Beginner Friendly Nine Patch Variation Quilt Block Tutorial

By: Elaine Huff

This easy block uses just squares and rectangles to create a design that alternates light and dark fabrics for a delightful quilt. While the units can be made like a typical Nine Patch block, I've chosen to eliminate some seams by using rectangles in place of some of the squares. Let's get started!

9 patch variation quilt block

Fabric Requirements for a 12" Finished Nine Patch Variation Quilt Block:

  • Light/Gray: 4 - 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles, and 10 - 2.5" squares
  • Dark/Green: 4 - 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles, and 4 - 2.5" squares
  • Dark/Purple: 6 - 2.5" squares
9 patch variation fabric requirements

Sewing Directions:

Purple/Gray Units:

Step 1:

Sew two Light/Gray 2.5" squares to opposite sides of a Dark/Purple 2.5" square. Press the seam allowances toward the Dark/Purple fabric as shown in the picture below.

9 patch variation 1

Repeat for a total of 2 units as shown below.

9 patch variation 2

Step 2:

Sew a Dark/Purple 2.5" square to one end of a Light/Gray 2.5" x 4.5" rectangle. Press the seam allowance toward the Dark/Purple fabric as shown below.

9 patch variation 3

Repeat for a total of four units as shown.

9 patch variation 4

Step 3:

Lay out one Step 1 unit and two Step 2 units as shown in the picture below.

9 patch variation 5

Sew the three units together and...

9 patch variation 6

Press the seam allowances away from the middle of the unit as shown below. Repeat for a total of two Purple/Gray units.

9 patch variation 7

Green/Gray Units:

Step 4:

We're going to be making the same unit only the dark and light fabrics are reversed and I've substituted green for the purple fabric. And the pressing directions change a bit too.

Sew two Dark/Green 2.5" squares to opposite sides of a Light/Gray 2.5" square. Press the seam allowances toward the Dark/Green fabric as shown in the picture below.

9 patch variation 8

Repeat for a total of two units.

9 patch variation 9

Step 5:

Sew a Light/Gray 2.5" square to one end of a Dark/Green 2.5" x 4.5" rectangle. Press the seam allowance toward the Dark/Green fabric as shown below.

9 patch variation 10

Repeat for a total of four units like the ones in the picture below.

9 patch variation 11

Step 6:

Lay out one Step 4 unit and two Step 5 units as shown.

9 patch variation 12

Sew the three units together and...

9 patch variation 12

Press the seam allowances toward the center of the unit as shown in the picture below. Repeat for a total of two Green/Gray units.

9 patch variation 14

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Putting It All Together:

Step 7:

Lay out the Purple/Gray units and the Green/Gray units as shown below. From here the block goes together like a basic Four Patch block.

9 patch variation 15

Step 8:

Sew the units into two rows.

9 patch variation 16

Press the seam allowances toward the Purple/Gray units as shown below.

9 patch variation 16

Step 9:

Sew the two rows together to complete the block and...

9 patch variation 16

Press the seam allowance. You can see in the picture below that I've pressed using the tweak/twirl/furl method but you can press however you wish.

9 patch variation 17

Layout Ideas:

Here's just the typical 4 x 4 layout. I like the diagonal lines it creates!

quilt 1 

Here's the same layout except that in every block a different color is substituted for the green and the purple squares are replaced with black. So this is a scrappy layout. I think it would be a cute kid's quilt.

quilt 4

This example shows what happens when every other block is rotated 90 degrees.

quilt 2

Here's the same layout only with sashing and cornerstones added.

quilt 3

In this example the blocks are rotated so that a diamond pattern appears in the middle and radiates outward.

quilt 5

And here's an on point layout. 

quilt 6

Conclusion:

This was a quick and easy block to sew together and quite fun to do! The original coloring only used a light and a dark fabric. But I felt the design just got lost when put into a quilt. 

hope you've enjoyed this Nine Patch Variation quilt block tutorial. If you liked this post and want to see more quilting tutorials like this, simply click HERE to sign up for my newsletter and also receive a free PDF called Chained Weathervane.

Happy Quilting!

Elaine

P.S. You can purchase a PDF pattern of this block at https://www.etsy.com/listing/1185173104/quad-nine-patch-pdf-quilt-block-pattern

P.P.S. To figure out yardage for a quilt, check out this post: https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-much-fabric-do-i-need