What makes a quilt block “traditional”?
A traditional block is one that quilters have made and passed along for generations, usually long enough that no one knows who drew it first. Most were made on simple grids of squares and triangles, so they could be drafted with a ruler and copied from a finished quilt.
Quilt historians track these blocks in two ways. One is surviving quilts in museum collections, which show when a design was being sewn. The other is print: the first time a block appears by name in a catalog, magazine or newspaper. The two don’t always agree, and a block can be decades older than its first printed name.
Why does one quilt block have so many names?
Before patterns were printed, quilters copied blocks from each other’s quilts and named them to suit themselves. The same block could get a different name in each town.
Printed patterns spread those names further. The Ladies Art Company of St. Louis was founded in 1889 and began selling quilt patterns by mail in the 1890s. Its catalog was one of the first big printed sources of block names. Newspapers followed. The Kansas City Star, for one, printed quilt patterns from 1928 to 1961. Each publisher picked its own names, and some made up new ones, so a single block could end up with five or more.
Barbara Brackman sorted this out in her Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns (American Quilter’s Society, 1993). She gave each design a number and listed every published name she found for it, with where it first appeared. It is still the standard reference for block names, and quilters cite “Brackman numbers” to say exactly which block they mean.
What are the most common traditional quilt blocks?
Here are fifteen of the best known, with their other names and what is known about where those names came from. Where the story is uncertain, it says so. Each one links to the post that shows how to make it.
Nine patch. Also called nine square. The name describes the block: nine patches, or pieces. It is one of the simplest pieced blocks, and versions of it appear in many early American quilts. How to make it: nine patch quilt pattern.
Log cabin. Strips, or “logs,” are built around a center square like the walls of a cabin. Settings of log cabin blocks have their own names: barn raising, straight furrow, sunshine and shadow. Barn Raising Cabins shows the first. Museum collections show the design became widely popular in the United States in the 1860s. It is often linked to Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin image, but no source ties the name to him. The idea that a red center always stood for the hearth is also a later story. How to make it: log cabin quilt pattern.
Ohio star. Also called variable star. Many blocks are named for states, and there is no documented reason this one got Ohio. How to make it: how to make an Ohio star quilt block.
Irish chain. Single, double and triple versions were made in the United States from the early 1800s. Nobody knows where the name came from, and the pattern is not known to have started in Ireland. How to make it: Irish chain quilt pattern.
Rail fence. Named for the split-rail fences on farms, which the zigzag of strips resembles. How to make it: rail fence quilt pattern.
Churn dash. Named for the dasher, the plunger of a butter churn. Brackman lists many other names for it, including monkey wrench and hole in the barn door, all from farm life. How to make it: easy quilt blocks for beginners.
Bear’s paw. Four paws with sharp claws. In some places the same block was called duck’s foot in the mud or hand of friendship. How to make it: easy quilt blocks that look difficult.
Jacob’s ladder. Named for the ladder to heaven in the Book of Genesis. Its other names include stepping stones and road to California. One later name is underground railroad, which has fed the myth covered below. How to make it: easy quilt blocks that look difficult.
Friendship star. The name suits a block often traded and signed in friendship quilts, but there is no documented origin. How to make it: easy quilt blocks for beginners.
Flying geese. Rows of triangles that look like geese flying in a V. The unit is used in many other blocks, including the sawtooth star. How to make it: easy quilt blocks for beginners.
Shoo fly. A simple nine-patch block with triangles in the corners. A popular story says the name comes from the song “Shoo Fly, Don’t Bother Me” of the late 1860s. That is possible, but unproven.
Courthouse steps. A log cabin variation with strips added to opposite sides, two at a time, so they climb out from the center like steps up to a courthouse. How to make it: start from the log cabin quilt pattern and add logs in pairs.
Sawtooth star. The small triangles around its points look like the teeth of a saw. It is sometimes called evening star. How to make it: easy quilt blocks for beginners.
Pinwheel. Named for the spinning toy. Also called windmill. How to make it: easy quilt blocks for beginners.
Drunkard’s path. A curved block of quarter circles cut into squares. Its many names include rocky road to Dublin, and it belongs to a family of curved designs sometimes called robbing Peter to pay Paul. A popular story links blue-and-white versions to the temperance movement, but historians haven’t found proof. It needs curved seams, and the Patchwork Quilt Builder can’t draw curves, so there is no way to plan it there.
Did quilts carry Underground Railroad messages?
There is no historical evidence that they did. The story says enslaved people hung quilts in certain block patterns, such as bear’s paw or log cabin, to pass coded directions to people escaping north. It became widely known through the book Hidden in Plain View by Jacqueline Tobin and Raymond Dobard, based on one family’s oral account.
Historians have looked for support and not found it. The code doesn’t appear in 19th-century slave narratives, in the interviews with formerly enslaved people recorded in the 1930s, or in surviving quilts, as National Geographic reported in 2004. Quilt historians also point out that some blocks named in the code weren’t published until long after the Civil War. The International Quilt Museum’s World Quilts site covers the debate in detail.
The story is still told, and some folklorists treat it as a meaningful family and community story. It is best shared that way: as a modern folk tale, not as history.
The other myths in this post follow the same pattern. A neat story attaches itself to a block name, such as Lincoln and the log cabin, or the temperance movement and drunkard’s path, and gets repeated without a source. When you read a block’s history, look for a date and a source.
How can you look up a quilt block’s history?
Start with Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. Find the block by its shape, note its number, and read the list of names and where each was first printed. The number lets you search for the same block under any name.
For quilts that survive, search museum collections. The Quilt Index is a free online database of quilts from museums and quilt documentation projects across the United States. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, both have large collections online, with dates and makers where they are known.
Treat any story without a date or source as a story. If a block’s history comes with a name, a date and a place, and a museum or a published source backs it up, you can repeat it as history. If not, say “the story goes” and let readers decide.
Can you make a traditional block in modern colors?
Yes, and the contrast is part of the fun. A log cabin in neon looks nothing like one in calico. Patchwork’s block library has several traditional blocks: Four Patch, Nine Patch, Pinwheel, Rail Fence, Irish Chain, Flying Geese, Friendship Star, Ohio Star, Sawtooth Star, Log Cabin and Heart. Drag one onto the grid and recolor it in step 4, or try the Arcade Night palette on a log cabin. For how blocks are grouped by shape, see quilt blocks.
- Homestead Calico#9E2A2B · #7A1F2B · #EFDFC4 · #E4B7AC · #4A5568 · #8AA0A8 · #E1A95FTry it on a quilt
- Arcade Night#DDDDDD · #0AEFCB · #DD33E8 · #0466FF · #120078Try it on a quilt
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the oldest quilt block?
- No one can say for sure, because early quilts were rarely dated and many didn’t survive. Simple blocks built from squares, such as the four patch and nine patch, are among the earliest pieced designs in American quilts.
- What is the most popular quilt block?
- There is no official count, but the log cabin, nine patch and star blocks like the Ohio star and sawtooth star are among the most often made and published.
- Why is it called a log cabin quilt?
- The strips around the center look like the logs of a cabin wall. The design became widely popular in the United States in the 1860s. Stories linking it to Abraham Lincoln are popular but unproven.
- Where do quilt block names come from?
- Mostly from daily life: farm tools, places, plants, the Bible and local events. Names spread by word of mouth, then through mail-order catalogs from the 1890s and newspaper patterns in the 1900s, which is why many blocks have several names.
- Did quilts carry Underground Railroad messages?
- There is no historical evidence for it. The quilt code story became widely known through a modern book based on one family’s account. It doesn’t appear in 19th-century records, and historians treat it as a folk story, not history.