The Journey of A Quilt Block: From England to the New World, From Mathematical to Lone Star

Let’s talk about star quilt blocks this week.  Star blocks are some of the oldest quilt patterns out there, with the earliest patterns dating back to the 18^th century.  Anyone who has a penchant for making a quilt with star blocks – and probably even those of us who don’t – are familiar with this quilt:

It has gone by many names and has a checkered history.  We’ll look at both of those aspects; however, first let’s look at where this quilt/quilt block came from and how it found its way to the United States. 

For sure, this is one pattern that seems to be distinctly American.  Peruse almost any quilt collection in any museum in the United States and you’re sure to see one of these beauties.  But the star is also located in other countries – specifically England, where it was first named The Mathematical Star and the settlers carried this name with them when they landed on the Eastern Coast of the United States.  Early Mathematical Star Quilts employed English Paper Piecing as the primary construction method.  Since early EPP used geometry texts and lessons as a basis, it’s easy to understand why those quilters named the quilt Mathematical Star – it’s made of the rhombus (diamond) shape and two isosceles triangles facing each other.  It is a mathematical challenge to draft and it’s equally challenging to quilt (all that bias!). 

Once the pattern hit the US East Coast, the name changed.  It was particularly popular in the Baltimore area, where it took on the name Star of Bethlehem, named after the star which led the Wisemen to Baby Jesus.  It’s also been called Star of the East and Broken Star.  The smaller stars which sometimes surround the large star in the middle have been called Blazing Stars or (if the points touch) Touching Stars.  Two names bestowed on the pattern have special significance:  Lone Star and Morning Star. 

Texans took one look at the pattern and fell head over heels in love with it.  So much so that they’re the ones who gave the quilt the name “Lone Star” since Texas is the Lone Star State.  However, in my own  humble opinion, it was this woman, who not only made quilting cool, but also raised the rest of the nation’s quilting consciousness about the star:

That’s right.  Janis Joplin. 

In a letter dated August 22, 1965, a 22-year-old Janis Joplin wrote a letter to her fiancé, Peter de Blanc, from her parents’ home in Port Arthur, Texas.  In that letter she said, “Also of interest we’ve picked the pattern we’re going to use on the quilt.  It’s a huge 60” wide 8-pointed star that will shade from light blue at the center to dark blue on the outside.  It’s called – READY? – the Lone Star Quilt.  Too much, really.”

Native Americans also embraced this quilt pattern, calling their quilts Morning Star.  Missionaries introduced quilting to the Native American girls in their boarding schools in the late 1800’s. The name, Morning Star, refers to Venus when it appears in the sky just before sunrise.  This quilt, and how it came to be embraced by the Lakota (Sioux) people will be discussed a bit later in the blog. 

There is no debating that the star is beautiful.  It is also one of the most complicated blocks out there.  Even if you’re only making one block – a center medallion for a quilt – there are lots of pieces.  Which begs the question, what is the best way to construct this quilt?  Of course, you could always use the English Paper Piecing method, which was the first technique used to make it.  But with easier piecing techniques, there’s more than one way to assemble the star. 

Strip Piecing Method

I will use the directions for a small Lone Star block.  You can enlarge it for a bigger star and may even be able to use a jelly roll for the strips.  But for this star, you’ll need five fabrics with good contrast but still look good together.

Number 3 (in this case, that beautiful lime green) will be the most prominent, number one will be in the center,  You’ll need to keep this in mind when you choose your fabrics.

Cut one 1 ½-wide strips by length of fabric each from numbers 1, 2, 4, and 5.  Cut two from fabric 3.  You should have a total of six strips measuring 1 ½-inches x 42-ish inches.

Next cut each strip in half so you have 12 strips measuring 1 ½-inches x 21-ish inches.

Now we need to make three groups of fabric strips.  Group one is fabric 1, 2, and 3.

Group two is 2, 3, and 4.

Group three is 3, 4, and 5.  You’ll have three strips left over.  Set those aside for another project.

At this point, no matter if I’ve prewashed my fabric or not, I starch the strips.  It’s up to you if you want to use Best Press, Best Press 2, or regular spray starch (I’m team #spraystarch).  The object is to stabilize the strips.  They’re just a bit stretchy right now and you almost want them to have the texture of paper.  This means you will need to starch the strips several times.  Do not saturate your fabric and then iron it with a back-and-forth motion.  This will make everything wonky.  Lightly spray the back of the fabric and then with an up and down motion, press the starch into the fabric.  Repeat until the fabric has the texture and feel of writing paper.  I know this sounds like overkill, but it will really go a long way in keeping the bias intact and making your points sharp and meet each other beautifully. 

You will also want to check your machine to make sure it sews and exact ¼-inch.  With other blocks you can give yourself a bit of grace if your seam bobbles here and there, but not with the Lone Star block. 

Sew each of the three sets of strips together, staggering each one about an inch from the top of the preceding one.

PRESS THE SEAMS OPEN.  I know I normally encourage folks to press the seams to one side, towards the darker fabric. However, with so many seams converging in this pattern, it’s more important to reduce bulk to make construction and quilting easier.

Once the strip set is pressed flat, take it to your cutting mat.  There should be a 45-degree angle on your mat.  Find that and line the edges of your strip set up with it like this:

And cut the end off so you have a 45-degree angle. 

The align your ruler with the newly cut edge and measure over exactly 1 ½-inches to make your next cut. 

Take your time and measure accurately.  Continue cutting at a 45-degree angle until you have eight strip sets.  Repeat with the other sets until you have a total of three sets of strips, with eight in each set.

Now we’ll get ready to sew the strip sets together into a diamond.  The first diamond takes longer than the others, so be patient.  But once you get the hang of it, it’s really fairly simple.   Keep your strips in the groups we laid them out in once we first cut the fabric.  Group One is fabrics 1, 2, and 4.  Group Two is fabrics 2, 3, and 4. And Group Three is fabrics 3, 4, and 5. 

Take one strip from group one and one strip from group two.  Lay them beside each other so the seams meet.  Then flip the strip from group two over the strip from group one. 

It’s super important that the seams remain matched up during the construction process.  If they’re off, your star will look wonky.  And just because they’re lined up when you lay them out and flip strip two over strip one does not mean they’ll stay that way.  You may find it helpful to measure ¼ -inch on the back of strip two at the seams to understand where the strips need to line up so your points will be perfect.  I do this with a pin, sticking it through both fabrics and checking to make sure that the pin goes right through the seams of both strips. 

I think it’s more important to check this at the intersection of your seams than it is at the ends of the strips.  If you take time to pin carefully you will be rewarded with perfect points.

I repeat at the other two seams and pin everything.  Then stitch with a ¼-seam down the sides of the strip.  Open the two strips up and check.   If the seams align, you’re good to go! 

If not, grab your seam ripper and pick out the stitches and try again.  The first set may take you a bit more time than you’d like, but once you get the hang of it, the process goes much faster. 

Once you’re satisfied with the first two strips, add a strip from Group Three and repeat the process, sewing it to the strip from Group Two.  When you’re through with this, press the seams open.  At this point, I also starch the diamonds again. 

Once you have all eight diamonds made, it’s time to begin constructing the block. 

The traditional Lone Star Block uses Y-Seams.  I won’t go into all the details on how to handle Y-Seams, but I have written a blog about them.  To read that, go here: https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2020/06/17/y-seams-shudders-or-shrugs/

At each of the points on the diamond, place a dot (I use a Frixion pen – the dot is in the seam allowance so it won’t affect anything, plus I can see the black ink better than a blue marker or pencil) ¼-inch away from the point. These will serve as your stopping and starting markers.   

Pin two diamonds together, using the same pinning method we used when we sewed the strips into diamonds.  Be sure to match the seams and pin carefully.  Then sew the two diamonds together, beginning and ending on one of the dots.  Personally I find it’s easier to sew from the top to the bottom of the diamond and be sure to backstitch or knot the thread at the beginning and ending of a seam.  Repeat with the diamonds until you have four pairs of diamonds.

Then, once again employing our pinning technique, sew two of the diamond sets together to form half the star.  Repeat for the remaining two other sets, so you have two halves of the Lone Star.  Do not sew the two halves together yet.  First we have to deal with the background fabric.

Cut six 5 ½-inch squares.  Cut two of the squares in half on the diagonal.  You should now have four squares and four triangles. 

I find it helpful to lay out my star next to my sewing machine.  It just keeps me on track with assembly.  Take the square in the left-hand corner and flip it over to the wrong side. 

On one of the corners make another dot, exactly ¼-inch away from the edge of the fabric.  We will match this dot to the dot on the diamonds to set it in the block.  Match the dots and pin along the seam line.

Beginning at the outer edge of the block, sew the background square to the side of the star until you get to your mark.  At this point, keep your needle down, right on that dot.

Lift your presser foot, keeping the needle down, and gently pull the edge of the background square toward the front of the sewing machine while also rotating the star towards it.  Rotate your fabrics until both line up on a straight line and you can finish the seam. 

Turn your block over and press well.  This time you can press your seams towards the solid square of fabric.

Now you will repeat this process with the triangle.  Mark the point which is inserted between the two diamonds with a dot ¼-inch away from the edges of the fabric.  Pin, sew from the outside of the triangle to the dot.  Keep your needle down in the center of the dot, rotate your fabric and continue up the next side.  Press again, pressing the seams towards the triangle.  It’s important to remember, the square and triangle will be a bit larger than the open area between the diamonds.  We can trim this down later.  It’s always easier to make things smaller than to make them bigger (except my thighs which have not got this memo).

Pin the two halves of the star together, matching the seams the same way you did earlier.  Sew them together, remembering to stop and start at the dots you made on the diamonds.  Press seams open.  Insert the side triangles using the same method you did for the top and bottom triangles.

Press the seam toward the triangle.  Trim the star to 15 ¼-inches.  This is the unfinished size. 

At this point you can make a small Lone Star Wall Hanging or use it as one block or the center medallion block in a quilt.

Next week we will take on paper piecing a Lone Star and I’ll try to explain the significance of this block to the Sioux.

Until next week, Remember the Details Make the Difference!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri