A quilt pattern that is made up of only squares, like the traditional nine patch, is the easiest pattern to make. If you are a novice quilter, consider making your first quilt a nine patch. Countless variations of the nine patch pattern exist and there are entire quilting pattern books devoted solely to nine patch variations.

Omnigrid Quilting Ruler 6” x 24”

Cutting Instructions

Assemble your cutting mat, a wide plastic quilting ruler and your fabric. Fold the fabric in half with the selvage edges together and the right side of the fabric facing outward; press with an iron. Fold lengthwise again so that the fold is even with the selvage edge and press again; you now have four thicknesses of fabric. Your goal at this point is to cut strips of fabric and all strips of fabric are cut on the crosswise grain. Remember that the lengthwise grain runs parallel to the selvage edges and the crosswise grain runs from one selvage edge to the other.

Place the folded fabric on the cutting mat with the folded edge towards you. You want to first even out the edges that were cut at the fabric store. Align the quilting ruler along the crosswise grain of the fabric and the lines on the cutting mat near the left edge of the fabric. Use your rotary cutter according to manufacturer’s directions and cut away the uneven left edge, following the edge of the quilt ruler.

Move the ruler to the right however many inches that your squares will be, remembering to add the seam allowance. If the finished squares will be 4 inches, your strip needs to be 4 ½ inches wide, 4 inches for the square itself and ½ inch for two ¼ inch seam allowances. Again align the ruler with the lines on the cutting mat, make sure that you are reasonably on the crosswise grain and cut another strip. Check the strips that you are cutting periodically to make sure that they are staying straight and on the crosswise grain. Be sure to check the fabric for straightness and alignment of the grain through the layers because the fabric will shift some as you cut it and reposition your tools.


Once you have the strips cut, you are ready to convert them to patchwork squares. Use the diagonal line on the bias square to line up the tool with the upper edge of the strip and the bias of the fabric. Position the bias square on the fabric so that the right edge will make a square of the proper size, 4 ½ inches for our example. Cut along the right edge with the rotary cutter. You should now have two identical squares, each 4 ½ by 4 ½ inches. With the seam allowances, squares of this size will result in 4 inch squares in the finished quilt.

Squares will be the basic building blocks for making the triangles that, when combined with squares, can make striking quilt patterns.