Scrappy nine patch

A backward pieced scrappy nine patch made from clothing.  These are some 10 inch blocks left over from a clothing memory quilt I made a year or so ago.  I'm going to make these into scrappy nine patch blocks for a charity quilt.  Yes, I could just sew them together as is; but, I thought it might be fun to make these a little more special for a nursing home patient.  I can show you my way of piecing scrappy nine patch blocks backwards. 

 I have this stack of 10 inch blocks. You would go through your fabrics and cut some for yourself.  Or perhaps you have some already cut.  Variety is what makes this nine patch fun.  I'm using what I have so some of the patches will be repeated within the blocks.  To get a totally scrappy look all the starting squares should be different. 

Cut a strip off one side.  I cut my strips 3 inches.  The finished block will be 9 X 9 inches.  Whatever size block you start with.... subtract one inch and divide by three to get your strip size.

Remove the top piece from one stack and put it on the bottom.

Pin and sew back together.

Press the seam toward the outside.  I found some of these fabrics don't want to press toward the outside.  This is clothing fabric and sometimes it's very stubborn.  I let the fabric have it's way for now and I'll deal with the seams later.  I press in whatever direction it wants to go..... but only because it's clothing.  Regular cotton fabric should behave enough to press in the right direction.... toward the outside of the block.

I cut a 3 inch strip from the other side.

Take the top strip and place it on the bottom of the stack.  Pin and sew back together.

I press the seams toward the outside again.... or whatever direction it stubbornly tells me it's willing to go.

I turn the blocks so the strips are going horizontal and cut a 3 inch strip off one side.  Remove the top piece from one of the stacks and place it on the bottom. 

I re press the seams of the strip I just cut so the seams are toward the middle.  Unless it's too stubborn to go that way.  Darn it!  Repressing lets the seams lock together for more accurate matching corners.

Pin and sew back together.

Now it's time to deal with those unruly stubborn seams.  Umm.... let me turn the block around so you see better what I'm doing. 

That's better.  Do you see where the frog stitcher is pointing?  Do you see where the last seam stitching crosses over that stitching?  Ok, frog stitch (pick out) just the stitches within the seam line.  From the previous stitching line to the edge.  It might be only a couple of stitches at most.  No need to clip the loose thread. 

Now press the seams so they form a tiny little four patch at the intersection.... like this.  Why would I do this step?  Because clothing is famous for creating fabric warts at intersections.  Warts are thick areas of fabric that can break needles.  I want to avoid creating warts whenever possible.  Regular cotton fabric will create warts too but not as thick.  Warts of any fabric will break needles. 

Ok, now darn it.... some seams of clothing quilts just want to go their own direction no matter how much steam I put to them.  Like this.  One end says go this way and the other says go this way.  Here's how I deal with these. 

Right at the point where it changes direction, I clip it.  I'm careful not to cut the stitching.  I just clip up to the stitching.... and that stubborn seam lays down for a nap.  Gosh, I think it's time to clean my pressing board.  Lots of little dots of dry starch on it. 

Now it's time to cut a 3 inch strip from the other side of the blocks.  Remove the top strip from the stack and place it on the bottom as I did before.  

Pin and sew back together. 

Repeat the process of either making tiny four patches at the seam intersections or clip the seams so they lay flat.  I now have a stack of scrappy nine patch blocks made from clothing. 

I can go even farther and make these into disappearing nine patches or simply use them as is.  I think I'll leave them as is since so many of the fabrics don't want to behave.  If I was working with regular cotton fabrics I would go farther.   

This blog post is printable if you want to print it.  Look for the print friendly button below and click it.  Enjoy!

Scrappy half squares

This is a reconstructed post of one of my pieced backward designs.  I originally worked this one out in probably 2000 or earlier?  I can't remember for sure.  A few years later I was asked to explain to some internet friends how it was done.  I wanted people to have a visual as well as a type-talked description.  I posted the photos in my webshots albums for easy viewing. I'm lucky I did that because I was able to use the photos from webshots to reconstruct the instructions here.

For this block I start with 24 pieces of scrap fabric which made 24 finished scrappy half square blocks.  Half of the fabrics were dark and half were light.  You can use a variety of different fabrics such as brights and pastels or batiks and solids or whatever.  Whichever combination you choose, just be sure there is good contrast between them.   If you want a really scrappy look it works best if no two fabrics are the same pattern.  .

From the scrap fabrics I cut 24 ten inch squares.  The size I used may not be the size you will choose.  Any size square will work.  I suggest you read through all the instructions before choosing your block size though.  Each cut will take away 1/2 inch of fabric when you sew it back together.  It's not a good idea to start with 3 inch squares unless you want a finished block of 1 1/2 X 1 1/2 inches.

Next you will pair up a light and a dark square right sides together.  Draw a line from one corner to the opposite corner.  Sew a quarter inch seam on both sides of that line. 

Cut the two halves apart..... right smack dab on that drawn line. 

Open these up and press the seam going toward the dark fabric.  Press it!  Press it! Press it!  I firmly believe in pressing (not ironing) a quilt block at each step.  Pressing in the right direction is important for this block to work.

Now, dividing these half squares by three, cut it into 3 equal strips like this.  Don't use the original measurement for dividing because you have lost 1/2 inch of the size when sewing the first seam.

Take the first strip off the top of the left stack and put it on the bottom.  Take two strips off the stack on the right and put those on the bottom.  This is what will give a scrappy look to the finished block.  Take the center stack and repress the seam going toward the light side.  Yes, it does sort of sound like extra work but it's worth it.  This will help reduce bulk at the intersection as well as help lock the seams together for sewing.

Now pin the strips together and sew them back together.   I usually work from left to right.  Sew the first two sets together then add the last set.  I chain piece for more speed in piecing.

When these are all sewn together they should look like this.  No, it really is not supposed to be an even diagonal line.   This offset is very important for the next step.  The offset should be 1/2 inch.  Press the seams you just sewed toward the center of the block.

Turn the blocks a quarter turn so you can cut through the center of the offsets.  Again, you will be cutting three equal sized strips by making sure you are in the center of each offset.  Can you see this in the photo?  Now take one off the left stack and place it on the bottom.  Remove two from the right stack and place those on the bottom.

Repress the seams of the center stack going toward the outside of the block.  After pressing the blocks the seams should look like this.  (I have these placed in the wrong order but the pressing is right)

Sew these back together and press the last two seams open or do a roseate press.  This reduces bulk at the intersections.  Machine quilters call the bulky intersections "fabric warts" when there is a great deal of fabric there.  Fabric warts can break quilting machine needles and will cause holes in the quilt before the machine stops sewing.  I pressed these seams open but I really prefer making the rosettes.

Your finished blocks should look like these and now you can play around with different placement patterns.   Aren't they sooo cute with all the small half squares?  And you worked so hard at piecing all those really small triangles together didn't you?  Shhh.... you don't need to tell anyone how easy it really was to make them.

Here's another placement possibility.

How about this one?  A scrappy flying geese design.

Hmm.... how about a scrappy Jacob's ladder design? 

This one looks like sail boats or flags.   Once you get the squares pieced, there are many different setting  possibilities.

I've made several of these since I made the first one.  I can't find all the photos but here is one I did with bright and cream color fabrics to show how one looks as finished.  If I ever find the photos of the finished red one I'll update this post.

My posts are printer friendly if you want to print these directions out and take them to your work area.  Just click on the print friendly button.  Let me know if something is not clear and I'll try to explain it better.

UPDATE:  I was at the nursing home visiting my mother yesterday and took this photo of the finished red quilt.  It has been washed several times.

Wonky star

This backward pieced block will become a wonky star.  As you piece the block it's important to note that you are not trying to match up any seams.  It's better to match up the outside edge as close as possible without regard to where the star inside seams meet.  I nearly drove myself crazy trying to match up all the inside seams perfectly until I realized the seams were not supposed to match up together.  Please read through the whole blog post before doing any of the steps.

This block finishes at 7 1/2" X 8"  The reason it comes out different than a square is because there is an odd number of seams. 

Ready to get started?  You need some 10 inch blocks.  Half should be light and half should be dark fabrics. How many squares?  It depends on how many finished blocks you want to make.  Try testing the pattern with only 2 pieces for now.  One light and one dark.  Four would give you enough for a craft project, like a pillow or a purse, if you decide it's not a quilt you want to make.  To make a larger quilt, decide how big you want it and divide by the block measurements.  I'll go into more details on this in another post.

Now cut a three inch strip off one side of all the blocks.  Match up a dark with a light and sew them back together.

For this one time only, press the seams toward the dark fabric.  For the rest of the piecing, all seams should be pressed toward the outside of the block before going to the next step.

While you are pressing, fold the block in half, along the strip edge, and iron a tiny spot to indicte center.  Don't press a seam down the whole block.... just press a tiny place like this.  You will use this center mark for the next step.

Your next cut is going to be on the diagonal.  From the center ironed mark on the strip to the corner of the block.  Like this.

After that cut, match a dark with a light and sew them back together, like this.   Press the seams toward the outside of the block.  See how the seam lines do not match?  That's how it's supposed to look.

Now we are ready for the next cut. This time you will go from the center of the first strip to the other corner.  Like this.  I turn the block upside down so it's easier for me to cut right handed.  There is a very important step that you should know before making this cut.

You will move over 1/4 inch from the exact center.  Like this.  The reason is so you will get a nice 1/4 inch  of background fabric beyond the star point.  That 1/4 inch will be in the seam line when you sew the blocks together... without cutting off the star points. 

Through out the piecing of this block you will get these little do dads after cutting.  I just pulled them off with my fingers.  Very easy and keeps them out of the seams.

After making that cut and sewing them back together and pressing toward the outside, your block should look like this. 

Now for the next cut.  This time going from the corner to the seamline of the first strip.  

I used the dog ear from the last cut as my guide in the corner. 

Then a 1/4 inch from the seamline here.

After making that cut, match up backgrounds and sew them back together.  The block should now look like this and you are ready for the last cut.  It's just like the previous cut only on the other side.

Match up the background fabric and sew them back together.  Your block should now look like this.  These are after I squared them up.  I can't tell you how many I ruined trying to get them "square" before I realized that wasn't possible if I want nice crisp points on the stars.

If you try this block, please let me know if the directions are ok.  Getting feed back from my readers will help me learn more about writing good directions.  You can find more backward piecing blocks in the near future.