Making a patchwork quilt is an adventure worth taking on. In order to create a well designed patchwork quilt, you must first understand the basics of patchwork quilt block construction. This will ensure your designs are aesthetically pleasing and help you to use blocks that flow naturally from one to the other. If the patches don’t match up well, the quilt may look unruly because of the uneven combination of the grids where the blocks meet. If you do choose a design where there are differences in the grids you may also use sashing between the blocks to disguise the uneven appearance. Think of sashing as a fabric frame for each block, creating some separation between the blocks.
There are many different types of block structures which are categorized by the arrangement of the grids on the patch. Common blocks include the four patch, nine patch and five patch quilt block patterns. Designing a patchwork quilt becomes so much easier once you have an understanding of how to analyze these block arrangements.
Picture a grid of squares, then imagine that each of these squares can be subdivided into smaller grids. The original framework of the grid remains the same despite the subdivision. This is the basis of patchwork quilt block construction. When analyzing a quilts structure, it helps to keep this picture in your mind so that you can recognize the framework that makes up the quilt and the internal structure of each grid.
The most commonly used design involves four patch quilt blocks. The original grid begins with a two across and two down pattern usually with subdivision within these original blocks. Despite the subdivision the original grid of two across and two down should be recognizable.
Likewise, the nine patch block structure contains a three across and three down pattern totaling nine equal squares. There are thousands of variations on this basic block structure. The same pattern follows for the five patch and seven patch block structures, as their name suggests, they have five across and down or seven across and down respectively.
One patch quilts do not follow the same grid pattern as the four patch and nine patch grids. One patch quilts are easily recognized by the one single repeating shape that is stitched together. In this quilt design it is sometimes necessary to use portions of the same shape to fill in the gaps. Examples of one patch quilt designs are patchwork quilts constructed entirely from hexagons, pyramids or blocks.
When designing your next quilting project, analyze the patchwork quilt block construction and choose a block structure that will best fit with your theme, color scheme and quilt size.
Whatever type of patchwork quilt you choose to make, use your imagination and make it your own. Pick the colors and shapes that make you feel good and inspired. That, and the love and effort you put into making each square will always show and be a source of pride to you and an object of love to whoever you pass the quilt down to over the years.
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