CHAPTER 7: TRADITIONAL PIECING METHODS

Stage 1: Log Cabin Designs from Paper
For these designs I started using my own decorated papers and later added photocopies of my purchased black and white fabrics. As I had not done any of this log cabin patchwork before, I taught myself how the patterns were constructed by studying some designs from a reference book on log cabin patchwork(Wien, CA: The Log Cabin Quilt Book, Westbridge Books, USA, 1985). I soon discovered that my own papers did not have enough tonal variation, so after that I preferred to mainly use photocopies of actual fabrics. It took me a while to get a good feel for the handling of the tonal effects, but I thought the later samples were better than the first couple.
Sample 1: Basic log cabin
Sample 2: Court house steps
Sample 3: Pineapple pattern without overlapping corners
Sample 4: Pineapple pattern with overlapping corners
Sample 5: Diamond shape
Sample 6: Chevron pattern on the top and then sides added to make a block pattern

Stage 2: Log Cabin Designs in Fabric
These designs were done with my purchased fabrics. I decided not to use my dyed fabrics for this chapter of the work as I wanted to save them for later chapters. Log cabin deisgns are done by starting with a central shape and adding strips one by one, to get the desired effect.
Log Cabin Sheet 1:A-Basic log cabin block; B-Block called White House steps or court house steps
Log Cabin Sheet 2: C-Chevron block; D-Pineapple block with strips of increasing width. The black strips are added on the diagonal to the patterned strips; E-Diamond shape with inner strips very narrow and outer strips much wider.














Stage 3: Seminole Method
In the Seminole method, strips are pieced and then cut, rearranged and joined together again to create the finished effect. The best finished effects were achieved when there was quite a lot of contrast between the adjacent strips.
Seminole Sheet 1:F-2 joined fabric strips cut and rejoined after turning every second strip. Sample on left side used strips of the same width and sample on right side started with two strips of different widths; G-3 joined fabric strips of equal width cut and rejoined after turning every second strip; H- 4 joined fabric strips of equal width were cut, turning every second strip, and rejoined after inserting a strip of one of the end fabrics bewteen the multi-fabric strips; I- 3 patterned fabrics joined, then ends cut at 45 degrees and rejoined to give the slanted look. Panel finished with a border to neaten.
Seminole Sheet 2:In this technique, the starting strips were joined by machine, then Vliesofix applied to the back. They were then cut into the desired shapes and ironed to stick the cut strips to the background fabric. After that the raw edges were neatened with machine satin stitch.Sample J- 3 strips joined and then cut at 45 degrees and rejoined after turning. Sample K- Used rectangular cut and pieced shapes with ends cut at 45 degrees and applied to the background to give fish-like final shapes.















Stage 4: Patterns Based On Folded Strips
In these methods the fabric strips are cut into small rectangles or squares and folded into triangular shapes before joining them together.
Sample L- Prairie points with folded triangles inserted into a seam(could also be used as an edging). Sample M- Folded star: fabric folded into triangles,arranged into a star shape with overlapping layers, and attached to a background fabric (using small stitches at each point). Final square finished with a border. This technique is also known as Somerset patchwork. (Reference: Patchwork stars by Jane Chiodini, http://www.craftcreations.co.uk/pages/magazines/issues/pdf/issue2/patchworkstar.pdf).