Calling all those who like a bit of a puzzle and aren’t shy of picking up a needle and thread!!

You are cordially invited to join in on a 9-Patch Quilt Challenge. 9-Patch is both the name of a specific quilt block and a patchwork block construction method. Nine equal sized squares get assembled into three rows which are then joined together to make a square block. See this excellent explanation on The Seasoned Homemaker.

In the basic 9-patch block, the 9 squares are single pieces of fabric. In researching for this project I found 70 different blocks that used the same kind of construction — three squares to a row, three rows to a block. The variations have squares that are themselves constructed from smaller squares or triangles (or both! See below… ) I’m going to assemble a gallery page for all the blocks I found, but we don’t need to go into that to get started.

THE CLASHMORE 9-PATCH CHALLENGE

If you live in Clashmore or the surrounding area and are interested in working on some quilt blocks but don’t have suitable fabric (or thread), I have more than enough to go around and am happy to share.

In addition to making something for yourself, you can contribute a 12.5″x12.5″ quilt block to a community quilt that could be raffled off to support Clashmore Tidy Towns. Putting the whole thing together and quilting or tying it will have to wait until we can actually be in the same room together. In the meantime, working on some quilt blocks can help to pass the time. You don’t even need a sewing machine (although you can certainly use one if you have one.)

I can provide a sandwich bag with two, three or four pieces of color coordinated quilt fabric—enough for two or more 12.5″ blocks. I’ll also include a sheet with a basic template for each of the pieces for the four blocks above based on nine 4″ finished squares, yielding a 12.5″ block including the outside seam allowance. I can leave the pack to be collected at one of our two shops or with your area volunteer if you are cocooning and getting deliveries from our Community Response folks. To request a 9-Patch quilt block pack, simply fill out this form:

The materials you will need to have are:

Must haves for piecing patchwork blocks:

  • Good quality scissors (dull scissors will make a mess of your fabric)
  • Straight pins – any kind but the glass headed pins are easier to use
  • Hand-sewing needles – Sharps No. 6 to 9 (the larger the number the shorter the needle.)
  • Thread – any color dark or light.
  • Beeswax cake (or a beeswax candle end) for thickening and smoothing thread. You draw your thread through it before threading your needle. It thickens the thread and helps prevent it from knotting and tangling as you sew.
  • Steam iron for pressing seams. You will almost always press the seam to one side, the darker side so that you don’t have “shadows” of dark fabric on the front of the block.
  • A ruler — for INCHES. While you can certainly do metric conversions for your own quilts and blocks, if you are contributing to a group effort, everyone should be using the same measuring method and all of the blocks I will be posting will be in inches. A gridded transparent plastic ruler is ideal.
  • Cardboard or flexible hard plastic for templates.
  • A box for your supplies — excellent way to use up one of those USA biscuit tins left over from Christmas!

Nice to have materials and equipment:

  • Thimble – nice for piecing, essential for quilting.
  • Seam ripper with unpicked – for the inevitable mistakes. We all make them… it’s how we learn.
  • Fabric markers – pens or chalk. One light, one dark. This will be for tracing the seam line on your pieces. Experienced sewers may be able to just trace the cut line and eyeball, but if it’s been a while, you’re better off knowing exactly where your needle needs to go.
  • Tape measure or yard stick with small fractions.
  • A sewing machine for piecing blocks, if you are comfortable with its use.

Like lots of folks, I’ve been staying home, gardening, baking, cleaning and—finally—going through boxes and boxes of stuff shipped over when we moved to the village. Until now these stayed pretty much unpacked and stacked up in cupboards and spare rooms. Who had time back then?? The contents of these boxes were mostly quilt fabric, old needlepoint projects, and knitting yarn. I have no idea what I’ll do with the yarn for now but the fabric—sin scéil eile ar fad! (For the backstory on why I tackled this mess, see my Garden Notes for the week before Easter.)

Decades ago, I taught Patchwork and Quilting in our town’s Adult Ed program, and later at the Franklin Mill Store. I came across the handbook I used for that class in one of the bins of fabric, along with several quilt blocks I used in the class as demonstration pieces. I will be updating and adding to these materials to provide a resource here for anyone who might be interested in creating their own quilt.

I’m definitely going to get busy either finishing some projects I had packed away during one of my moves from house to house—or starting new projects. As I went through my stash of fabric (it took almost two weeks to wash, line dry and iron all that I had stashed away!), I kept coming across pictures of projects I really wanted to do. At this rate, I could be doing two full sized quilts a year and still not get to the end of my wish list! However, my first project, starting now, is to get this 9-Patch project underway and to provide this collection of posts as a resource for all of us that are looking for a new challenge!

If you have fabric already and just want to jump in, here is a PDF of the Quilt Block Templates used in the four blocks pictured above.

GLOSSARY:

Construction method: The order in which pieces are assembled and sewn to create a quilt block.

Patchwork: The art of combining pieces of fabric together to create a new “fabric” design.

Quilt block: A set of pieces (usually geometric shapes) sewn together, arranged into a pattern that can be repeated or alternated.

Quilt fabric: Usually woven 100% cotton fabric, pre-washed so as to control shrinkage. Fabrics come in a range of colors, both prints and solids. The use and placement of dark, medium and light colored fabrics are the most important consideration in your quilt project. Each time you sew two or more pieces of fabric together, you are in essence creating a new fabric in color texture and design.

Quilting: The art of sewing together multiple layers of fabric, usually a top–batting–back or lining, to secure the layers.

Template:  A piece of cardboard or plastic that can be traced to create the pieces assembled together in a quilt block.

Tying: The art of using yarn or embroidery thread to securely tie the layers of a quilt together.

RESOURCES:

Block Patterns: If you want to find more 9 Patch quilt block patterns, there is an entire library of them at Patchwork Square, a site by Wendy Russell. Some designs are variations from those that I have learned, e.g. Weathervane—Wendy’s has a “flying geese” triangle in four of the patches. Be aware that there are lots of little “ads” buried in the site. To drill down to the actual pattern just keep clicking on the IMAGE of the block you want to learn.

Quilting Tutorials: Jordan Fabrics in Grants Pass, Oregon, have loads of YouTube quilting videos. In case you were wondering how to complete your patchwork project quickly and easily, hand tying is a great way to make sure your three layers are securely fastened for years of washing. Donna Jordan demonstrates how to quickly tie a quilt from her UFO (Unfinished Objects) bin—an “Around the World” quilt she made years ago using florals from Concord Fabrics, which is, alas, no more. Lucky for me, I have a lot of those fabrics in my stash!

Making and Using Templates:

Templates – Making and Using | Lessons