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Two four-patch units and two plain squares combine into a fast, versatile block with endless scrappy potential
The Double Four Patch places two small four-patch units diagonally opposite each other, separated by two plain squares. It's a beginner block that produces more complex-looking results than its simple construction suggests.
| Fabric | Cut | For |
|---|---|---|
| Dark | 4 squares at 2½″ | four-patch squares |
| Light | 4 squares at 2½″ | four-patch squares |
| Light | 2 squares at 4½″ | plain squares |
Two four-patch units in opposite corners, two plain squares in the others. Strip-piece the four-patches.
The Four Patch block — four equal squares in a 2×2 grid — is one of the most fundamental units in all of patchwork, taught to children as their very first project in quilting traditions from England to America to Japan. The Double Four Patch elevates this foundation by using two four-patch blocks as components within a larger block, creating a unit with built-in visual complexity.
The block appears in late 19th and early 20th century American quilts, often made from scrap fabrics as a utility project. Its strength is its efficiency with fabric — the four-patch units consume small pieces that would otherwise be too small to use, making the Double Four Patch one of the great scrap-user patterns in the quilting tradition.
Modern quilters have rediscovered the block for the same reason: it's ideal for using up small cut pieces from other projects, it goes together very quickly with strip piecing, and it creates a surprisingly rich visual texture in a finished quilt — especially when many different fabric combinations appear across the quilt surface.
For a 6" finished block using 1.5" finished squares, cut strips at 2" wide. Sew two strips together lengthwise, press, and sub-cut at 2" intervals. Join two sub-cut rows to form each four-patch unit. Each finished four-patch should be 3½" unfinished (3" finished).
Cut two 3½" squares (3" finished) in a contrasting fabric. These will be placed diagonally from the four-patch units.
Place in a 2×2 grid: four-patch in the top-left and bottom-right, plain squares in the top-right and bottom-left. The four-patches should be diagonal from each other.
Sew the top two units together, bottom two together. Press row seams in opposite directions. Join rows.
The four-patch units benefit from high contrast within themselves (two very different fabrics in each four-patch). The plain squares can match one of the four-patch fabrics (for cohesion) or introduce a third fabric (for variety). Scrappy Double Four Patch quilts work best when the plain squares are consistent across all blocks.
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The same principle applied to nine-patch blocks — two nine-patches and two plain squares.
Double Four Patch blocks assembled so the four-patches connect across the quilt into a diagonal chain.
NiftyFifty quilters have been swapping blocks like this one since 1997. Browse our historical archive or join a new swap.
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