Courthouse Steps

About this block

This is a Log Cabin variation, built the same way around a central "hearth" square, but instead of wrapping strips around the center in a spiral, Courthouse Steps sews matching strips onto opposite sides in pairs, creating a symmetrical, stacked look that resembles a staircase leading up to a courthouse door. According to Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, the block first appeared in print around 1890 in the very first Ladies Art Company catalog under the name White House Steps, though quilters were very likely piecing versions of it before that first printed record. It's often cited as the easiest Log Cabin variation to sew, since the paired, symmetrical strips are simpler to keep track of than the traditional spiral. The pattern also has a well-documented place in the Gee's Bend quiltmaking tradition of rural Alabama, where quiltmakers like Loretta Pettway created bold, improvisational versions of the block from the 1950s through the 1980s, work that's now held in major museum collections and widely celebrated for its distinct visual voice within American quilting.