Sweet, simple, vintage-inspired, fun … meet Churn Dot!
I love the way a quilt can tie the past, present and future together, and that’s why Patch and Dot patterns so often start with a classic quilt block as their inspiration. You’ve heard of Churn Dash? Meet it’s modern cousin! The Churn Dot pattern puts a literal spin on the original early-1800s (!) pattern, using an on-point setting to give it a fresh look. Strategic colour blocking creates a “flower in a dot” motif, and the sweet centre gives you the perfect opportunity for some easy fussy cutting.
Churn Dot comes in three sizes:
- Baby 37″ x 37″ (fat quarter friendly)
- Throw 65″ x 65″
- Queen 81″ x 98″
History of the Churn Dash block
The Churn Dash block dates all the way back to between 1800 and 1849, and it gets its name because of its resemblance to a top-down view of a butter churn, where the centre plus shape is the end of the stick or “dash” used to churn the butter. (You can see these on eBay and Etsy and this specific shape seems to appear most often with butter churns where the jug is made of pottery.)
Fun with Churn Dot
So, what fun projects can you get up to with Churn Dot? Here are just a couple.
Baby quilt
First up is this baby quilt in a mix of Buttercream fabrics by Emily Martin, plus some sweet ginghams from the Kitchen Window line from Elizabeth Hartman. I’m sharing this one because I think it illustrates how you can get a charming vintage look by really going for it with your print mixes.
I started with this fat quarter bundle. Once you start cutting and mixing your fabrics is when the magic really starts to happen.
The scrappiness of this one really speaks to me!
Binding is Liberty of London Cottage Garden quilting cotton.
One last shot of the Buttercream + gingham version.
Fussy cut throw quilt
Churn Dot is made for fussy cutting. Take a look at tester Amy‘s throw quilt, which uses squares cut from Kimberly Kight’s Picture Book fabric for the center of each block.
