Flower Basket quilt block

Flower Basket

May 14, 1933-Flowers of All Colors Overflow Graceful Basket in Quilt Block was the title of Nancy Cabot's column this day presenting the Flower Basket quilt.  She felt this new pattern helped to "fill the constant and growing demand for floral quilt patterns."


She suggested using a checked material for the basket, a darker material for the handle, green for the leaves and "the posies themselves may be made in any and all colors."

A copy of the original pattern can be seen here.

The pattern calls for 20 pieced blocks, 20 plain blocks, 14 plain 1/2 blocks, 4 plain 1/4 blocks and a 6" border.  The blocks are 16" and are set on point.  Here's what it might look like-

This is another applique pattern I decided to make to see how Nancy Cabot's pattern worked out.  It didn't. Even though I reduced the scale of the pattern to 6",  the pieces just wouldn't fit right.

I decided to just trace the block from the newspaper to make a pattern and that worked much better. I used fusible applique to make it go faster.  There is a copy of my drawing of Nancy's Flower Basket  block scaled to 6" for download here if you want to make your own pattern.  I used single fold bias tape folded in half to make the handle and the band at the middle of the basket.

Tomorrow-Swing in the Center