Historic Log Cabin Quilt Settings
Four Traditional Quilt Patterns That Use Basic Log Cabin Blocks
Here are several favorite ways to assemble blocks into Log Cabin quilts: Broken Dishes, Chimneys and Cornerstones, Converging Chevrons, and Streak of Lightning.
Every one of these four traditional settings uses only ordinary, identical Log Cabin blocks. This makes these quilts simple to organize and sew – just cut the light and dark strips, strip-piece a batch of blocks, and then have fun arranging them into your favorite shapes. You can make your quilt larger or smaller by simply laying out more or fewer blocks. Some layouts, like Broken Dishes, are symmetrical and will look the same no matter how many or how few blocks you use. Others, like Chevron or Chimneys and Cornerstones, will look different depending on how many blocks you have to work with.
Always lay out your quilt on a design wall or flat surface to make sure you like the way it looks before you start to sew. You may be surprised by the patterns that emerge when you lay out a group of blocks.
Four Traditional Log Cabin Settings
- Broken Dishes. The whirling pinwheel shapes in this quilt setting make it easy to imagine a stack of dropped dishes flying in all directions. This pattern in light pastels would make a charming baby quilt.
- Chimneys and Cornerstones. This design elegantly combines the strong diagonal lines found in Fields and Furrows with the firmly placed diamonds you’ll find in Sunshine and Shadow or Barn Raising, to create a quilt with a sense of both movement and balance.
- Converging Chevrons. A series of “V” shapes that meet in the center of the quilt, this setting imitates the striped badges soldiers and police wear on their sleeves. See another Chevron Log Cabin layout.
- Streak of Lightning. Use this strong zigzag shape on a bed if you dare! For more restful sleep, you might want to choose one of the more stationary settings, like Chimneys and Cornerstones.
Log Cabin Fabric Choices
The fabrics you choose for individual strips in your Log Cabin block, particularly for the dark strips, can make a huge difference in the overall look of your quilt. Darker fabrics define strong visual lines, while paler ones soften and spread the effect of the pattern. A quilt setting like Streak of Lightning, which can look quite harsh with very dark fabrics, takes on a much softer feeling if you use pastels for the dark strips and soft beiges for the light ones. You can also soften the lines of your quilt by choosing a scrappy assortment of fabrics instead of a single dark and a single light fabric. You might also want to experiment with different colors for the central “hearth” square. Instead of red, how about trying a yellow or a green? You’ll be surprised by how different your quilt can look with different fabric choices.
- See other traditional Log Cabin quilt settings: Straight set, Fields and Furrows, Barn Raising, Sunshine and Shadows, and Chevron.
- See four variations on standard Log Cabin quilt blocks: Standard, Courthouse Steps, Pineapple, and Chevron.
- Learn about the history of Log Cabin quilt blocks.
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