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| TUTORIAL: As seen in "Fons & Porters Love of Quilting" "EASY PEASY FOUR PATCH UNITS" By Rebecca LoGiudice |
A four patch unit is made up of four individual squares of equal size that are sewn together. The following is an efficient & time saving method that I've developed to make several four patch units easily & quickly. To begin, decide on a size for the individual squares that make up your four patch unit. For example, choose a 1", 2" or 3", etc. individual square size. If you choose a 1" individual square size, your four patch unit will be a finished 2" square. If you choose a 2" individual square size, your four patch unit will be a finished 4" square, and so on. |
| Fig. 1 |
| 1. Let's choose a 1" individual square size to make up our four patch unit. We'll cut two 1 1/2" strips of light fabric & two 1 1/2" strips of medium or dark fabric. (Seam allowance is figured in.) For a 2" individual square size, we would cut 2 1/2" strips, and so on. See Fig. 1. |
| 2. Place a light fabric strip & a medium or dark fabric strip right sides together & sew with a scan 1/4" seam allownace. Sew the second light & dark strips together with a scant 1/4" seam. Pressing open, press the seams toward the darker fabric. Two strip sets are now completed. See Figs. 2 & 3. |
| Fig. 2 |
| Fig. 3 |
| 3. Take one strip set (we'll call this strip set 1) & place it wrong side up horizontally on your mat. If your individual square size is 1", then we will use 1 1/2" as our marking measurement for sewing, (2" squares will use 2 1'2", etc.) Marking sewing lines: Starting at the left edge of strip set 1, only for the first marking line, measure across 1 1/4" (2 1/4" for 2" squares, etc.) & making sure your ruler is straight draw a line vertically across the width of fabric. This will be our first sewing line. For the rest of the sewing lines, slide your ruler along 1 1/2" from each sewing line along the length of the strip & draw a vertical line across the strip set until you've marked as many four patch units as desired or until you run out of strip set. Strip set 1 is now marked with sewing lines. See Fig. 4. |
| Fig 4 |
| 4. Now lay your unmarked strip set 2 right side up on mat (having medium or dark fabric on the left), next lay marked strip set 1 right side down on top of strip set 2 with medium or dark fabric on the right this time. See Fig. 5. Make sure the seams are opposing (going in opposite directions), wiggle match the seams so they are lined up. Leaving the strip sets on the mat, you can put a pin in above and below the drawn line if desired, checking the match. This probably isn't necessary, as the seams nestle nicely. See Fig. 6. |
| Fig. 5 |
| Fig. 6 |
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| sewn strip set |
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| Strip set 2 |
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| Strip set 1 |
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| Pins |
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| Marking sewing lines |
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