I fell in love with a quilt block this week… the directions were sketchy so I thought I would do a picture tutorial showing ironing and sewing helps 🙂
This is a Disappearing 9 Patch Star … and Yes! It starts with a 9 patch… I am making mine very scrappy 😍
The instructions I found online after seeing this photo…
on THIS blog post from 2014 tells a better history of this block and shows some great scrappy photos…. but no real instructions on how… now I am a fairly good quilter so I figured I could play around and figure out my own way to do it… then I found THIS blog post from 2013 showing this much less scrappy star block….
your first 4 blocks will look similar to this in scrappiness….
- 2 – blue 4″ squares
- 2 – red 4″ squares
- 1 – center 4″ square (I went light with mainly red cream and blue colors there)
- 4 – white/cream 4″ squares AND
- 8 – white/cream 2 5/8″ squares
(HINT: Make sure you have NO REPEATS in your bundle of blocks you are making at once to mix and match… this is important to a scrappy finish)
Press with a hot iron BACK first to keep seams going as below… then turn over and press from the front to avoid any tucks or pleats …
Cut into 4 pieces with 2 cuts…. (HINT: DO NOT disturb your block until both cuts have been made for the most accurate finish… use a smaller mat and rotate or move yourself around if need be):
Here is my sets of blocks lined up ready to sew on the 2 5/8″ blocks for the flip and sew corners….
Here I am now sewing the flip and sew corners. I ironed mine in half and followed the valley side of the pressed block. You could instead mark a pencil/pen line across the square… (HINT: Sew just to the right of your mark or valley by a thread to leave potential space for thread and fabric to fold over).
Here are all of a block with flippy corners sewn on both sides properly… Make sure you are sewing your flippy corners on right to make a star! lol
Now cut off the excess leaving a scant 1/4″ or so ….
Press open careful not to distort these bias edges now 🙂
Next is up to you … the first blog post I shared the lady sewed halves together for a LONG time before joining… I like that way best too I think for a scrappy finish. Here are 2 scrappy halves…
Once sewn together open the center most seam so that all your seams open in a different direction.
Here is a close up of that center seam opened….
By doing this … you make it easy to join your blocks without sashing…. and you have nice areas once joined for some fancy stitching when quilting it too!
Thanks for filling in the steps missing. I'll post my blocks once completed in August. Mine will be a Canadian patriotic set of place mats!
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neat – I had no idea when you showed it previously that it had been a nine patch!
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Lovely stars! What a neat idea. I'll bookmark this post for quick access to the pattern. Thanks!
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Thanks for sharing the great tutorial. I never would have figured out how to do it on my own. It is so much easier than I would have guessed.
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Thanks for a great tutorial! This looks like so much fun to try!
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Quick blocs to make up. Love the idea. Also thought that the snowballs could be a different colour from the background thus creating a bit of a secondary pattern between stars.
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interesting variation! just may have to try it!
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I am making this as a beginner quilter with ladies who are experts. Reading their direction was like reading Chinese. This made perfect sense to me and now I can do it easily. Thank you so much!
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