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.

And, cut them in half the other direction.

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.

Browse through all of the quilts on Create Whimsy.