Large 4-Patch Quilt Block Tutorial

The quickest baby quilt ever – the Large 4-Patch Quilt Block.

On a recent rainy weekend, I wanted to do some quilting.  I was at a stopping point with the quilt I was working on, I needed batting and backing but didn’t actually want to change out of sweat pants to go shopping.

So, naturally, I started a new project. 

I had some of these Zoology Fabrics leftover from one of the Farmhouse Plaid quilts I made last spring.

I pulled other fabrics from my stash, bright greens and reds, and some soft blues to mellow out the brights.

To start, I cut 4½” strips and sewed the bright fabrics to the neutral fabrics.

To make a super-fast, large 4-patch quilt block, put two strip pairs together.

Sub-cut 4½” pieces, two at a time.

Match the seams and pin right at the seam.  Use a ¼” seam allowance.

When quilting, it is wise to alternate the direction of sewing, the way that I keep track to do this is to stack all of the pieces in the same way that I sewed them.  What I mean is, whichever side was against the feed dogs while sewing is now down on the ironing board.

I then press towards the side that was up when sewing.

These large 4-patch quilt blocks are so fast to make in a large quantity!

These two blocks hide a secret.

The block on the left has the seam pressed one direction.

The block on the right has the seam pressed the other direction.

This does two things.  One, those seams are going to nestle together very nicely which will make for extra crisp points.  Two, because of the way I sew and press my fabric, I know I am alternating the direction I’ve sewn, which is going to help the hole quilt to be pieced accurately and to keep it smooth.

My other crisp point secret – pin every single seam intersection before sewing!

Now, you can use these basic directions to make any quilt of 4-patches.  The wider your original strips the larger your large 4-patch quilt blocks will be.  The narrower your strips, the smaller your blocks.

This baby quilt, which measures 40” by 48” was made by turning 7 colored strips cut 4½” and 7 neutral strips also cut 4½” into 30 large 4-patch blocks.  I also used 5 strips of the darkest of my three neutrals, cut at 2½” to make the binding.

But, with these directions, it would be possible to make a much larger quilt by increasing the number of strips used.

See what I mean? An incredibly easy baby quilt in record time!  In fact, of all the of the baby quilt tutorials I’ve published, I think this one is the fastest!

And, as with nearly all baby quilts I make, I backed it in flannel.