On loan from the International Quilt Museum
The Log Cabin pattern, in a number of different block settings such as Barn Raising, Straight Furrow, and Streak of Lightning, became popular in America after the Civil War of the 1860s. A number of influences likely lead to its overwhelming popularity, including the 1840’s “Log Cabin and Hard Cider” presidential campaign of William Henry Harrison, who used the Log Cabin as a symbol of the common man. Other factors included advances in technology in the American textile industry which resulted in an abundance of inexpensive cotton printed goods and the invention of the sewing machine and its widespread adoption following the Civil War may have also contributed to the popularity of the Log Cabin quilt form.
The configuration of the individual blocks in each quilt determines whether the block is either a Log Cabin, or one of its “sister blocks,” the Courthouse Steps and Pineapple patterns. The designs are dependent on construction and the placement of light and dark fabrics. The basic Log Cabin quilt block requires simple straight-line stitching, starting with a center square with strips of fabric stitched in a spiral. In the Courthouse Steps variation, strips step out from the center at the top and bottom and are placed side by side. In the Pineapple variation, strips radiate outward, first along the sides, then at the corners.
In 2015, the International Quilt Museum challenged a group of artists to create a new interpretation of a Log Cabin quilt. This exhibition includes new quilts by artists Victoria Findlay Wolfe, New York, Linda Pumphrey, Arkansas, and Elisabeth Nacenta de la Croix. Geneva, Switzerland, along with the quilt that inspired them.