Nine Patch Quilt Pattern

A single Irish Chain quilt uses a block pattern called “Nine Patch.” Nine Patch blocks were the first blocks children leaned to make when they were old enough to sew. The instructions below call for blue and white fabric, but you can choose any two colours, as long as one is dark and one is light.

You’ll need

•   a pencil

•   a ruler

•   cereal-box cardboard

•   scissors

•   .25 m (¼ yd.) blue cotton fabric (plain or print)

•   .25 m (¼ yd.) white cotton fabric (plain or print)

•   straight pins

•   a sewing needle and thread

•   an iron (ask an adult to help)

Instructions

           1   Draw a 13-cm (5-in.) square on the cereal-box cardboard and cut it out. This will be your pattern, or template, as it is called in quilting.

           2   Place the template on the blue fabric and trace around it with the pencil. Cut out the fabric square exactly on the lines. Use this same method to cut out four more blue squares.

           3   Use the above method to cut out four white squares. You should now have five blue squares and four white ones.

           4   Use your pencil and ruler to draw a line .5 cm (¼ in.) in from each side on the wrong side of one of the fabric squares. These will be your sewing lines. Repeat this step for each square.

           5   On a table, line up a blue square, a white square and another blue square. This will be your first row.

           6   For the second row, line up a white square, a blue square and another white square.

           7   Your third row will be the same as the first row. Your squares should be alternating blue and white. (See the illustration on the facing page.)

           8   With the right sides together, pin the first blue square to the white square beside it.

           9   With the needle and thread, use a running stitch (as shown on the facing page) to stitch the squares together along the sewing lines. Remove the pins as you sew.

        10   Now sew the other blue square to the centre white square.

        11   Use this same method to stitch together the squares in the other two rows.

        12   Ask an adult to help you press the seams toward the blue fabric in each row.

        13   With the right sides together, sew the top row to the middle row, and the bottom row to the other two rows. Press the seams smooth.

        14   You now have a nine-patch block. See the author’s Web site http://www.barbhaworthattard.com/ for how to make your block part of an Irish chain quilt, or you can make a pillow out of your block.

To make a pillow

Place your block face down on the right side of another piece of cotton. Trace the block and cut out the large fabric square. (Or you can make a second block to use for the back of the pillow.) With the right sides together, pin and stitch the front and back together on three sides. Remove the pins as you sew. Turn the pillow right side out and stuff it with a pillow form. Tuck in the raw edges and stitch the pillow closed.