Beginner-Friendly
The Foundation Paper Piecing process is simple and lets you create high-quality quilts right away.
No 1/4 inch seam allowances
No need for accurate ¼” seam allowances. Create perfectly pieced blocks every time, no matter how small and intricate.
Free Video Tutorials
Detailed video tutorials walk you through every step of the piecing process so you can start making your own frustration-free quilts.
Log Cabin Paper Piecing Templates
Log Cabin Sample Quilts
Frequently Asked Questions
Why paper piece your log cabin quilt?
There are several ways to piece log cabin quilts. Early log cabin quilts were often pieced onto a muslin background foundation. Many of today’s quilters piece their blocks with no foundation at all. Although it is possible to make log cabin blocks this way, it creates challenges when making very small blocs, blocks with narrow strips, or slippery fabrics. The more piecing you have to do, the more likely it is that you will have distortion from inaccurate seam allowances and variations in cutting. Many quilters find it challenging to create accurate 1/4 inch seam allowances and to keep their seam allowances consistent. Foundation paper piecing completely eliminates this issue and enables even “creative” piecers to create highly accurate quilt blocks.
By using a paper piecing method, those factors are eliminated and your log cabin blocks turn out perfect every time!
Which log cabin paper foundations are right one for me?
No paper piecing foundation is more difficult than another, but there are large differences in the amount of time it can take to complete a single block.
If you want to make a large utility quilt in a relatively short time frame, consider a block with wider and fewer logs. If you are making a quilt designed to impress a judge and be a true heirloom, choose blocks with narrow strips. It increases the wow factor significantly. As a rule, I also think the smaller blocks look “sweeter” even in a large quilt.
In general, the narrower the logs and the more logs are in the block, the longer time you need to make it. For example, the 5” block with only 3 rounds of logs is significantly quicker than the 4” block with 5 rounds of logs.
How many quilt blocks do I need for my quilt?
- Decide the size of the quilt and subtract any border that you plan to have on your quilt:
a. Quilt Width – Border Width – Border Width = Log Cabin Quilt Center Width
b. Quilt Length – Border Width – Border Width = Log Cabin Quilt Center Length
- Divide the Quilt Center Width and the Quilt Center Length by the size of the block chosen.
a. Log Cabin Quilt Center Width / Block Size = Number of Blocks across the Quilt Center
b. Log Cabin Quilt Center Length / Block Size = Number of Blocks the Length of the Quilt Center
c. If this number is not a whole number but a decimal, round up or down to the nearest whole number depending on your preference
d. You can adjust your border size as well if the exact size for the final quilt is important.
- Multiply the Blocks across with the Blocks for the Length to get the total number of blocks needed for the quilt centers.
a. Blocks Across x Blocks for the Length = Total Blocks needed for the quilt
Sample calculation for log cabin quilt blocks
Here is a sample calculation for how many blocks you need for a specific quilt size. For example, you would like to make a queen size quilt at roughly 95”x95” with a border and using the 7-inch blocks.
- Subtract the planned border from the total quilt width. For this example, I am using an 8” Border.95” – 8” – 8” = 79”
- Divide the 79” width by the size of the log cabin blocks (7” in this example). 79” / 7” = 11.29 blocks.
- Obviously, I cannot have 11.29 blocks so I will round that up to 12 blocks. Making the quilt center a little bigger is no big deal and I can always make the border a little narrower, or also try the calculation with 6” or 8’ blocks to see if that will work better. In this case, I really want to use the 7” blocks so I am going to round up to 12 blocks.
- The queen size quilt is square. It will be 12 blocks wide as well as 12 blocks long.12 x 12 = 144 of the 7”- log cabin blocks to make a queen size quilt.
Log Cabin Quilt Layouts
Check out the articles below to learn how we made our stunning log cabin sample quilts.
Log Cabin Quilt How-to Guides
Want to make your own log cabin quilt but not sure how to get started? The articles below will get you a great start on making your own log cabin heirloom quilt.
