Quilt, Log Cabin pattern, Light and Dark variation

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This quilt, pieced mainly of printed-wool challises, is a good example of the American Log Cabin style first popular around the middle of the nineteenth century. A Log Cabin quilt is always made in square units or blocks, each with one diagonal half of dark strips and the other of light strips. These blocks can be set together in different ways to form any of a variety of overall patterns. In the Straight Furrow variation (1974.37), a pattern is created by alternating the direction of the square blocks as they are joined across the width of the quilt. In this Light and Dark variation, the squares are placed to create a pattern of light and dark diamond shapes. The technique of stitching a Log Cabin quilt differs from that employed for most pieced quilts (except for Crazy quilts) in that the small strips of fabric are anchored to a square of foundation fabric. Although both the Museum's bed covers are quilted around the edges of each small strip of fabric, it is not unusual for Log Cabin quilts to be unquilted. The top is made up of what amounts to a double layer of wool strips in addition to the foundation layer and thus is heavier than most pieced tops. Therefore, Log Cabin quilts are commonly finished without batting between the layers and with decorative threads at intervals tying the front to the backing.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art