Jacob’s ladder is a favourite block for lots of quilters. The block construction makes it perfect to come up with a variety of placement and therefore many quilt designs.
You can make it in two colours but it works just as well with more colours. Get down to it and experiment!
Learn to make a Jacob’s ladder quilt block in 2 minutes
Do you see more variations to make with this block?
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My book Turnabout Patchwork
“Turnabout Patchwork. Simple quilts with a twist” is all about playing with blocks – making a block, slicing it up, and turning or repositioning the pieces to make a completely different block (sometimes two smaller blocks) to yield endless quilt tops.
Buy individual chapters of my book
Now that my publisher is going out of business I have bought the rights to publish my book. Now you can download individual chapters. Each digital download is a bundle with 4 quilt patterns in it.
As well as the instructions and fabric needs to make the blocks you’ll find a section on quiltmaking basics at the end of the pattern that discusses:
- Tools
- Squaring up blocks
- Borders
- Assembly and quilting
- Binding
See all the quilts in the book in a real life project

Beautiful, and you make it look so easy.
Thanks for sharing!
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I brought your book Turnabout patchwork thinking it had instructions to make Jacobs ladder but was disapointed it wasn’t in it
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LOVE this tutorial. Love this block, see it far too rarely the last decade. Growing up (in Flint & other parts of Michigan) and in the early years of my own quiltmaking beginnings (late 1970s hippie), I also heard and read this block often being called “also known as Underground Railroad”.
A name & block I think is a perfect way to honor, acknowledge, remember that part of USA and quilting history/herstory. [Not that I think it had anything to do with the actual Underground Railroad!]
Just a tidbit, an fyi. However, also one of the readons I’m quite fond of this block!
Thank you for highlighting it, and for another of your GREAT videos!! As a fairly experienced quiltmaker (piecing tops and quilting), your vids are perfect, including being able to freeze-frame when I want to jot down measurements etc.
Thanks, again, ~ 🏳️🌈 ReaRae 🏳️🌈 ~
“Service is the rent that you pay for room on this earth” – Shirley Chisholm.
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Thank you Shirley for that little piece of history 😊
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Hi Janelle, I’m sorry to hear you were disappointed.
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Thank you Teresa
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