Log Cabin Quilts

by Steffani McChesney

One of the most popular and easily recognized quilt patterns in the United States is the Log Cabin in its many variations. Most quilters have made at least one. I have made at least four to date and will probably make several more before I’m done. The pattern is simple to execute with an infinite variety of results depending on color choice and block placement.

We tend to think of this pattern as quintessentially American because of its homey name and reference to our pioneer heritage, but the Log Cabin block has been around for a lot longer than you would imagine.

As a design used in making quilts, the Log Cabin has been popular in the US since the Civil War. Our cousins across the big pond in Britain have used the design for at least 100 years longer. There are examples the Log Cabin pattern being used to decorate inlaid wood boxes, in weavings, and in embroideries. There is a sewing kit in the National Museum of Scotland dating from the mid-1700s with embroidered Log Cabin designs on the four sides of the box.

To go back even further, wrappings on Egyptian mummified cats were wound in a Log Cabin pattern. This makes for an interesting theory of how this pattern wound up in England and began to be used to make bed covers for farmers’ beds. British archeologists began to open tombs in Egypt on a mass scale in the early part of the 19th Century where they found thousands of mummified small animals, cats in particular. These were shipped back to Britain in such quantities that the museums couldn’t use them all, so the ones they didn’t keep for research and display were distributed to farmers to use for fertilizer. Legend has it that the farmers’ wives saw the intricate Log Cabin-patterned wrappings and used the design to make quilt tops.

Another interesting theory speculates that the pattern found its way from Canada to Britain where the design is called Canadian Logwork. The pattern has always been very popular in Canada and has been widely used for the last century-and-a-half.

The pattern has been extensively used in Isle of Man where the pattern is called the Roof Pattern where it is made of folded strips sewn to a fabric foundation by hand. The resulting quilt is very thick even without a batt and is usually tied.

Examples of the Log Cabin block can be found in other media throughout Asia and the Middle East in the form of carvings, tiles and woven in textiles that are centuries old.

There are many variations of ways to set the blocks together. Some of the most popular are Barn Raising, Sunshine and Shadow, Straight Furrows, and Courthouse Steps. One quilt maker I talked with in Wyoming who specializes in Log Cabin quilts says that she has found at least 30 ways to set the blocks together and feels that there are still more to be discovered.

So if you haven’t made a Log Cabin quilt yet, think about it. They are simple and a lot of fun to make.