New York Beauty

New York Beauty

New York Beauty is a patchwork block pattern composed of a combination of circular shapes and precise points. At its basic level triangular points are pieced together to form an arc. Quite often these triangular shapes are narrow and long. The arc is then pieced with a circle forming what could be described as a sun shape. A complete sun shape is not always necessary and quite often blocks contain semi and quarter circles with points pieced in an arc around the circular part of the shape.

New York Quilt Pattern

The individual blocks containing the New York Beauty pattern may be repeated or each block may contain a variation of the basic design. The blocks are then joined together to form the quilt top.

In her book ‘Radiant New York Beauties’, Valori Wells advises that the intricately formed arcs are made with paper piecing patterns and that by stitching directly onto the paper pattern ensures perfect points every time. She suggests that by following this advice, ‘It is difficult to make a mistake and the results are astonishing.’

Traditionally with the New York Beauty, the points are quilted on either side of the seam.

Experimenting with Colour

Experimentation with printed fabric and colours and the use of multiple arcs and points in the blocks will produce quilts where the eye is encouraged to follow a rotation of colour and pattern.

The New York Beauty is a pattern suitable for both printed and batik fabrics. Whilst many quilters will see this pattern as perfect for natural themes such as flowers and suns and other radial images, others may well argue that it can also work just as well when used in an ‘art deco’ style with bold plain colours.