Art Square

About this block

This block is a genuine piece of quilt-pattern publishing history: the Ladies Art Company printed it as "Art Square" in 1897, catalog number 324, making it one of the earlier documented mail-order pattern designs, back when the Ladies Art Company was among the first businesses to sell printed quilt patterns by catalog rather than passing them hand to hand. The block didn't stay put under one name, either: Nancy Cabot reintroduced it as "Village Square" in the Chicago Tribune in 1937, Farm Journal and Farmer's Wife called it "Dottie's Choice" in 1945, and it appeared again as "Four Square" in Doris Hinson's 1973 book A Quilter's Companion. That kind of naming trail is common for patterns that spread through newspaper columns and mail-order catalogs, since each publisher tended to rename designs for their own audience rather than crediting the earlier source. Structurally, quilt historians classify it as a square-in-a-square design, notable for having no piecing at all inside its large central square, which makes it a clean, adaptable block for showcasing a favorite fabric, embroidery, or quilting motif at the center.