You can make a nice quilt out of just 9 fat quarters. Depending on the size you need you may want to add sashing. These examples are using the traditional quilting design known as “Disappearing 9-Patch”, which I’ll sometimes refer to as D9P here.

I trimmed these fat quarters (originally 18 inches by 21 inches) into 18” squares, then cut those into 9 squares that are 6” each.

The yellow at the top was the middle of all the 9 patches. I used the colors in order, and then rotated the first one that I started with to make them all different. 

This is what it looks like with the 9 patches sewn together. There are 9 sets of 9-patches.

Then I cut the patches in half horizontally and diagonally, rearranged the units, and re-sewed them. These are now “disappearing 9-patches”, a traditional quilt block.

The colors that you want to dominate the design need to be in the corners of the original 9-patch. They remain uncut after the division to make it a disappearing 9 patch. The color in the middle of the design gets cut up the most – it becomes four small squares. So put the fabric that you like the least in the center, or the one that overwhelms the others. The remaining fabrics (they are on the sides, in the middles) become rectangles.

But after all that sewing, a lot of the fabric was in the seams, so the 9-patches weren’t big enough for an adult quilt. They would work fine for a baby quilt. So I added sashing.

Each completed D9P is 14.5” square, as sewn into this quilt. If I’d not included the sashing, the quilt would have been about 43” square, which is 3’7”.

I added “jelly roll” sashing (2.5” before sewing) and it became 51” square, which is 4’3”.

The first would be fine for a baby quilt, or maybe a lap quilt for someone in a wheelchair. The second works as a nap quilt, or for a couch /TV/ snuggle quilt. It is also good for taking on road trips.

With the following example I cut the 18”squares into four 8.5” squares. I’d intended them to be 9” but I had a problem. So I adapted. There are four disappearing 9-patch panels, sewn together. I didn’t want it to be a square so I added more fabric to the top and bottom.

The patches are 22” square, so the quilt is 44” (3’8”). The extra fabric at the top adds 14” to the length. (4’10”) 

This used 9 fat quarters for the D9P. Four in brown, four in blue, and one neutral (for the center). I used (I think) four other fat quarters (two brown, two blue) with maybe 9” squares, with some leftover, for the top and bottom extensions.

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If I cut the fabric into four 9” squares, the finished D9P should be about 25” square. Three panels across would be about 73 inches (6’1”). Square, that would be very large. That would require 21 fat quarters, with some fabric left over.

If I arrange them two across by three down, it would measure 50” (4’2” across) by 73 inches (6’3”)

This means there are 6 D9 Patches, which comprise 54 pieces of fabric total. That requires 14 fat quarters (will have two 9” squares remaining)

If I have two 21-piece bundles of fat quarters, I can make three D9P quilts with this design.

(11/30/22)