Block Histories: the Rail Fence

Hello Friends and Welcome!

I've been interested in researching the origins of traditional quilt blocks since I first got into quilting. A lot of blocks have really interesting names; I love learning where those names come from and doing some close looking to see how the piecing of the block reflects it.

It can be hard to get your head around all the different blocks, the variety of names they're called by, and the casual way they are tossed around in conversation within the quilting community. So I've decided to do some research of my own both to satisfy my interests, and to make the information more accessible to all of you.

Today, I'll be talking about the rail fence block. By now, I'm sure you're all aware that my first quilt was a rail fence pattern, so this block has a special place in my heart. That phrase has given me a kind of kitschy idea, I’ll come back to that later in the post.

The rail fence happens to be a really great block for beginners to use because it has very few matching corners, uses only straight, rectangular piecing, and can be made quickly using strip piecing.

Some of the things I talk about in this post were found in articles written by historians or other quilters, while others are inferred from my own observations. I'll be providing citations at the bottom of this post. If you're interested, I would highly recommend you check them out for yourself!

Acknowledging the Limitations of Quilt Historical Research

Just a little disclaimer here; I tried to focus on the history of quilting in Canada, but due to the limited quantity of quilt historical research, I was mostly only able to find sources related to the study of quilt history in the United States. If anyone knows of any particular Canadian quilt historical resources, please let me know!

There are a lot of things that cause this lack of research; quilts have only recently started being classified as art (Murphy and Hanshew, 24), so art historians generally haven’t chosen to study them. The first ‘art quilt’ exhibit in 1986 was intended to show that quilts had a right to be seen as visual art, however, even that exhibit divided quilts between art quilts and bed quilts (Shaw, 2), indicating a hierarchy within the quilting world.

There are relatively few extant quilts, especially from older periods, because they were functional items and were discarded as they wore out to make room for new ones. Most surviving quilts were made for special occasions rather than everyday use, so were better protected (Murphy and Hanshew, 41). Without physical objects to study, it's very difficult for historians to collect evidence of a theory they may be trying to prove.

Here’s an example from the collection at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (you’ll have to follow the link to see the picture). While the quilt shown isn’t a Canadian example, it still shows how quilts degrade over time and how, without a proper label, there’s a lot of information about it that we won’t be able to figure out.

Again on the subject of evidence, written documentation regarding quilts and quilt blocks is fairly limited. Prior to the rise of large scale publications in the later part of the 19th century, the only written documentation for quilting comes from personal letters, as well as the very occasional quilt label (Murphy and Hanshew, 24). At that time, most quilt patterns were passed along by showing a block to friends and neighbours, or by teaching it to children (Breneman; Carroll).

Naming Conventions: Where Quilt Blocks get their Names

As I mentioned, early quilt blocks were not distributed as written patterns the way we get them today. If a quilter designed a block, they would give it a name that suited the block based on their own lived experiences. A lot of these names reference very specific phenomena, such as scenes from everyday life, religious texts, political movements, and beloved friends and family members (Breneman; Carroll).

If one quilter can design a new pattern, then others can too. There were occasions when quilt makers living hundreds of kilometres apart unknowingly designed the same quilt blocks; each would name their block based on their own unique worldview and lived experiences. The more this happened, the more different names a block collected over time (Breneman; Carroll).

As technology and trade routes developed in North America in the later part of the 19th century, quilt patterns began circulating in publications (Breneman; Jess). By publishing a block under a certain name, that name could become popularized as the 'correct' name and may be the reason we know specific blocks by certain names today.

The Rail Fence Block and its Other Names

The rail fence block was named after a scene common along country roads even today; the split rail or cedar rail fence.

Some quilters today would consider a rail fence quilt to be any made from strip units cut into squares and pieced into a quilt top. To make a rail fence block you would need to piece together four square strip units into a four patch. The number of strips per unit seems to be irrelevant, however Maria Gee of Scissortail Quilting suggests 3 is most common.

Historically, a block by the name rail fence has had a variety of different appearances. The first example uses single strips rather than blocks to make a woven or chevron pattern, the use of value and contrast creates a zigzag pattern reminiscent of the way cedar rail fences zigzag across the landscape (Brackman, 15).

Another example of a rail fence is this one which uses triangles. They are assembled into rows, then into a quilt top (Brackman, 14). At first, I was surprised by the use of triangles to portray the fence shape, but when you step back and look at the pattern as a whole, it uses the same zigzag formation as the previous example.

We have yet another example of a similar quilt which uses diamond shapes (Brackman, 18).

The three examples above use a variety of different shapes to produce the illusion of a rail fence meandering across the landscape. Some other names given to this rail fence variation include; streak of lightning or lightning streak, dog's tooth, snake fence, wave, and of course, zigzag.

None of these samples use rail fence blocks as we know them today, but you can achieve a similar effect by making a rail fence block in the configuration below and setting it on point.

This is a fairly common way of making a rail fence block (Brackman, 135). It uses two contrasting tones or colours making it very scrap friendly, and is made from simple shapes, so it's very quick and easy to make.

When this block is set flat, rather than on point, the finished quilt resembles a staircase, which has resulted in names such as endless stairs, London stairs, and winding stairway(Brackman, 135).

Another name I've seen used is Virginia worm fence, which assembles the strip units in a nine patch formation as shown below, rather than a four patch (Brackman, 185).

As we begin to add more strips to the rail fence pattern, the name continues to change. Rail fence blocks containing 3 strips have been called three by three, interlocking squares, four part strip block which referenced the four patch layout of the strip units, and tricolour block when the three strips are each different colours (Brackman, 135-6).

With more strips, the rail fence block has been called modern design or modern blocks, up and down blocks, five stripes for a rail fence using five strips per unit, and log cabin (Brackman, 136).

There are also a variety of other names for the rail fence which reference fences, including; colt's coral, fence posts, and split rail. Colt's corral seems to refer to a specific formation, usually of five strips, but occasionally seen with six, alternating between a light and dark fabric, such as the example below. The block can consist of the standard four patch formation, or the larger nine patch formation (Brackman, 136, 185).

Some alternate names refer to specific colour placement, such as spirit of St. Louis, using red, white, and blue to reference their flag (Brackman, 136).

Another example that I find really interesting is the Roman stripe. This pattern uses a deep purple in contrast with a light coloured background, referencing the stripes on a Roman senator's robes which showed their rank. It would seem that, over time, this became less of a rule and there are now many quilts called Roman stripe which don’t feature this colour scheme (Stocker). As well as rail fence blocks, here are a few others I’ve seen called Roman stripe:

The first two are from Brackman (136, 65) and the far right example is from Stocker.

Of the names I've mentioned, I think all would be accepted by quilters today with one exception. The block below is what would commonly be called a log cabin. It is another variation of a strip block, but doesn't use the four patch arrangement, instead the strips border a central square patch in concentric layers.

VA and the Rail Fence

There are a few variations of rail fence quilts that I've made. The first, of course, is Rainbow Railfence. It uses strip units in a variety of colours to make the rail fence block. By bordering each strip unit with black strips on either end, the rail fence block creates a woven illusion in the quilt top.

If you're interested in this pattern, you can find instructions here.

The other rail fence pattern I've made was called Pinwheels on Point with Rail Fence, a free pattern from Missouri Quilt Company.

To make the blocks, construct the strip units as you usually would, set them aside without assembling them into blocks. Make a small half square triangle unit, place it in the corner of a strip unit and sew diagonally across. Repeat in the opposite corner. Create 4 strip units with these corners and assemble them to create a block with a pinwheel in the centre.

You can design a lot of other rail fence variations along these lines. Use squares of various sizes to create corner cutouts or turn the rail fence block into a large half square triangle unit.

The kitschy idea I mentioned back at the beginning is this block:

It uses a combination of the methods above to make a heart using the rail fence to piece the heart. Alternatively, you could use the cutoffs to make a heart shape using the negative space.

Obviously the month when heart quilts are most popular has just ended, so I'm a little late to the game in that sense, but I'll be releasing it as a free pattern in a few weeks once I've had the time to write up instructions.

Here are a few more ways you could change up your rail fence block:

You could piece together one or more of the strips within your unit using squares, half square triangles, or using the crumb technique. This can be used to add some additional visual interest to a simple block.

If you're worried about being able to keep your strips straight, you could intentionally make your strip units angled. Using strips of a variety of widths could make this even more interesting.

If you try any of these variations on the rail fence block, or have made your own rail fence quilt, I would love to see it! Please share a picture with me in the comments below or on social media. If you know any interesting facts about the rail fence, please share those with me as well!

Friends, I've really enjoyed researching the history of this block and I'd like to continue this series by researching other traditional blocks too! Let me know if you have any requests.

Next week, I'll be sharing my method for drafting rail fence blocks, visit me then if this is something you'd be interested to learn.

Until then Friends, Happy Sewing!

VA

Citations:

Brackman, Barbara. Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, third ed., The Electronic Quilt Company, 2020.
Breneman, Judy Anne. “Pieced Patchwork Quilts: Quilt Block Pattern History.” America’s Quilting History, 2001. www.womenfolk.com/quilting_history/pieced.html, accessed February 2021.
Carroll, Laurette. “Quilt Pattern Names.” Antique Quilt History, 2018, www.antiquequilthistory.com/quilt-pattern-names.html, accessed February 2021.
Gee, Maria. “Rail Fence Quilt Block.” Scissortail Quilting, 2019, scissortailquilting.com/quilt-block-library/rail-fence-quilt-block/, accessed February 2021.
Jess. “A History of Quilting in Canada.” One Stitch, One Step, 2017, onestitchonestep.wordpress.com/a-history-of-quilting-in-canada/, accessed February 2021.
Murphy, Mary, and Annie Hanshew. "Montana Quilts and Quiltmakers: A HISTORY OF WORK AND BEAUTY." Montana; the Magazine of Western History, vol. 58, no. 3, 2008, pp. 23-47,94-95.
Shaw, Robert. “Discovering the Roots of the Art Quilt.” A Brief History of the Art Quilt, reprinted from SAQA Journal, published by the Studio Art Quilt Associates, 2014, pp. 2-6, www.saqa.com/sites/default/files/files/SAQA-ShawFeatures.pdf.
Stocker, Julie. “What is a Roman Stripe?” Pink Doxies, 2017, www.pinkdoxies.com/2017/08/what-is-roman-stripe.html, accessed February 2021.

I don’t believe I specifically referenced this article, but I read it while doing my research and I wanted to include it. It was a really fascinating read with a great perspective on the early and current purposes of quilting: