Hen & Chicks Block 17 - D4P

 

Double 4 patch is not all that different from Antique Tile, it is just a four patch rather than a modified four patch in each corner.  

It is easily strip pieced, and except for the center square, everything comes from just one size of strip.  That would make this one a great way to dig into your bins of strips.  I have quite a collection saved up and this would be a fun way to put them all to good use. Start with strips of pink and background. One super long strip will do it, or two or more shorter sets, depending on what you have on hand.  It never hurts to sew extra length on strip sets.  The lengths in the chart all have an extra half inch worked in for safety, but you can make yours longer depending on what is in your scrap bin.  

Sew the pink and background strips together and press toward the pink. Try to keep the strip straight as you press, it makes the cutting more accurate.  

You will need two sizes of sub cuts for this one.  The big one is a square and the little one is the same width as your original strip.  This is the 6 inch finished size and I started with 1.5 inch strips.  That means the big set is 2.5 inches and the little set is 1.5 inches.  Cut 4 of the large squares and 8 of the small units which will be combined to make squares. 

Sew the small units together to make 4 4 patches and iron as you like.  I usually spin the seams on the back of 4 patches, but the key is that the seams should nestle in the next step, so remain flexible depending on how the seam lie.  

Arrange these subunits as seen here. Notice that the pink 4 patches form an X and the pink on the two patch square is away from the background colored center.  Now sew as you would any nine patch, taking care to nestle the seams of the four and two patch units

I have updated the links on the RSC24 Sampler Tab. I hope that everything is correct now, I had a few bad hyperlinks before, so thanks to those who let me know.  Please keep me posted if you find errors.  I somehow went through a phase where all m 12 inch block measurements were too small.  I'm not making 12 inch blocks this year, so it was easy to loose track.