After giving a little try with the previous disappearing quilt block… I thought that doing it with the 4 patch.   The steps are just a little bit different, but the idea is the same.

You begin with a 4 patch… cut it right up {that totally is hard sometimes!} and play with the layout.

Materials needed:

• 4– 5″ X 5″ squares random, scrappy squares
• rotary cutter & ruler

9 Patch Quilt Block Instructions:

1)  Sew all 4 squares together to make a standard four patch quilt block

2)  Cut the now quilt block in four spots.  You can choose the width, depending on how you want your finished block to look.  You will cut on each side of the center seam, on either side of the seam.  You will then cut on each side of the seam -above and below it.

Here comes the fun part!  You get to play with all the parts!  Start moving them around.

Part of the beauty of the quilt block is the placement of the pieces once you give them a cut.  There really are a lot of options here and if you play around with them, you will come up with the one you like the best.  Here are a few different layouts that I came up with using my blocks.

You have to remember to that when you sew them all together, there might be a secondary quilt block show up.  Also, depending on how thick or thin you are cutting your pieces, this will affect the layout and the look of the finished project.

With this method there is also more pieces to play with.  I used 2 background or dark fabrics, but if you used 4 different fabrics, the look would be much different.  The idea here is that you will have fun putting them together.  It will be kind of a surprise to see what happens and what you end up with.  Have fun!

Disappearing 4 patch 

Disappearing 16 patch

Disappearing pinwheel

Disappearing 9 patch

Have you used this method before?  What did you find was the most successful?