Making a 9 Patch Quilt 

Is this the cutest quilt that I’ve ever made? Possibly! I’m in love with this 9 Patch quilt not only for its looks, but because it came together so easily!

Why I made it

It all started with a client quilt… Ann had sent me this beautiful quilt for longarming, and it made me want to drop everything and IMMEDIATELY make something similar. 

Only…. I wanted each block to be a 9 Patch square (instead of alternating 9 Patches with background fabric). 

I did some math and decided it would be pretty easy to whip up an entire quilt with these blocks. To make a 9 patch quilt that measured 60” x 72”, I figured I would need 24 fat quarters (12 prints and 12 low volume). 

Making the blocks

The blocks came together really quickly and accurately, thanks to some strip piecing shortcuts and trimming down to size. 

Want to see how I made all 120 of these blocks? Check out this blog post where I share the process step by step!

After a weekend of sewing, I had all of my blocks finished and ready to be assembled into my quilt top. I used the webbing technique (see a full video tutorial on it here), which meant that I was able to keep everything in order and not mix up any blocks. Phew! I hate it when I accidentally rotate blocks at this stage.

Choosing backing fabric

Once I had my quilt top finished, I had to decide on backing fabric and a pantograph. I had just snagged a deeply discounted 5 yard cut of fabric from an online shop (this is Strawbitties in Flamingo from the Picture Book line by Ruby Star Society), and I decided it was a perfect fit!

I love the saturated colours of the backing, which are a nice contrast to the lighter colours on the quilt top).

Quilting

For the pantograph, I wanted something that was loopy and floral, so I chose Petal Twirl by Melissa from Sew Shabby Quilting. Because I own a computerized longarm machine, I was able to scale down the size of the design and make it quite petite (in order to match the size of the piecing). I love that flexibility!

I think the quilting turned out really nicely, and it adds an element of fun. When you have busy piecing and fabric choices (like on this 9 Patch quilt), you sometimes lose the quilting design altogether, but I find that this quilting shows up nicely!

There’s something really satisfying about being able to pull fabric from your stash, make a top, and then quilt it yourself in your basement! I’m sure I’ll have my longarm machine long after I’ve retired from my business - it’s too convenient for quilting my own projects!

Binding Fabric

I was really torn on which colour I should use for the binding. My instinct was to use a pink, but I didn’t have the perfect shade in my (admittedly small) stash, so I started to consider other options. Yellow, perhaps? It seemed like a good choice, but it also felt like it would overwhelm the project. When I held up the yellow binding option, it seemed like it was “too much”. 

So I tried blue, and I was delighted with the contrast! Luckily, my stash did provide a nice shade that complemented the colours in the quilt top well. It helps that I used a lot of Ruby Star Society fabrics, and mainly keep their yardage on hand - they all seem to go together well. 

Machine binding

Sometimes I like to take my time with a quilt, spending hours hand stitching the binding. But with my 9 Patch quilt, I wanted the project finished sooner rather than later (because I wanted to write this blog post!), so I chose to machine bind it. 

I have a variety of methods of binding my quilts (including several machine binding options), and I opted for the “visible on both sides” variety of binding. 

With this method, I attach the binding to the front of the quilt, and then wrap it around to the back. I line up the fold of the binding with the line of stitching from the front, and then machine stitch ⅛” away from the fold. This adds a line of stitching that catches the front and the back of the binding at the same time. The stitches are visible, but I find that using a coordinating thread colour works well to camouflage the stitches. 

I like it! It’s neat and tidy, and is definitely secure. And with some practice, I’ve been able to get nice clean corners as well. It’s by far the fastest method of binding in my repertoire, and it did the job well. 

Photo Shoot

After binding, all that was left was to photograph my 9 Patch quilt. I waited for a nice overcast afternoon, and snapped a few photos in my living room / photography studio. 😉

Really, all I do is move my couch out of the way so I have an extra 24” of floor space to take photos. Not a very sophisticated set up! 

I absolutely love the way this quilt turned out, and it looks gorgeous in any light!

Want to make a 9 Patch quilt of your own? Click the image below and I’ll send you a FREE pdf with all the steps for making these blocks. They’re super fun and FAST. 

Are you a fan of the 9 Patch quilt? Let me know in the comments below!