Disappearing Nine Patch On Point

I finally have this one finished! I’ve been showing teaser shots of it for the last week or so, and I promised a tutorial for you. It’s a quick and easy project. I combined two “easier than they look” techniques to make this one. BUT, before we get into the tutorial, I’m operating under the assumption that most quilters enjoy a cute dog picture. So, here’s Cleo photobombing this quilt.

For this one, I decided not to write a pattern and just use good old-fashioned intructions with pictures.

Fabric Requirements

– 2 Layer Cakes – I used Sleepovers by Pat Sloan
– 2-1/2 yards of wide backing fabric at least 90″ wide (so you won’t have to piece the back)
– 3/4 yards for binidng. Cut (9) 2-1/2″ strips
– Batting cut to 86″x86″, or just roll it out and wing it like I do.

If you want to make this quilt, get your layer cakes from Missouri Star. I have discount for you for 20% your purchase of $50 or more. You don’t need a code. Just get to their site from my link (affiliate), and the discount will be applied automatically. You can get that HERE, but hurry because this one’s only good for the month of July 2024.

Instructions

Make your 9-patch blocks.

This step is pretty self-explanatory. The most “difficult” part of this is the fabric placement. You’ll use the layer cake squares to make (8) 9-patch blocks. I tried to keep the color placement so that there would be lighter colors on the inside of the “X” designs you see in the quilt and darker colors making the “X” designs. If your layer cake doesn’t have enough to go all in with this concept, you can use the medium ones in either spot. You can see where I did this in a few places on the “X” designs.

Let’s take a look at one of my 9-patch blocks for color placement. To get color placement similar to my quilt, you’ll want to keep lighter prints in the four corners and darker prints with a medium here and there if needed in all of the other spots. The nice thing about those mediums is that they can go either way. They make a nice little break in that stark contrast between dark and light prints and add a lot of visual interest.

To get this color placement similar to mine you’ll need:
– 40 layer cake squares with darker prints with some mediums scattered in if you need to
– 32 layer cake squares with lighter prints
*** I just want to say that it’s kind of cool that the finished quilt looks like it uses more light prints when I actually used more dark layer squares.

In addition to color placement, it’s also worth noting that you can base your placement on the scale of your prints. If there’s a lovely large scale print that you don’t want to chop up, you can leave it uncut. The square in the middle will get cut down the most, so it’s not a great place for those large scale prints. The squares in the corners will remain unchanged. So, that is the best place to put those big prints that you don’t want to chop up. This will make more sense in the next step.

Press the blocks. You’ll get more accurate cuts in the next step if your blocks are pressed nice and flat.

Cut up the 9-patch blocks

You’ll cut these into quarters:
– Line the 4-3/4″ line on you rule up with the seams in your 9-patch block to cut the block in half.
– Repeat this going in the opposite direction to make you quarters.

You can see mine in the photo below.

Rearrange the quadrants

I have them rearranged within the same block in the photo below so that it’s eaiser for you to see the new quadrant placement. BUT, you’ll get better color balance and a more interesting look if you rearrange them throughout the whole quilt. So, lay out all 8 blocks with the new arrangement and swap the pieces around until you have the colors all mixed up.

Sew your blocks together

You’ll sew your new blocks together. This makes the disappearing 9-patch. This is not the only variation of the disappearing 9-patch. There are SEW many possibilites.

After you make 8 of these blocks. You’ll sew them together in two separate groups. Each group will be 2 blocks by 2 blocks as shown in the picture below. I know this sounds a little crazy, but I promise I have a point here.

Press the sections because you’re about to cut them again. You may want to starch them heavily. You’ll see why in a later step.

Cut up those two sections

You’ll cut each of those secitons in half on the diagonal.

I’ve never seen a ruler or a cutting mat big enough to go all the way across these blocks. So, you’ll have to cut them a little at a time. I used a 6″ x 24.5″ ruler for cutting this part.

***TIP: Don’t worry so much about lining your ruler up with the corners of each section. You won’t have a ruler long enough to do that for this quilt anyway. Instead, you’ll want to prioritize lining the ruler up with the points where your seams match up. This is good advice for smaller blocks as well…

You’ll end up with 4 new sections as show below.

Rearrange again to get the blocks on point look

Sew the four sections together so that right angles of each section meet up. I like to rearrange them multiple times until I have the best color balance. BUT, don’t stress too much over this. With only 4 sections, there’s only so many ways you can rearrange them. You can see in my quilt top below that I accidentally ended up with two same prints touching, but it was still the arrangement I liked best. See if you can find that little “boo boo”.

***TIP: you won’t have to sew bias seams together while you are assembling your quilt top, but you will have all bias edges in your finished top. I’m going to be honest – this doesn’t bother me in the least. BUT, if it bothers you, just press the blocks with a lot of starch before you start making any diagonal cuts. This will help tame that stretch.

That’s all I’ve got for today

That’s all I have for you today. As always, thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

I hope you enjoyed this FREE project.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment or email me. I’d love to hear from you!

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Happy quilting!