Tutorials for Disappearing Nine Patch and Some Free Ideas

 

If you want a simple quilt but are not really looking for something as simplistic and a plain nine patch, this might be a good option for you.  I want to try something along these lines myself sometime.

The disappearing nine patch pattern is quite common now.  I don’t know where it came from, but it is fairly simple and gives some versatility without a lot of monkeyfuss.  When you’re finished it looks like you did a whole lot more work than you actually did. :-)

Here is a written out tutorial with photos by Diane at:

Butterfly Threads - Disappearing Nine Patch Tutorial

Diane says it’s fine to print her instructions for your own use.   I like her style of block a little better because it is more organized color-wise, which makes it easier to create a design that is more orderly.  Personally I like a mix of scrappy and order.

Here is a video tutorial by Jenny Doan from the Missouri Star Quilt Company:

Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt Block Tutorial

She put hers together in a much more scrappy style using a different fabric for all the outside squares and only keeping the middle square consistent.  Her method is also to put the cut block back together in such a manner that there are no seams to match.  This method could be especially nice for a beginner.  If you like the really scrappy look this might suit you well.

Since I love graphics design, I took the time to make a variety of blocks and layouts – partly for my own enjoyment and partly to give us ideas. :-)

These are not actual prints that you can purchase.  I cheated and used photos of my own.  I photo shopped them to make them look a little more like fabrics. :-)  My style is fairly modern, though I like more traditional fabrics, so some of these may look a little different to the traditional minded quilter or viewer.

My examples are based on 5” squares but you can use any size you want.  The larger the squares the quicker it will be done. :-)  It would’ve been nice if I’d made some other color combinations, but I didn’t so this is what you get this time. :-)

Here is the basic nine patch before being divided.  As you can see I used a little different arrangement of colors and prints than the examples the other two ladies used.  Using the solid white in all four side slots would give a very different look to the blocks I’m showing here.  There’s lots of room for imagination, as Diane said! :-)

Here is the basic cut with the solid pink turned to the four outer corners, but with the same central fabrics on the same side.  It might be better to leave the main blocks alternated as they would naturally happen to fall if you just turned the solid squares out, but I did it this way and didn’t feel like redoing the images. ;-)

Block 1

Block 1 tiled

Block 1 tiled with some rotation.

Block 2

Block 2 tiled – I really like this one. :-)

Block 2 tiled with rotation.

Block 3

Block 3 tiled with rotation.  This is my favorite arrangement!

And, to give you an idea how it would look as a quilt (you’d want to make it bigger and add borders):

Yummy! :-)  How pretty would that be with some tulip, pansy and daffodil fabrics for the flowers?  It would be very Dutch flavored, what with those modernistic “windmills”. :-)