This is a great quilt to make that is quick and easy to put together – it is my ‘go-to’ for baby quilts — the disappearing nine patch pattern.

You can use 3 fabrics, or a variety for a scrappy look. The squares in the corners are not cut, so put the fabrics that you want to be seen in the 4 corners of the nine patch. And, the center square is the one that is cut into four pieces, so is the smallest. I like to put the darkest color in the center, so the dark is scattered throughout the quilt.

Step 1: Cut a bundle of squares the same size.

Step 2: Sew them into 9 patch squares. That is 3 rows of 3. Press all of the seams as you sew.

Step 3: Cut the square into quarters – through the middle both directions. The center square is now cut in four, the side squares are cut in half and the corner squares are still whole.

Step 4: Be creative! Go to your design board and start moving them around in different patterns! It’s fun to try a lot of different patterns. It’s hard to decide on one and so you can start putting the rows together.

Step 5: Sew the squares together how you laid them out.

Step 6: Add a border, if you’d like and then layer and quilt!

More about making a Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt:

How many squares to cut? It depends on what you’d like the finished quilt size to be. Determine the finished size of your quilt. Do you want a border? If so, subtract that from the width and height. What size finished square do you want? And how many will you need? NOTE: A finished square is the initial 9 patch cut into 4 finished squares.

Here is the calculation:

Start with 5” square x 3 (3 squares wide) = 15, divided by 2 (we’ll cut it in half) = 7-½ – 1 = 6-½ inch finished square. The 1” that we subtracted is for the four ¼” seam allowances when we sew the 3 squares together.

Want an 8” finished block? Start with a 6” square. (6×3=18/2=9-1=8)

Want a 9-½” finished block? Start with a 7” square. (7×3=21/2=10-1/2-1=9-½)

I started with a 3-½” square x 3 = 10-½ , divided by 2 = 5-¼ – 1 = 4-¼ inch finished square. This was due to the scraps of fabric I was using to make the quilt. I was able to do a 7 x 7 layout plus a border for a 45” square baby quilt.