I’m not sure I’ve ever designed with an economy block before, but I had an idea for one, so here we are.

The economy block’s also called a ‘square in a square’ block. I think the standard arrangement is a centre square surrounded by another square on point, but I could’ve sworn I’ve seen versions with more ‘layers’ too (so, a square in a square in a square). But I’m sticking with the regular arrangement here.

When I imagined my design, it had skinny strips separating each of the layers and the blocks themselves.

As I often do with block-based designs, I created some layouts using some partial blocks and removing some blocks. I tried to stick to limited palettes so things didn’t get too busy.

Here’s a regular layout of blocks in just two colours, showing contrasting skinny strips. Unlike the previous versions, there’s no sashing between the blocks in this one.

The skinny strips could be in another colour entirely. I’ve been trying to use neon pink with murky colours lately (one of the quilty experiments that I have on the back burner), but it’s hard to recreate that colour in Electric Quilt 8.

Even with just a few elements in each block and a limited palette, there are multiple ways to place the colours.

   

The skinny strips can also be coloured the same as adjacent shapes – which kinda defeats their purpose as skinny strips, but does create a new design… it’s like a lazy economy block quilt, where you don’t have to worry about matching points. I kinda like this idea, as ensuring that the sides of the next square align exactly with the corners of the previous one is the hardest part of making economy blocks!

So, making any of these designs into a quilt would be easy enough by following the standard instructions for an economy block, plus a few extra steps to add skinny strips to each square (and then sashing to the block, if you wanted).

I’d use paper piecing to keep everything precise (cutting triangles on the bias for economy blocks can easily lead to wonkiness if you’re not careful). But I also like the idea of making the last version without any templates or paper piecing – just eyeballing the sizes you need and sewing them without worrying about matching points or seams. An improv-ish approach to a traditional block. It would test my perfectionist tendencies but I think I’d really like the end result.