Christmas Candles Quilt Block

I thought I’d share a tutorial for this little Christmas quilt block. We could all do with a little extra light, yes?

This little Christmas Candles quilt block finishes at 8½” x 9½” . The tutorial for the block is here on the blog, but if you’d prefer a PDF of the pattern you can purchase it in my shop for $3. The pattern also includes instructions for a larger version (16½” x 18½”) of the same block.

First Choose Your Fabrics

Definitely the best part of the whole process! Pull out your larger scraps and check out what your stash has to offer. There will hopefully be some festive red, green, silver and gold fabrics for you to choose from.

I found some solid red fabric in my stash, along with some small yellow scraps for the candle flames.

I originally pulled out some low volume fabrics for my candles. But then I remembered I’d some Essex Metallic Linens that I’d ordered earlier in the year (quarantine purchase).

The fabric is very difficult to photograph, but there are silver/gold metallic threads in the fabric weave which give a lovely, understated metallic sheen.

Perfect Christmas fabric, really! You can find these fabrics on Etsy* and Amazon*. (Shades such as crystal, opal, vintage white, ivory and oyster work well with dark backgrounds.)

I found laying my fabrics out in a rough approximation of the pattern helped when choosing colours.

Cutting Instructions

Once you’ve chosen your fabrics you’ll need to cut all your pieces. Here’s what you’ll need for the Christmas Candle quilt block:

  • Main flame fabric: (3) rectangles 2″ x 3″, (3) rectangles 2″ x 4″
  • Flame accent fabric: (1) rectangle 2″ x 4″
  • Candle 1: 2½” x 4″
  • Candle 2: 2½” x 6″
  • Candle 3: 2½” x 5″
  • Background fabric:

Sew the Candle Flames

First up we need to sew some flying geese and half rectangle triangle units to create the little kite shapes for the flames. The flying geese will form the bottom of the flame, while two HRT units will form the flame top.

Sew Flying Geese units

Take 2 background 2″ squares and 1 flame rectangle 2″ x 3″. Draw a diagonal line on the back of each square with a pencil. Match one square right sides together with the rectangle as shown in the diagram below. Sew on the diagonal line then trim the seam to a quarter inch. Press the corner open.

Take the other square and match it right sides together on the other corner of the rectangle, as shown in the diagram below. Sew on the diagonal line then trim the seam to a quarter inch. Press the corner open and trim block to 1½” x 2½”.

With the 4 remaining background 2″ squares and 2 remaining flame 2″ x 3″ rectangles, make another 2 flying geese units to give 3 units total. Trim the flying geese units to 1½” x 2½”.

Sew HRTs (half rectangle triangles)

Take the 4 background 2″ x 4″ rectangles, the 3 flame 2″ x 4″ rectangles and the 1 flame accent 2″ x 4″ rectangle. Cut each rectangle in half diagonally – refer to diagram below for the orientation of the diagonals.

Match your rectangles to give the layouts needed for the 3 flame tops, as seen below. Two of the flame tops have the flame accent triangles and one does not. You will have 2 red and 2 main flame rectangles in excess (pop them in your scrap pile).

To sew the bottom left to top right oriented HRTs, pair a background and a main flame fabric triangle RST, along their longest edges. Offset the background triangle 1/4” below the flame triangle, as shown below. Sew the two triangles together and press toward the flame fabric triangle. Repeat to make 3 units in total.

Trim the HRT unit to 1½” x 2½”. If you have the Bloc Loc HRT rulers*, these work perfectly here. If you have standard rulers, you can see the technique for trimming an HRT unit in this blog post here.

To sew the bottom right to top left oriented HRTs, pair a background and a flame accent fabric triangle RST, along their longest edges. Offset the background triangle 1/4” below the flame triangle, as shown below. Sew the two triangles together and press toward the background fabric triangle. Trim to 1½” x 2½”. Repeat with the main flame fabric triangles to make 2 units (also press toward the background triangle).

Sew the Flames Together

Next, we can sew the 3 sets of flame tops together (the diagonal seams should nest) and press the seams open.

Then sew each flame top to a flame bottom (flying geese unit) to create a kite shape. Press seams open.

Sew the Candles

Now we have our flames we can sew each one on top of a candle. It’s up to you how you’d like to match your flames to your candles, but here’s what I did.

  • Sew flame accent flames to the 2½” x 4″ and the 2½” x 5″ candles.
  • Sew the non-flame accent flame to the 2½” x 6″ candle.

Press seams away from the flames.

Sew the Candle Units

Now let’s add some background fabric to the top of our candles. Press seams away from the flames.

Finish the Christmas Quilt Block

All that’s left to do is to sew your candle units together and then add the 1½” x 9½” strips to either side. Your final block will measure 8½” wide and 9½” tall.

You can sew your candles in whatever order you prefer. I like the tallest candle in the middle, but you could also put them in size order.

This Christmas quilt block is a great size for a pot holder, if you like to change out your home decor for the holidays.

If you’d like to make a Christmas table runner, just make a whooooole lot of candles and put them all together in row.

I’ve gone for a wavy effect with the candle lengths above, but you could also do a more random arrangement like below. Not to mention all the options with background and candle fabrics.

You could have some fun with background fabrics to make a birthday themed table runner as well. You could pull this pretty version out every time you have a birthday to celebrate!

So there you have it. A fun little block which has a bunch of uses.

I’ve made one of the larger size blocks (16½” x 18½”) to use as a mini quilt for the wall. I chose a more chartreuse yellow for my flames with a buttery yellow accent colour.

I hope you have some fun with this tutorial, and remember you can get a printable PDF of this block pattern (with both the small and large sizes) in the shop for $3.

Happy holiday nesting to you all,

Kirsty

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