Summer Garden: April Rail Fence Block

vafibrearts
Apr 11, 2023
4 min read

Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

Now that we're a week into April, I'm excited to be releasing the last block of the Summer Garden BoM quilt along!

After the variety of blocks made so far, April brings us a simple finish with the Rail Fence block! This was the very first block I ever made and was featured in my Rainbow Railfence quilt. The Rail Fence instructions offer two possible construction methods; strip piecing for those using yardage and a scrap piecing option for anyone working with remnants!

Without further ado, Friends, let's get started!

Pattern Notes

As a reminder, here are a few things to keep in mind while piecing your Summer Garden blocks:

This pattern uses a 1⁄4” seam allowance. Before beginning, test your seam allowance on a scrap of fabric to insure accurate piecing.

And to help keep your blocks accurate and easy to work with, press each seam after sewing. This pattern works with open pressed and side pressed seams, as well as a mix of both methods, so use whatever suits you best.

Making the Rail Fence Block

Continue piecing your Summer Garden quilt by selecting the method that best fits your materials. The strip piecing method can be used for yardage, fat quarters, or long strips of fabric such as jelly rolls while the scrap piecing method makes use of smaller remnants.

Note that if you use the strip piecing method, the single block cutting instructions will yield multiple blocks.

Strip Piecing with Yardage

To make one Rail Fence block, cut the following:

From background fabric:

4x strips at 1 1⁄2" x width of fabric

From fabric A:

3x strips at 1 1⁄2" x width of fabric

From fabric B:

3x strips at 1 1⁄2" x width of fabric

To assemble the Rail Fence block:

Sew half of the strips together along their long edges in the following order; fabric A, background, fabric B, background, fabric A as shown below.

From this strip unit, cut two squares at 5 1⁄2".

Using the second half of the strips, sew them together along their long edges in the following order; fabric B, background, fabric A, background, fabric B as shown below.

From this strip unit, cut two squares at 5 1⁄2".

Using the four strip units created, two centred on fabric A and two on fabric B, assemble the block as shown below.

Trim block to 10 1⁄2" square.

For a lap quilt, make 4.

For a twin quilt, make 9.

For a queen quilt, make 14.

Scrap Piecing with Remnants

To make one Rail Fence block, cut the following:

From background fabric:

8x rectangles at 1 1⁄2" x 5 1⁄2"

From fabric A:

6x rectangles at 1 1⁄2" x 5 1⁄2"

From fabric B:

6x rectangles at 1 1⁄2" x 5 1⁄2"

To assemble the Rail Fence block:

Sew half of the strips together along their long edges in the following order; fabric A, background, fabric B, background, fabric A as shown below.

Trim to 5 1⁄2" square.

Make 2.

Sew five of the remaining rectangles together along their long edges in the following order; fabric B, background, fabric A, background, fabric B as shown below.

Trim to 5 1⁄2" square.

Make 2.

Using the four strip units created, two centred on fabric A and two on fabric B, assemble the block as shown below.

Trim block to 10 1⁄2" square.

For a lap quilt, make 4.

For a twin quilt, make 9.

For a queen quilt, make 14.

Full PDF instructions for the Rail Fence block, including both methods, can be downloaded here:

Summer Garden Rail Fence Block

The original version of the Summer Garden pattern features a Rail Fence block in various shades of green.

As with all the blocks, this choice was inspired by the plants that grow in my back garden throughout the Summer months! For the Rail Fence specifically, I wanted to mimic the look of the grass and stems that support all the beautiful flowers!

When viewed from above, these stems don't appear to grow in the same direction: they bend beneath the weight of leaves and flowers, are crushed by the passage of people and animals, and lift themselves back up, continuing to grow.

I thought that the various orientations of the rails in the Rail Fence block reflected that chaos of stems really well, and by using a variety of shades of green, I was able to reflect the various hues of the different plants and the fall of light and shadow between them!

You can use this colour scheme to make your Rail Fence block or develop a totally unique selection of colours based on the plants found in your own backyard! You could also deviate from the original inspiration of this pattern by embracing a totally different colour scheme! Check out the original Fabric Requirements post for more inspiration!

Garden of Cards Rail Fence Block

For the quilt along version of this pattern, I was inspired by a fictional garden, the Queen of Hearts' rose garden from Alice in Wonderland! This version of the quilt uses two colour combinations; a black and white variant that reflects the matte colour scheme of a deck of cards and a printed red white and green version to reflect the rose garden itself!

For the playing card version, I altered the pattern a little to create a slightly different two tone effect.

The second version of the block looks very much like the original Summer Garden Rail Fence block, which uses various shade of green.

Once again, this choice was based on the stem of the flower, not so much on the flower itself. I really love how the variety of green tones can be used to create this ombre effect, it brings a really beautiful detail to the otherwise simple block!

I have just these two blocks made so far, so I'll need to make a few more before my quilt blocks will be complete!

If you're interested to learn more about how I chose the fabric for this fantasy version of the Summer Garden pattern, check out my Colour Selection post!

Friends, with the release of this final block pattern, we are closer than ever to finishing our Summer Garden quilt along! However, there is still one month of instructions left for us to look forward to!

Visit me again on 09 May for the release of the Summer Garden finishing instructions!

In the meantime, I would love to see how your Rail Fence blocks turn out! Please share those with me in the comments below, by email, or on Instagram @v.a.fibre.arts! You can also use #summergardenbom to share your progress on other platforms!