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Quilt Block Settings – Achieving Secondary Design

Last week, I covered tips on on-point settings for your quilt blocks and how this technique creates a whole new look. This week, I will cover several different ways you can create a secondary design within your quilt. Secondary design is generally planned, but sometimes you can be surprised when you stand back to look at your quilt and another pattern emerges! So let’s get started.

What is Secondary Design?

When you look at a quilt and you not only see the block designs but you see another design emerge as you step back, that’s secondary design. Sometimes it’s intentional… and sometimes you just get lucky and two blocks you decide to place next to each other make another design. I like to design these types of quilts because it adds another level of interest.

There are several ways to achieve this. It can be done in one block quilts, where the elements of the block create a new design when several of them are joined into a quilt top. In two or more block quilts, joining different blocks into rows can cause a new design to appear where those blocks meet. Then there’s adding a sashing between blocks to create a new design or playing with a scrappy background so the secondary design emerges behind the blocks.

Let’s talk about each.

Secondary Design – One Block Quilts

My pattern, Paper Chain, is made up of this one block:

It’s a simple block based on a 9-patch grid. Now when I join several of these blocks into rows to make the quilt you can see another pattern emerge where the corners of 4 blocks meet (circled area):

Now, when you look at the full quilt, you an see even more secondary designs appear.

In the photo on the left, the circled area shows an octagon shape that emerges. The circled area on right shows squares created by the tan print and color print centers of the blocks that create a checkerboard background. See if you can pick out some other designs that emerge. Did I know these designs would emerge when I made the quilt? Nope! 

So above is the designs that emerge when you place blocks together. What about a design that emerges when you change colors within a block? That’s another way to bring forth a secondary design. Look at these two blocks below:

These are actually the same block. But by moving the colors into different parts, different designs emerge within the block. On the left, the star is more prominent along with the monkey wrench design created by the black sections. On the right, a friendship star emerges by changing where the blue fabric is placed.

Secondary Design – Two Block Quilts

Two block quilts are the most common and usually the easiest way to create a secondary design. Often, these quilts will have a checkerboard design block as one of the blocks. Then, whether the blocks are on point or set straight, there is a fun checkerboard design that runs through the quilt.

In Prairie Sky quilt on the left, the blocks are straight pieced making the checkerboard blocks create a crisscross design. The quilt on the right, Country Dance, has the blocks set on point making the checkerboard blocks create a grid pattern.

You can also take two completely different blocks, neither one being a checkerboard design, and create a fun design. I did this in my quilt, Starlit Path. Here’s the two blocks that make up that quilt:

Now look at the whole quilt. Look at the neat crisscrossing design that emerges where the blocks meet.

Secondary Design – Created with Sashing

The next way to create a secondary design is with a sashing, generally with cornerstones. In this first example, with my quilt Posey Patch, I used a sashing with cornerstones and also did stitch and flip corners on the sashing strip’s ends. When everything is joined together, stars emerge.

The second way to create a design is to have the quilt sashing “play” with an element of a block in the quilt. In my quilt, Open Windows, there is a stitch and flip corner on two sides of the blocks, that work to create a monkey wrench design when the blocks and sashing are joined.

Secondary Design – Background Fabrics

A surprising way to create a subtle secondary design is with your quilt’s background. It can either be easily noticeable or very subtle. In the three photos below, the diagonal “stripe” created by using two different colors is fairly noticeable.

The runner in the center is a bit more subtle because I used two shades of tan. The table topper on the left is more bold since I used a tan print and a blue print to create the background for my blocks.

Now, these two larger quilts have a more subtle stripe because I used the same color fabrics, just in different shades:

The stripe in the patriotic quilt on the left is a little more subtle because the red fabrics I used were very close in shade. For the quilt on the right, I chose grey fabrics that were a little further apart in shade.

So, that’s secondary design! It’s a lot of fun and not really difficult to achieve. Leave a comment or ask questions below and I will draw a name to will win my pattern for Liberty Star Shine, the patriotic quilt above. The drawing will be on Monday, August 14th. Good luck! **We have a winner! Congrats, Judy in Mo!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Secondary Design in Quilts – There’s More than One Method!

We’ve talked about secondary design in the past but I like to come back and flesh out some topics at times. In this post, I’ll talk about what secondary design is and how to accomplish it in blocks and quilts. There isn’t just one way to do it. I’ll talk about three ways that are more common and then a fourth way that could be surprising. Maybe you have some ideas too? So let’s get started!

Secondary design is a design that develops that is secondary to the overall intended design of a quilt when blocks are joined. The most common way to achieve this is to start with a block with interesting elements that, when joined with additional blocks into a quilt top, combine to make the secondary design.

First Method: One block quilts can have secondary designs appear when there are elements in the blocks that create movement. Here’s a block that has a design moving through it.

The diagonal geese create a design within this log cabin block that, when joined with other blocks of the same design, give you a secondary design other than the log cabin.

The above layout will make a criss cross design when all the blocks are assembled into a quilt top. This is the design I chose for my quilt, Crisscross Cabin Blooms.

Another way these blocks can be arranged is with all the geese going in the same direction when the blocks are joined. If you do this, there will be an overall diagonal design across the quilt top.

Another option in the one block method is to create blocks that are the same but are made in different colorways and with color prints and tan prints positioned differently in each block. Here is a fun block in two different colorways.

Notice how the tan and color prints are opposite in these blocks. Alternate between these when you join the blocks and this is what you get:

The blocks themselves do not have a lot of movement but when you put them together in this on point setting in Stepping Stones, there’s an interesting secondary design made by the stitch and flip corners of each block.

Finally, try adding stitch and flip corners to the end of any block. Alternate the colors used. For example, on the Mill Country Sky quilt below, I made some blocks with green corners and some blocks with tan corners. When I alternated between them when piecing the quilt blocks together, it made a fun hourglass design appear that looks like it’s between the blocks.

Here’s how they look in the quilt:

Second Method: Two block quilts are the most common and usually the easiest way to create a secondary design. Often, these quilts will have a checkerboard design block as one of the blocks. Then, whether the blocks are on point or set straight, there is a fun checkerboard design that runs through the quilt.

In Prairie Sky quilt on the left, the blocks are straight pieced making the checkerboard blocks create a crisscross design. The quilt on the right, Country Dance, has the blocks set on point making the checkerboard blocks create a grid pattern.

You can also put two completely different blocks together to create an interesting secondary design, without one of the blocks being a checkerboard. These two blocks below are a Courthouse Steps block and a 4-patch variation with stars and squares.

When they are set together in the Twinkling Log Cabin quilt, the squares and stars make a secondary design running through the quilt.

Also notice how the on point setting also creates a design that makes the 4-patch variation block look like it is bordered by strips. Here’s a close-up look of two of the sections:

Third Method: A third way to create a secondary design is by joining blocks with a unique sashing. One of the most popular is to create a secondary star design with the sashing like in my quilt, Posey Patch:

As you can see in the photo on the right, by combining sashing strips with stich and flip corners on the ends and sashing squares, stars are created when all the blocks and sashing are joined together.

Another sashing creation is a mini “monkey wrench” design in my Open Windows quilt. Here’s the quilt and a close-up of the sashing below:

By doing stitch and flip corners on the blocks on opposite sides and then joining the blocks with sashing strips and sashing squares, I created a monkey wrench design that alternates between the block rows.

Surprise Fourth Method: This is one that is created by changing the colors of the background fabric. In the following photos, you can see how the different pieced backgrounds create a diagonal or striped design depending on how the blocks are joined.

Table Runners with diagonal backgrounds:

Larger Quilts with a “striped” background:

The stripe in the red background quilt is a bit more subtle than the others, but if you look closely, it’s there!

So that’s it for this week’s blog post. I hope this gives you some ideas on how to build a secondary design into your next quilt project. It’s a lot of fun! Share your thoughts with me in the comments below and you will be entered into a drawing for my quilt pattern Open Windows (see above).

The drawing will be on Monday, November 8th. Good Luck!

Happy Quilting, 
Deanne