A QuiltPlan piecing reference
Snowball Block
clipped corners, no half-square triangles needed
A Snowball trades a square's sharp corners for small triangles of a second fabric: sewn and flipped in place rather than pieced from HSTs, so it goes together fast and reads as an octagon once the corners are clipped.
Base square: finished size + ½″.
Corner squares: finished size ÷ 3, + ½″, rounded up to the nearest 1/8″.
Example: 5″ finished block
A 5″ finished block needs one 5½″ base square and four 2¼″ corner squares. Read straight off the chart below for any other size.
1 · Mark
Draw a diagonal on the wrong side of each corner square, or crease it in half.
2 · Position
Right sides together, lay one on each corner of the base square.
3 · Sew & trim
Sew a thread's width outside the line. Trim ¼″ beyond the seam.
4 · Press
Press the corner open. Don't stretch the bias edge.
| Finished | Base sq. | Corner sq. |
|---|---|---|
| 2″ | 2½″ | 1¼″ |
| 3″ | 3½″ | 1½″ |
| 4″ | 4½″ | 1⅞″ |
| 5″ | 5½″ | 2¼″ |
| 6″ | 6½″ | 2½″ |
| Finished | Base sq. | Corner sq. |
|---|---|---|
| 7″ | 7½″ | 2⅞″ |
| 8″ | 8½″ | 3¼″ |
| 9″ | 9½″ | 3½″ |
| 10″ | 10½″ | 3⅞″ |
| 12″ | 12½″ | 4½″ |
How many corners?
One
A single nipped point.
Two, adjacent
Sharing one edge, not Bow Tie.
Three
One full corner left flowing.
Four, classic
The full Snowball octagon.
Clipping two opposite corners instead of adjacent ones is a different block: that's Bow Tie, not Snowball.
Snowball blocks tile into a secondary grid of octagons and squares: a classic quilt-as-you-go layout.
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