QUILTING - can larger strips, say 2" - 4", be used to make larger sized SEMINOLE PATCHWORK?

Question

im making a king-size quilt for my son and need to enlarge the quilt. i was going to use seminole patchwork to frame the picture that is approximately 4' x 4' and then add more strips to continue to enlarge.

Answer 1

That's an interesting question. It would be your own version of Seminole, since theirs traditionally uses narrow strips. If you wanted to be authentic, you might stick to narrow strips and just do more of them, but if you want to do wider strips, it would be your own original invention. So it depends whether you'd like originality or authenticity in this particular project.
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Answer 2

I don't see any reason you couldn't just enlarge the whole Seminole pattern... the pieces would still be proportional to each other, just each piece would be larger.

You mentioned "the strips" though, which makes me wonder if you have a particular pattern of Seminole patchwork in mind. Still don't think it would make any difference though since the overall pattern would stay the same, just done in a larger version.

P.S. You also used the word "enlarge" several times so I may be misunderstanding.... I'd think that if you used a 4x4' central "block," and wanted to add around that block to make the whole quilt larger, you'd have said you wanted to "make the quilt larger" rather to "enlarge the quilt" --which I would normally think of as taking the same pattern (or block) and making that bigger (rather than just *adding* to it)...


Diane B.

Answer 3

It's your quilt (until you give it away, of course) so you can do what you like. Making the "strips" wider will help keep things in proportion to the central picture.

Adding borders is a common technique in medallion and round robin quilts as well as a popular way to adjust dimensions for longer drops, pillow fold, etc.

If you want to be technically correct in describing it you can say that you used Seminole piecing techniques in the borders.

Answer 4

Kacky's correct. You could always try a trial strip to see how it goes. Happy quilting.