Bear S Paw Quilt Pattern Meaning

The hst units are trimmed to size after stitching.

Bear s paw quilt pattern meaning. These quilts were embedded with a kind of code so that by reading the shapes and motifs sewn into the design an enslaved person on the run could know the area s immediate dangers or even where to head next. A bear paw block looks just like the big claw of a bear. One of the most popular theories about the origins of the bear paw quilt pattern is that the quilt block was used to guide escaped slaves to food and water in the days of the underground railroad. This blocks come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Saving lives since 1850. Patches 3 and 4 used for this technique are cut oversized. Free quilt block pattern. This is despite its unusual size due to the fact that it is a seven patch block.

See all of our bear paw quilt patterns. But of course even this has several names. This saves time both marking and cutting and provides perfect results. Quilts with patterns named wagon wheel tumbling blocks and bear s paw appear to.

Bear s paw is the type of quilt block that sparks your creativity because it lends itself to so many piecing options. A single bear s paw quilt block requires 16 hsts so we ll use the very efficient 8 at once method. Two historians say african american slaves may have used a quilt code to navigate the underground railroad. Early 20th century writer ruth finley was sometimes as much of a story teller as she was a quilt historian.

The pattern that most quilters recognize as the bear s paw is one with 4 paws each pointed in a different direction like the example to the right above. The bear s paw quilt block is an old favourite. There are lots of other names for this block like the best friend bear s tracks bear s foot cat s paw duck s foot in the mud hand of friendship illinois turkey track and tea leaf design wow that s a lot. It actually helped save real people s lives.

Beautifully sewn vintage log cabin quilt. Bear paw this pattern tells them to take a mountain trail out of view of the area. Designed with one square and multiple half square triangles this traditional block is actually pretty easy to make and a reader favorite. Bear paw follow an animal trail through the mountains to find water and food.

They need to follow the trail of bear tracks to the food and water that has been left for them. Today let s put together a variation of the traditional bear paw quilt block. Bow tie dress in disguise to appear of a higher status. Yes you heard me right.

The bear paw quilt isn t just a pretty pattern. The bear paw quilt block. You can easily rearrange these blocks to create a unique pattern.