WHAT is this problem wreaking havoc within the patchwork quilting world? Don't get worried, it isn't hampering the masses from making countless quilts a year... BUT it is hampering those who want to make their own UNIQUE quilts!
It is simply not being able to design their own unique patchwork quilting blocks! Therefore we are going to start in the beginning and figuratively "pick some blocks apart"! By understanding how a block was originally designed and made YOU can change it to make it your OWN! In ANY size YOU want it to be so that OUR quilt is the size YOU want it to be, not what a pattern says it should be! Now I know, patterns make it easy, I myself published a type of patchwork quilting patterns for over 25 years, but once you can look at any quilt block, decide which are the bare bones of the block... then the gloves come off and you're simply in control!
With two patchwork quilting books new to the market, Gwen Marston's "Liberated Quiltmaking II" and Jinny Beyer's "The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns:4050 Pieced Blocks for Quilters" I thought it a good time to talk a little about how exactly one analyzes patchwork quilting by in a sense picking them apart. Those two books are both GREAT resource tools by any quilter which article will start you off on getting the most from both of them.
First you should be aware of there are major divisions in patchwork quilting blocks that just about any good quilt-making book or class will teach you. The very first is patchwork quilting that is called one patch. That is when you use only one template for the entire quilt! That one shape will most likely be a square, triangle, or a hexagon. Depending on fabric coloration's and placement you can end up with a general design. Think of the pattern "Grandmother's Flower Garden" and you've got pictured a one patch quilt composed of only one size hexagon!
When you get into patchwork quilting which can be quilts composed of many duplicate blocks each block could be analyzed, separated, into it's main elements so that you can figure out what each section is made up of and how you might either totally duplicate it, or, if you're adventurous, change the elements that you don't that can compare with as well to replace all of them with your own! After all that is how patchwork quilting block patterns came to be! After all there are 4,050 or them named in Jinny's new book! Of course if you don't want to visit the bother her book categorizes them for you personally!
The first of these block divisions is known as a four patch. Why it's not called a two patch is beyond me, but like the nine patch they count all of the squares rather than the number of rows and columns. So a four patch quilt block could be broken as two blocks across by two blocks down.
A classic illustration of a four patch quilt block is "Jacobs Ladder". You can see that the overall block consists of four equal sized smaller squares, and you will even see that while a couple of them are made up of simple triangles, the remaining small squares are four patches of their very own! This quilt takes on all sorts of looks based on fabric choices, and also keeping of color.
Next we have the classic Nine Patch. The patchwork quilting block is 3 divisions across x 3 divisions down. There are lots of them! One that you are sure to recognize, and is simple to piece, is a "Double Irish Chain".
As you will help you have the nine patchwork quilting grid, and in alternating squares you have smaller, mini 9 patches. When these blocks are set together you have a quilt that takes on an overall pattern. In this case they actually make up a bigger nine patch that belongs to them and a cute baby quilt. With the addition of more blocks together you can make whatever size quilt that suits you. And since YOU made the pattern yourself, YOU control how big each block, and hence the size of the overall quilt! Notice within this example how the white seems as "holes". The Amish might substitute the white for black which will make the green really POP! It's fun to experiment!
Moving on to the Five Patch patchwork quilting block the truth is that these have five blocks across x five blocks down. You skill with these blocks is practically limitless, but just one example is "Sister's Choice".
Visit my website to see how a b/w study of the block, changing in places you put the values of colours really makes a huge difference in how the block "reads"!
Lastly, lets look at Seven Patch patchwork quilting Blocks: each block is made up of seven equal divisions both across and down. The very traditional Bears Claw is a fine example. By mere collection of fabrics the quilt can be very traditional, or it can take over a more modern look!
This is only a glimpse at just some of many, MANY patchwork quilting patterns accessible to you in these block grids. Perhaps we will take a peek in depth their way in the very near future! Make sure you check out my Patchwork Quilting website to get more to come!
