Make Magical Strip Pieced Four Patch Units

As a well-known author and quilt judge Kimberly Einmo is the perfect instructor for Bluprint’s online quilting class, Chain Stars of Mystery Quilt. Kimberly loves mystery quilts because they’re always an exciting adventure, and we’re sure you’ll feel similarly after experiencing the fun with her; sign up for her class so you don’t miss out. And then check out this free video tip, as she guides you through her process for creating strip pieced four patch units with ease.

Hi I’m Kimberly Einmo an online instructor for Bluprint.com and today I’d like to show you how to make a magical strip pieced four patch unit.  So, I have a really easy way to make four patches no matter what size you’re making. If you want a basic four patch unit a lot of you would just cut four simple squares and put them together. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but there is a quicker way to do it!

You would just cut strips going selvage to selvage from the width of your fabric- the same width as the size squares. In this case these are 2.5 inch squares so I’ve cut two 2.5 inch strips. Then you’re going to sew those together in a strip unit. So, you cut the strips 2.5 inches in width just like these squares that were 2.5 inch squares. You’re going to sew them together using that perfect scant quarter inch seam and then press towards the darker fabric. So I’m going to sew my strips together and then I’m going to show you how to put it together without the use of pins.

So now I have my strip units sewn together, you’ll need two identical strip units or you can take one strip unit and cut it in half and use the two halves if you don’t have many four patches to make. You’re going to put these right sides together so that the colors are opposite each other. So in this case a white to red, and a red to white. Line it up all the way down so that you can snuggle those seams together. When you run your finger across the seam you’ll feel that it feels like a zipper and it feels nice and smooth. If the seams aren’t snuggled together properly it’ll feel rough and bumpy and you’ll know you’ve done it wrong.

Then it’s very easy. Just use a ruler, trim off the selvage edges or the raw edges at the end, so that you have a nice crisp place to start. Get rid of the excess and then just cut your units the same width as whatever your strips are. In this case I’m cutting 2.5 inch units. Cut the units and set them aside already together. I’ll just cut two and then I’ll show you how to sew them. You can cut as many as you need. Now take these to the sewing machine.

The only thing you need to do here, which is really important, is to make sure that you turn the unit so that the seam allowance is pointing away from your body and toward the presser foot. Then just stitch them using that perfect scant quarter inch making sure to hold the seam at the inner section with your index finger and also being careful not to let that seam flip back over towards you. When you pull it out, you will have a perfect point in the center without using any pins. So this is a quick and easy way to strip piece and put your four patches together and it will go really quickly for you.

If you enjoyed this quick and easy tip, I hope you’ll join me online for the Chain of Stars Mystery Quilt on Bluprint.com. We’ll have a lot of fun; see you there!

And in case you missed it, learn more about creating perfect pinless points here.