Thursday, February 5, 2015

Itty Bitty Four Patch Sanity, need 9 Patch

     I signed up for a class in April for a quilt called 99 Bottles in a book by Joan Ford. It is very scrappy, which I love and the quilt I saw at the quilt shop was done in batiks and white. It is a bit insane because the blocks are 9 patches that use 1" pieces. Now, I know I want to challenge myself, but I do not think I can cut 2" blocks into 1" and sew 9 patches. 
     While I am unsure where I gathered the idea in my internet quilt travels, I thought of a way to make 4 patches using the 2" squares that I cut out and save. While 2" is still small, it is not insane. 
     However, I still need to figure out how to do these for 9 patches, because I will lose it sewing 1" squares. So if you know, please comment!
     I started with a white 2" square and a batik 2" square and sewed seams on opposite two sides, using chain piecing.

     Next, after setting the seams, I cut them in half.
     Then, I pressed them open.
    I layered them, nesting the seams, with opposite colors (white next to color). The photo does not show them perfectly matched, because I am trying to show the nesting placement. The edges were matched up.
     Then the opposite 2 edges were sewn, chain pieced.
     After setting the seams, they were cut in half.

    Finally, they were pressed open. Voila! One inch pieces making a 2" 4 patch. These can be done using any size double what you want the square to be. 
    Now, if I can figure out a way to do 9 patches....

2 comments:

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

For the 9 patch you need 2 squares that can be divided by 3, and in your case for 1" I think it would be 4.5". Then sew the 2 sides, slice into 3 equal strips. Add the extra strips to each of the 2 sewn parts, layer, sew the edge, slice into 3 sections again. You should get 2 9 patches.

just do a search for "9 patch from 2 squares of fabric" and you will find photos to follow.

Peg said...

After looking at the photo of the kids disappearing nine patch, how does nesting work if there are 3 different sized pieces in each square (as the photo in the previous post shows)?