Blackwork Roads: A New Chunk of the Month Pattern
- vafibrearts
- Sep 10, 2024
- 6 min read
Hello Friends and Welcome!
After dedicating the last several weeks to finishing up this pattern, I'm thrilled to finally share this year's quilt along project; Blackwork Roads!
Blackwork Roads features a variety of beginner friendly piecing techniques, as well as some additional challenges that may make the pattern difficult for new quilters. These include bias-sewn seams, a lot of corners to be matched, and—depending on the chosen quilt size—some fairly small pieces, so proceed at your own discretion.
With that out of the way, let's take a look at the Blackwork Roads quilt!
Quilt Reveal
Over the Summer, I shared a few glimpses of the process of designing and testing units, as well as the colours I'd chosen for the first sample of the pattern. And though an ill-timed migraine resulted in the real, stitched sample not being ready in time for the pattern release, I'm excited to be able to share a the quilt design!
This pattern was inspired by modern blackwork embroidery patterns, specifically the work of Loose Threads Stitchery, whose patterns feature geometric shapes filled with a variety of decorative stitches, and interesting use of colour to create gradients!
But quilting and embroidery aren't quite the same medium, so I did my best to imitate the feeling of blackwork embroidery using the techniques of quiltwork!
The layout of the pattern is based on the traditional Ruby Roads quilt block, and rather than filling each section with decorative stitching, they are filled with quilted blocks, with colours placed differently in each section to create a variety of unique effects!
Fabric Selection
Blackwork Roads is pieced using four colours, two of which are divided into dark, medium, and light values.
The sample quilt and instructions use the following colours:
Off-white background (BG)
Teal accent (Acc)
Light orange (Lt.1)
Medium orange (Md.1)
Dark orange (Dk.1)
Light brown (Lt.2)
Medium brown (Md.2)
Dark brown (Dk.2)
Once colours have been selected, decide which size quilt to make.
The layout of each quilt is the same regardless of size, which means that the bigger the quilt being made, the bigger the pieces it will be made from.
The three sizes Blackwork Roads can be made in are as follows:
Small size finishes at 52" x 52"
Medium size finishes at 78" x 78"
Large size finishes at 104" x 104"
For a full list of fabric requirements, including some additional tips on fabric and colour choice, download the PDF below:
And for this year's project is kicking off right away with a block to make this month as well! Read through the pattern notes below before getting started on the block instructions.
Pattern Notes
sew all seams using a ¼” seam allowance
press each seam before sewing the next and before trimming units
to cut diagonally one, yielding two triangles should look like this:
to cut diagonally twice, yielding four triangles should look like this:
read all pattern instructions and notes before beginning to piece
September Chunk
The September chunk is the central block of the quilt.
It's made up of a variety of square in a square and double square in a square units, and creates a unique focal medallion for the centre of the Blackwork Roads quilt!
Cutting Instructions
Cut the pieces that correspond to your chosen quilt size and sort them based on the units they will be used in as labelled.
Small Quilt
BG: 4 bars at 2½” x 4½” (for finishing)
1 square at 3¼”, cut diagonally twice to yield 4 triangles (for DSiS)
4 squares at 2⅞”, cut diagonally once to yield 2 triangles each (for DSiS)
12 squares at 2½” (4 for DSiS, 4 for SiS, 4 for finishing)
Acc: 4 squares at 2⅞”, cut diagonally once to yield 2 triangles each (for DSiS)
Lt.1: 3 square at 3¼”, cut diagonally twice to yield 4 triangles each (for DSiS)
12 squares at 1½” (for SiS)
Md.1: 1 square at 3¼”, cut diagonally twice to yield 4 triangles (for DSiS)
2 squares at 2⅞”, cut diagonally once to yield 2 triangles each (for DSiS)
4 squares at 1½” (for SiS)
Dk.1: 1 square at 2½” (for DSiS)
Medium Quilt
BG: 4 bars at 3½” x 6½” (for finishing)
1 square at 4¼”, cut diagonally twice to yield 4 triangles (for DSiS)
4 squares at 3⅞”, cut diagonally once to yield 2 triangles each (for DSiS)
12 squares at 3½” (4 for DSiS, 4 for SiS, 4 for finishing)
Acc: 4 squares at 3⅞”, cut diagonally once to yield 2 triangles each (for DSiS)
Lt.1: 3 square at 4¼”, cut diagonally twice to yield 4 triangles each (for DSiS)
12 squares at 2” (for SiS)
Md.1: 1 square at 4¼”, cut diagonally twice to yield 4 triangles (for DSiS)
2 squares at 3⅞”, cut diagonally once to yield 2 triangles each (for DSiS)
4 squares at 2” (for SiS)
Dk.1: 1 square at 3½” (for DSiS)
Large Quilt
BG: 4 bars at 4½” x 8½” (for finishing)
1 square at 5¼”, cut diagonally twice to yield 4 triangles (for DSiS)
4 squares at 4⅞”, cut diagonally once to yield 2 triangles each (for DSiS)
12 squares at 4½” (4 for DSiS, 4 for SiS, 4 for finishing)
Acc: 4 squares at 4⅞”, cut diagonally once to yield 2 triangles each (for DSiS)
Lt.1: 3 square at 5¼”, cut diagonally twice to yield 4 triangles each (for DSiS)
12 squares at 2½” (for SiS)
Md.1: 1 square at 5¼”, cut diagonally twice to yield 4 triangles each (for DSiS)
2 squares at 4⅞”, cut diagonally once to yield 2 triangles each (for DSiS)
4 squares at 2½” (for SiS)
Dk.1: 1 square at 4½” (for DSiS)
Unit Piecing Instructions
Central Double Square in a Square (DSiS)
Select the square of Dk.1 and four small BG triangles. Mark the centre of each side of the square, and the centres of the longest side of each triangle.
Sew one triangle to each side of the square, aligning them at their marked centre points.
Select four large Md.1 triangles and mark the centres of the longest side of each.
Sew one triangle to each side of the pieced unit, aligning the marked centre points to the corners of the central square.
Trim to 4½” for a small quilt.
Trim to 6½” for a medium quilt.
Trim to 8½” for a large quilt.
Make 1 Central DSiS unit.
Side Double Square in a Squares (DSiSs)
Select one BG square, one Md.1 triangle, three Lt.1 triangles, two Acc triangles, and two BG triangles.
Assemble following the steps for the Central DSiS, placing the outer Acc triangles adjacent to the inner Md.1 triangle as shown:
Trim to 4½” for a small quilt.
Trim to 6½” for a medium quilt.
Trim to 8½” for a large quilt.
Make 4 Side DSiS units.
Stitch and Flip Square in a Squares (SiSs)
Select one BG square, one Md.1 square, and three Lt.1 squares. Draw a diagonal line on the back of each of the small squares.
Place one small square in the corner of the BG square with the drawn line crossing the corner. Sew along the drawn line, then trim excess fabric, leaving
a ¼” seam allowance.
Repeat in the remaining corners with the other small squares.
Trim to 2½” for a small quilt.
Trim to 3½” for a medium quilt.
Trim to 4½” for a large quilt.
Make 4 SiS units.
Finishing Instructions
Corner Units
Select one BG square, one BG bar, and one SiS unit.
Assemble as shown, with the Md.1 corner of the SiS on the outer corner of the block:
Trim to 4½” for a small quilt.
Trim to 6½” for a medium quilt.
Trim to 8½” for a large quilt.
Make 4 corner units.
September Block Assembly
Assemble all the units into the central block as shown:
Trim to 12½” for a small quilt.
Trim to 18½” for a medium quilt.
Trim to 24½” for a large quilt.
Download the full PDF instructions for the September chunk, including some additional notes, below:
Blackwork Roads Sample Quilt
As mentioned earlier, I wasn't able to finish the full sample quilt top in time for the pattern release, but I did put together a sample of the central block!
This block is the 12" version made for the small sized quilt. And while the small quilt uses many small pieces that may be difficult for some quilters to work with, I've really been enjoying the challenge of working at this scale!
Friends, I'm so excited to get started on a new quilt along project with all of you! I know all of you will put your heart into this project and transform the pattern into a unique and beautiful quilt!
Once you've selected your fabric, I'd love to know what colours you've chosen! Please share your work in the comments below or on socail media using #blackworkroadsquilt! And after piecing your September chunk, be sure to share that too!
Should you have any questions or comments along the way, I'm always happy to help! You can ask in the comments so others can learn too, or we can chat privately via email!
I can't wait for us to take this trip down the Blackwork Roads together!
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