Quilt - Block Designs

Block Designs

There are many traditional block designs, and techniques that have been named. Log cabin quilts are pieced quilts featuring blocks made of strips of fabric typically encircling a small centered square (traditionally a red square, symbolizing the hearth of the home), with light strips forming half the square and dark strips on the other side. Dramatic contrast effects with light and dark fabrics are created by various layouts of the blocks when forming a quilt top. There are named variations, based on the placement of log cabin blocks. These include Sunshine and Shadow, Straight Furrows, Streak of Lightning, and Barn Raising. Nine Patch blocks are often the first blocks a child is taught to make. The block consists of three rows of three squares. A checkerbaord effect with alternating dark and light squares is most commonly used. The Double Wedding Ring pattern first came to prominence during the Great Depression. The design consists of interlocking circles, pieced with small arcs of fabrics. The finished quilts are often given to commemorate marriages. Cathedral Windows is a block type that uses reverse appliqué using large amounts of folded muslin, and features modular blocks of an interlocking circular design that frame small squares or diamonds of colorful light-weight cotton. The volume of fabric is high, and the tops are heavy. Because of the weight and the insulating value of the base fabric, these tops often are assembled without batting (thus need no quilting stitches) and sometimes have no backing. Such a quilt may be called a "counterpane" and may serve mainly as a decorative "bedspread".