I'm often inspired by vintage quilts. In December I posted about one that I had seen online and that I had decided to make one like it. This is my progress so far - about half way to a big quilt top.
It is 94 inches long and consists of alternating columns of 21 and 22 three inch nine patches. Four columns = 17 inches across. I'm trying to keep the corner patches of the nine patches the same color in each column but I think I'll have a few columns of a mixed variety. I'm using three inch nine patches from my boxes of nine patches that have been swapped over the years.
A few people wondered how I was making it so what follows is an explanation of how I made the column above with the black cornered nine patches between a red zig and a blue zag.
First I made sure I had 21 three inch nine patches with black corners.
Then I cut a 3.5 inch strip of red and a 3.5 inch strip of blue and then further cut them into half HST pieces.
Then I chain sewed all the red half HSTs to the left side of the nine patches oriented as shown.
Then I chain pieced the blue half HST to the right side of the nine patch oriented as shown.
My units looked like this and I ironed them pressing seams toward the HST.
At this point I will show you how the top and bottom of the columns look. When I'm finished with the quilt I'll trim it 1/4 inch from the point of the green and blue nine patches slicing through the other nine patches 1/4 inch from the center. That will leave some partial nine patches. Hope I'm explaining this correctly.
I guess you could trim as you go along but that's just not what I'm doing right now.
Now back to our black nine patch column. Our column top and bottom nine patches will look like the green column so they need an extra half HST added to the top nine patch of the column and a blue half HST added to the bottom nine patch like above.
Sew the pieces together as shown above until...
...you have an entire column made.
Then sew your new column to the previous column. (Yes, I'll trim the dog ears once the column as sewn together. It's faster for me to do it that way than individually it seems.)
And there you have it. I actually clip the seam here and there so when I iron it everything will lie flat.
I'm thinking I'll make about 20 columns.
17 comments:
Thanks for the explanation. A zig-zag strippy setting has long been on my bucket list; it would be a fun way to set my chunky churn dashes.
This looks awesome and so interesting to see how you are creating it!
Wow that's a fabulous layout, I love the variety in your nine patches 😍
Your Zig Zag Nine Patch looks great! Nice colors too. I love 9-patches. Years ago, I made a zig zag setting on a Grandma's Fan quilt and it came out pretty good but I don't remember how I put it together. Somehow, I figured it out myself. It was dark blue and purples.
Your zigzag 9 patch looks great. I've not seen that layout before.
Thanks for the explanation. I'm squirreling it away. Looking great, lovely combination of 9 patches and blocks of solid colour.
Looks fantastic and a great way to use up some solids. I always think everything has to match, but this way you only need enough fabric for one row, and the alternative colours add to the fun quilt.
You're always busy! And that's a good thing.
I agree, 'Thanks for the explanation,' it's fun seeing how
projects are pieced.
Love how this is looking as it grows 😀
Love how you hop, skip and bounce around from one project to the next. Always making amazing progress! This zigzag pattern is looking wonderful!
Such a fun design. I’ve made some similar designs but not with your method. And yours works out so well. Thanks.
Quite an interesting layout. Wish I had that any 9-patches made! ---"Love"
Thanks for the mini tutorial. Your method makes it simpler to work on a single color column at a time and then set it aside for a while. Clever!
I love it! (You put this quilt on my list back in December when you first showed it. Now if only I could get ahold of that day-stretcher I wanted)
This setting would look great using little sawtooth stars, too, btw. (Drat. ANOTHER quilt for the list...)
I LOVE this quilt! Nine patches are one of my favorite little units I make all year long -- when I have accumulated enough for a quilt, I'm always looking for a pattern or designing on the wall. Great Job!
Looks great, and I've long loved streak of lightning settings. I'm curious though, and I know this isn't your first rodeo, but why are you using HSTs for the zigzags? Does the bias over that long distance not give you any trouble? Thanks!
Thank you - it looks fabulous!
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