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Quilting Patchwork
and Grids
Understanding
patchwork grids is important for a
quilter. Quilt blocks are usually 4, 9, 5 and 7
patches. Quilt blocks based on the same number of grids give
harmony to a quilt, and are pleasing to the eye.
Grids can be further divided into
smaller sections for more intricate designs. However, the more
pieces, the harder the quilt. Frugal quilters usually just
make minor changes to the sections of the grid.
Not every quilt block has a grid.
A big square with a circle in the center of it does not have a grid.
Most patchwork, however, is based on grids.
 The
most popular quilting grid is the 9 patch. The
friendship
star quilting block is an example of a quilting block that uses a 9
patch grid. It is easy to see the grids on this simple
block.
This is the 4 patch quilting grid. It is the
grid used for the basic 4-patch quilting block, as pictured at the
top of the page.
You could not achieve the
friendship
star quilting
block with a 4 patch. You need 9 sections. Other designs require other
numbers of grids.
When you are planning your quilt, you
want it to flow harmoniously. This is achieve by using the
patches with the same grid.
Here is a quilt designed with 4 patch grids, using
the 4 patch block and
the snowball
block. This is how your quilt would look. Can you see the harmony in the quilt?
There is nothing jarring to the eye. Your eye just floats over
the whole design.
You cannot use simple measurements
when mixing grids. If you are planning on each grid finishing at 2 inches,
a 4 patch will finish at 4 1/4 inches raw, and a 9 patch at 6 1/2 inches
raw. You can mix blocks with different
grids in a quilt, but you must size them so that they are the same. Some
blocks mix well. Others have too many horizontal or vertical lines that
jar with nearby blocks. Sometimes you can get around this with sashing or
using a lot of white around the blocks.
Here is another way to make the
above design, with a 9 patch
friendship star replacing the 4 patch
snowball.
The snowball is an easy block to make, and would not be hard to make smaller to
fit the size of the 4 patch. Or you could do it the other way and make the
4 patch larger.
Repetition, as well as harmony, is an
important design element. Even though the design is simple, the repetition
of the pattern is what makes the above layout look pleasing.
 When
you analyze the grid on a quilt block, sometimes a quilt block will
take up more than one grid area. The quilting block to the left is a
4 patch. The center block takes up part of each of
the 4 grids.
Sometimes blocks are further divided into smaller
sections. For instance, a 4 square could be divided into 16
grids. Again, quilt blocks with lots of grids are more complex.
Frugal quilters usually use simpler grids.
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