Jumbo Bunny Rabbit Sawtooth Star Quilt Block

Today I’m going to show you how to make a sawtooth star quilt block featuring an applique bunny. I’ll include a link to the bunny template that you can download for free for your personal sewing projects. This tutorial is a two parter: first, I’ll teach you how to create the sawtooth star quilt block. Second, I’ll teach you how to assemble 6 oversized blocks into a quick and easy baby quilt with sashing and corner stones.

The Sawtooth Star is a traditional quilt block that’s easy to assemble with half square triangle units (HSTs).  

It’s composed of 3 different elements:

  • 1 large central square
  • 4 corner squares
  • 8 half square triangle units

For a super cute baby quilt that sews together quickly, I thought that putting an applique bunny rabbit in the central square would add some cuteness to this traditional block.  I also feel like making traditional quilt blocks at a larger size makes them feel fresher and lighter.  The finished size of each block will be 16”, and the unfinished size will be 16.5”.  All seams will be ¼”.  

Step 1: Cut Out Your Fabric for the Sawtooth Star Blocks

I’ve included cutting instructions for a single block or for 6 blocks. If you want to make an alternate amount of blocks for your project, simply multiply the “1 Block” quantities by your desired number of blocks.

For my daughter’s quilt, represented by the quilt layout diagram above, I made 6 blocks.

Bunny Applique Template Download

I have the bunny template available in two formats: first, a print and cut PDF file. If you download this file, be sure to check your printer is set to print at 100% scale – not scale to fit! Alternatively, I have linked to where you can open the Cricut design space cutting template if you have a Cricut cutter.

For each block you are planning to make, you’ll need to cut a bunny out of fabric and a bunny out of fusible web.

Step 2: Assemble the HST Units

Let’s assemble the 4⅞” squares first into the HST units.  Pair up the focal squares with the background squares and layer each pair, right sides together.  

Draw a line on an angle from corner to corner, then sew a ¼” seam away from both sides of this line.  Repeat until all four pairs are sewn.

Cut along the line, then press the seams open.  You’ll now have 8 HST units.

If you need more guidance, here is a detailed tutorial on how to assemble HST units.

Step 3: Applique the Bunny Rabbit

Next, cut out the bunny template.  Apply a double sided fusible web to the wrong side of your bunny fabric. Cut out the bunny rabbit shape and apply it to the centre of the 8.5” square following the manufacturer’s instructions. 

Once the bunny is stuck to the fabric, you can use your sewing machine to carefully stitch the bunny on.  Stitch around the inner perimeter of the bunny shape to secure in place. You can straight stitch, zig zag stitch (regular zig zag or a dense satin stitch), or even a decorative stitch. I used a blanket stitch with my machine, on the very edge.

Step 4: Assemble the Blocks

Take a pair of HST units and sew them like this:

Repeat until you have four pairs.

Take two of the pairs, and sew the 4.5” focal squares to each end. You’ll end up with rows like this:

You should now have two short rows and two long rows:

I pressed the seams toward the left.

Take your central block and sew the two short rows along each side, making sure that the background print is aligned like this:

For these seams, I pressed them toward the right.  This is so that when we assemble the rows for the sawtooth star quilt block, the seams will nest in opposite directions.

Now you have three rows.  Sew these rows together, press, and you’re done!  

Repeat this process for as many blocks as you need for your project.  If you’d like to assemble it into the quilt layout that I used for my baby quilt, keep on reading.  The final size for the quilt will be 39.5” by 58”.

How to Assemble the Sawtooth Star Bunny Baby Quilt

This baby quilt is made with six sawtooth star blocks with sashing around each block.  For the cornerstones (the squares where the sashing intersects), I fussy cut bunny faces from one of my print fabrics, but you don’t need to if you don’t want to.

Gather the elements below:

Once you have these pieces prepared, it’s time to assemble these pieces into rows.  As with the rest of this tutorial, all seams will be ¼” inch.

Row A:
First, sew together 4 sets of rows that are these elements assembled in this order:
Cornerstone, Rectangle, Cornerstone, Rectangle, Corner Stone.
Press all the seams to the left.

Row B:
Then, create 3 sets of rows that are these elements assembled in this order:
Rectangle, Sawtooth Block, Rectangle, Sawtooth Block, Rectangle.
Press all the seams to the right.

Now, sew those rows together, alternating between Row A and Row B.  Be sure to nest the seams where seams intersect.

When you’re done, all that’s left is sandwiching your new quilt top on some batting and backing fabric to quilt and bind as desired.  Happy Sewing!

Jumbo Bunny Rabbit Sawtooth Star Quilt Block Applique Video Sewing Tutorial

If you would prefer to watch these instructions in video format, you can watch the Craftcore episode over on my YouTube channel. The tutorial will be going live on May 10 @ 1:30PM EST!

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