ESSENTIAL GUIDE

“Sashing with pieced cornerstones not only brings interest to our patchwork, but can also be an opportunity to add a highly creative dimension”
– Lin Clements

WHAT ARE CORNERSTONES?

Cornerstones in patchwork are usually associated with sashing and borders and can occur where sashing strips meet, or adjacent to the corners of a block. Cornerstones may also be called corner posts. We looked at sashing in general in Issue 47 of Today’s Quilter and saw that it is used in patchwork to frame or separate pieced blocks or parts of a quilt design. Fig 1 shows a quilt design with sashing. In Fig 1A the sashing is unpieced, just plain strips separating the blocks, and in Issue 47 we looked at how to sew strips like this. In Fig 1B the sashing strips have the addition of unpieced cornerstones, and this simple method was also described in Issue 47. We will recap on this method in this article. However, the main purpose of this month’s Essential Guide is to show how these cornerstones can become a more creative feature of a patchwork design and we will look at blocks that can be used for cornerstones. We will also look at how cornerstone blocks can be extended into the sashing strips, to create a more complex look.

There are some cornerstone blocks that shows examples of these. In reality of course, almost any block can become a cornerstone, particularly simple blocks with a four-patch or nine-patch arrangement. Complicated blocks can also be used but a major constraint is the overall size of the cornerstone needed – shrinking a detailed, multi-piece block down to just 3in or 6in square can be just too troublesome. Ideas for workable blocks are provided in this article.