Ever wonder what to do with a fat eighth? Here is one great simple block - it's a disappearing 9 patch - cut on the diagonal and reassembled.
For this quilt I used all Cotton + Steel fat eighths. A fat eighth is 9" x 21" - but not all fabric cuts are totally accurate. Some of my pieces were just shy of 9" deep, so I cut my squares for this 9-patch: 4 1/4" x 4 1/4".
Pull out 9 squares that make a variety in both color and dark/light. Sew into a 9 patch, 3 across by 3 down.
Now cut this whole unit from corner to corner on the diagonal. You will end up with 4 pieces. Put these into a pile and start the whole process over again.
Now comes the fun part. Take two random triangles and position them so that the two large, uncut squares are opposite each other.
Don't try and be all matchy matchy or overthink this. There is so much pattern that trying to 'figure out what looks best' is not really possible.
Put your pairs all together and have fun sewing them together. Now its TIME TO TRIM!
My blocks were a little shy of an 8"x 8" - so I just grabbed my 7.5" square ruler and trimmed everything to 7.5" x 7.5".
Yes, a little waste with the trimming but I really didn't want to chase after an extra half inch or so and following the template made perfect blocks and kept this project relaxing and fun.
Now the important part - layout is key. There are two whole squares in the middle of your block, and above them are two small triangles (dark pink and stripped in the pix above).
The goal is to have the 'little triangles' meet whenever you can during the layout phase. Why do it this way? I think it's easier to find the little triangles as a repeating pattern on an already busy looking block. The pix above shows how easy it is to find the four little triangles to match up. Not every side of your blocks will have little triangles to match. But if you do it this way - lots of secondary diamond shapes appear throughout your quilt ... all created by the various sized triangles lining up.
To layout on point - here is a video from the Fat Quarter Shop for visual instruction. There is also a link for a downloadable cutting & measurement chart. I would recommend using Kimberly's suggested cutting sizes and even going a half inch larger for the corner triangles - this will allow lots of wiggle room for squaring up.
Notes: one 9-patch made with 4.25" squares yields 4 'triangles' (or 2 blocks). Each block is trimmed to 7.5" x 7.5" This quilt has 25 Cotton + Steel blocks. Following the Fat Quarter downloadable chart, the rest is Kona white with a 3" border on every side.
The back is a rainbow of left over minkys and here is my post on how to do that.
I press my seams open so quilting was done with a walking foot on either side of the seams - and through the larger squares that didn't have seams. Because of the minky back I did a generous 3.30 straight stitch length and used Aurifil 50wt. #2000.
Two links to earlier quilts made with this block, not on point but a little easier Row by Row: here and here. I hope that this variation of the disappearing 9 patch becomes as fun for you as it is for me.
Materials: Cotton + Steel - Fat 8's Kona white Warm & White batting Scrap minky Aurifil 50wt. #2000 Size: 45.5" X 45.5" May 2019
