Log Cabin Quilt Designs

Basic Block + Easy Design = Great Quilts for Beginners!

All of the Log Cabin quilt designs shown below start with a basic log cabin block, half dark fabrics and half light, pieced around a center square.

To create the different layout designs, simply flip and rotate the blocks.

This quilt is one of those great beginner quilt patterns. All the blocks use just strips subcut into rectangles and squares—no bias edges to contend with—so enjoy creating your very own Log Cabin.

Each of the illustrations on this page was designed using Electric Quilt 7 (EQ 7), a quilt design software program.

This program makes it so easy to try out different colors and values with a few mouse clicks. Rotate and flip the blocks with another series of clicks.

Playing with log cabin quilt designs couldn't be easier!

The Basic Log Cabin Quilt Block

Log Cabin Quilt Block
Light strips added first

A typical Log Cabin quilt block has strips added in either a clockwise or counterclockwise fashion around a center square. Our block has 7 rounds of logs added clockwise, but your block can be any number of rounds. The choice is up to you as to how much piecing you'd like to do.

Is one direction better than the other?

I learned to sew the Log Cabin block by adding strips in a clockwise order, but really the most important thing is to make all the blocks the same. All clockwise or all counter-clockwise. It's your choice!

Take a closer look and you will see that after the center red square, the next log was a light followed by and light and then two dark logs. If the first two 'logs' you add are light fabrics, the last two you add will be dark. The resulting block will be slightly more 'dark' than light.

If you would prefer to have a 'lighter' block, then the first two logs you add should be dark. The last two will then be light.

With a good contrast between your 'light' and 'dark' fabrics, the finished blocks have a strong diagonal line through the center.

Log Cabin Quilt Designs

While you can lay out your blocks anyway you wish (and it's a lot of fun!), there are several recognized layout designs, with names reminiscent of the pioneer times when this block first appeared in American culture, sometime in the 1860's.

Straight Furrows

Like the fields the pioneers plowed, this design emphasizes the straight line. To create a symmetrical quilt with this horizontal setting you'll need an even number of rows and an odd number of columns.

8 x 9 blocks

Straight Setting

A simple setting to showcase your fabric scraps!

8 x 9 blocks

ZigZag or Streaks of Lightning

There's lot of energy in this layout. You'll need even numbers of columns for a symmetrical layout.

6 x 8 blocks

Pinwheels

To complete the pinwheels, you'll need to have even numbers of rows and columns.

6 x 8 blocks

Sunshine and Shadows

Use even numbers of rows and columns to complete this quilt design.

8 x 10 blocks

Chevron

Use even numbers of columns to have a balanced chevron.

8 x 10 blocks

Barn Raising

Concentric squares on point radiate out from the center. Prepare enough blocks for even numbers of rows and columns.

8 x 10 blocks

Log Cabin Star

The strong diagonal line in a log cabin quilt block means oodles of design opportunities.

Any pattern with half square triangles can be created with Log Cabin blocks like this sawtooth star in a Barn Raising setting. Even numbers of rows and columns are needed to balance the design.

8 x 10 blocks

Piecing Tip for Log Cabin Quilt Designs

It draws the eye where two like
strips meet in an otherwise
scrappy quilt, like the purple
above.

Log Cabin quilt designs are a terrific way to use up your scraps because the design is determined by the contrasting light and dark values of the logs.

But no matter how many scraps you use, it never fails.

The same fabric ends up on the outside of a block more than once. And as luck would have it, you find them 'touching' after you're halfway through quilting your quilt.

Drats! What's a quilter to do?

Count the number of blocks you'll need for your quilt. Multiply that number by 2. You'll need strips from that many different light fabrics for the outside 'round' of logs. Repeat the process for the dark fabrics. This way, there will be no duplicate fabrics in the outside rounds and no worries about like fabrics touching in your log cabin quilt design.

For more on Log Cabin Quilt Designs and their variations see:

• Courthouse Steps Quilt Pattern
• Chimneys and Cornerstones Quilt Pattern

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