Helpful Hints on the Four Patch Square

 

I have taken a number of quilting classes over the past two years and have been fortunate to have wonderful teachers who always surprise me with new "tricks of the trade." A few weeks ago I signed up for a Pineapple Quilt Class and the foundation for the blocks used to create the Pineapple Quilt is the appropriately named "Four Patch Square" pictured above. To construct a Four Patch Square, one typically sews two strips of fabric together to create two patches of the square. Below you will see two sets of strips sewn together. These strips measure 2 1/2" strips. One would typically cut a 2 1/2" segment from the strips to then place the segments together and sew them opposite of each other to form the Four Patch Square unit. This is time consuming and tedious.

Our class instructor, Jan, showed us a shortcut that saves time and, for the most part, ensures that your seams remain secure resulting in a nice, accurate center. Here's the trick. Simply lay two sewn strips on top of each other with opposite colors facing each other and right sides together as displayed below.

Once you have the fabric "right sides" together and the center seams "feel" like they are smoothly sandwiched or butted up against each other (see below)...

 ...simply press the entire length of the strips together, one on top of the other. The pressing seems to hold the seams in place.

Once you have allowed the pressed strips to cool, transfer them to your cutting mat. Allow your pressed strips to cool as transferring them to your cutting mat while they are still hot from ironing may damage your "self-healing" cutting mats.

Double check the entire length of the strip to ensure that the seams didn't shift as you transferred the strips to the cutting mat. In my brief experience in utilizing this process, shifting has not happened, but I am not saying it cannot happen, so take just a moment to ensure that the seams are sandwiched up against each other along the length of the entire strip by running your finger tips along the sandwiched seams to check your fabric alignment.

With a quick check, you can see here (photo above) that there was no shift--the center seams are still sandwiched--or butted up against each other. Proceed with cutting your segments--in this case each set will be cut at 2 1/2".

I typically have stacked my cut segments and "chain" sewn them. In this demonstration, I have only shown sewing the first in a series of Four Patch Square sets.

Once you have sewn the unit together, set your seam by gently pressing the seam follow the instructions below.

To help your Four Patch lay flat, there is a very simple process that allows one to press the center so that the middle appears as pictured below:

The difficult part is getting your seams in the center to "pop" open to allow this center press.

Here's another helpful hint passed on to me by one of my classmates, Jennie. To get the center to "pop" open--check this out---simply hold your Four Patch Square along the seam as shown below:

...and gently rotate your fingers and thumbs up so that the seam will literally "blossom" between your fingertips.

Once you have "popped the seam," press your Four Patch so that the back looks like this--with all of the seams going in the same direction.

If you haven't noticed by now--I am a true "south paw" or "lefty." If you are right handed--well, you would probably be cutting differently and ironing in a different direction--don't let my "handedness" confuse you--just replicate the steps in a mirrored fashion and you should be fine.

Once you have completed your Four Patch Square unit--don't forget to "square it up" according to your pattern requirements.

Good luck with your Four Patch Squares--and I hope this was a nice illustration of some helpful hints!

A huge "Thank You" to Jan and Jennie!!!!