby warm!
A similar quilt block to Endless Stairs quilt block, but using a nine-patch format, is the Virginia Worm quilt block.
