Why Start the Block of the Month With the Border?

If you’ve joined our 2017 Block of the Month: Blazing Star community, you may notice something unusual: In the very first lesson of the online class, we start making the border.

We admit, it’s a bit odd. Usually for BOTMs, you build the blocks one at a time, and finish it up with the border or sashing. But as you know, the Blazing Star is not a typical block of the month — so we’re starting at the end.

We planned it this way for a few reasons. First, it may not be obvious, but the tri-square units in the ribbon border are actually the same units in the Broadway Star block, which is the first featured block we’ll tackle together. Since you’ll learn to construct the units to make your Broadway Stars, you’ll be ready to dive right into the border.

Second, with a bit of practice, the ribbon border is really pretty simple… but other blocks in the Blazing Star are more challenging. When you’re stuck on a block and just want something easy and relaxing to work on, you can always turn back to your border. It’s a great way to keep yourself going (even when you need a break!).

The final reason: 64 tri-square blocks come together to form the border — that’s a lot of pieces! By starting on them right away, you’ll have no plenty of time to piece them up as we progress through the project.

Here’s a helpful plan that can keep you on track: If you want to finish your Blazing Star in 6 months, try to make about a dozen border blocks each month, or about 3 each week. By June, you’ll have all the pieces ready to put together.

Another approach to accelerate up the process: Take a few weeks or a month to cut out all the triangle pieces — 64 taupe pieces, 64 navy pieces and 64 blue pieces. It feels like a lot of cutting up front, but it sets you up for speedy sewing: When you’re ready to go, you can just grab the pieces you need and head to the machine!