How to Use the Creative Grids Turbo 4-Patch

Published August 2026

Learn how to use the Creative Grids Turbo 4-Patch Tool with Jen at Shabby Fabrics! This video is for quilters of all skill levels looking for an easy, efficient way to create perfect four-patch blocks in 16 different sizes, from small .5" to 4.5" finished blocks. Jen demonstrates the step-by-step process, making it simple to achieve precise results every time.

In this video, you'll learn:

* How to prepare your fabric strips for the Turbo 4-Patch Tool
* The simple technique for cutting accurate four-patch units with the tool
* Tips for pressing seams for interlocking four-patch blocks

Check the links for everything you need.

Introduction

Four patches turn up in an enormous number of quilts, and at a standard size they are no trouble at all. It is the unusual sizes that involve some math.

The Turbo 4-Patch by Deb Heatherly takes that math off your hands. This one little tool makes sixteen different four patches, from a .5" finished four patch, which is remarkable to imagine, all the way up to 4.5" and everything in between. All you have to decide is what finished size you want. The tool handles the rest.

It is also a wonderful scrap buster.

Sixteen sizes from one tool. Each of the four sides carries four finished sizes, with the size printed right on it. Four sides times four sizes is where the sixteen comes from, which is a lot of range for one piece of acrylic.

What You'll Need

• Creative Grids Turbo 4-Patch tool by Deb Heatherly
• Rotary cutter with a sharp blade
• Cutting mat
• Patchwork pins
• Iron and pressing surface
• Two contrasting fabrics. Strips or scraps both work beautifully.

Step 1: Sew Your Strip Pair

1. Place your two fabrics right sides together.
2. Sew a .25" seam along both opposite edges.

The demonstration here uses a blue thread purely so the stitching lines show up on camera. A white or light gray would be the usual choice.

Think in strips rather than scraps when you can. The demonstration uses a small rectangle, but the method is identical on a long strip pair. The longer your strips, the more four patch units come off a single pass, which is what makes this such an efficient way to work.

Step 2: Cut Your Units

Decide on the finished size you want. This example uses a 2" finished four patch.

1. Find the solid line on the tool marked with your finished size.
2. Lay that line directly over your stitching, so the line covers the seam you just sewed.
3. Use the other lines on the tool to square yourself up, sliding the tool along until you can confirm you are at a true 90 degrees.
4. Cut.
5. Rotate the tool around to the seam on the opposite edge and repeat, covering the stitching, squaring up, and trimming.

Step 3: Press to the Dark

Press each unit toward the dark fabric, which is what most quilters reach for naturally anyway.

Pressing every unit the same way means that when you pair two of them up, one is automatically the opposite of the other, and the seams interlock.

Step 4: Join Into a Four Patch

1. Pair two units so their seams sit opposite each other and nest.
2. Pin if you would like. On a longer strip it is well worth it.
3. Sew the pair together.

Step 5: Square Up Your Four Patch

Back to the tool one more time.

1. Find the same finished size line, 2" in this example.
2. Lay it over your seam, slide the tool along to confirm you are square, and trim.
3. Rotate and trim the remaining sides.

A perfect four patch unit, every time.

Warm the seam and press it to the side, keeping the direction consistent across every unit you make.

Consistent pressing pays off later. If you press every four patch the same direction, then rotate them as you set them together, you get interlocking seams at that stage too. That is what makes a checkerboard border or a run of four patches across the top of a quilt come together so cleanly.

Working in Other Sizes

The process does not change. For the largest size, find the 4.5" finished line, lay it on your seam, square up, cut, rotate, and repeat.

That holds for every one of the sixteen sizes. Find your line, and the tool takes care of the rest.

The unusual sizes are where this really shines. A four patch does not always want to finish at 2" or 4" or 6". When your block calls for something in between, this tool removes the arithmetic entirely. You decide the finished size, and it takes the guesswork out.

Deb Heatherly has designed a good many of the Creative Grids tools, and this is another that makes quilting easier and more fun. A perfect four patch every single time, in sixteen sizes, from scraps you already have.