Continuing from last week, since I was lamenting my stack of 1-1/2" scrap squares, I decided to make four-patches - lots and lots of them.
From the four-patches, I'm making four-patch four-patches and four-patch nine-patches. When I have many multiples of these two blocks, they'll become a quilt, donated likely to the local chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace. I like this organization because, once donated, quilts almost immediately go right onto a child's bed. The need is real and current.
If I'm going to sew the four-patch four-patches next to the four-patch nine-patches, I need to up-size the four-patch four-patches first. The four-patch four-patch is on the left below, and the four-patch nine-patch is on the right.
Do you see the four-patch four-patch in the middle of the four-patch nine-patch on the right? (I highlighted it with a red line)
Could it be coincidence (I think not!) or serious head-scratching (bingo!) that a border added to a four-patch four-patch to size-it up to the same size as a four-patch nine-patch will equal the width of one of the scraps. Find the two red arrows below- they represent the same unfinished dimension.
Now it's a simple matter to cut 1-1/2" strips (the same width as the original four-patch squares), then cut and sew side and top and bottom borders to the four-patch four-patches. Like below (four-patch nine-patch on the left, bordered four-patch four-patch on the right)
Rut-roh! 'Houston, we have a problem,' to coin a phrase!
You know how I like my seams to nestle and oppose? From the back, you can see all is well with the border seam at the top, between the two blocks. They'll nest and oppose perfectly!
However, at the bottom of the block, the border seam and the middle four-patch seam on the nine-patch block aren't going to play well.
Okay, I know some folks will say, just go with it. Or just flip that one four-patch seam and call it good. But my tidy-butt brain just can't move on without trying to find the perfect solution for this 'pressing' issue.
And I have it! It's slick and it's obvious and it works. No lumpy seams!
An-n-n-n-d, I'll share it with you next time!
Happy Stitching!
Head Hummingbird
Hummingbird-Highway.com
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