Rose Baskets

Oh, my!  The design and technique on this quilt is amazing! 

The quilt was made in the mid to late 1800s, maybe 1860s or 1870s.  It sustained some damage at some point in its life that faded out the center block but left the fabrics mostly intact. 

Fabric Choices for Quilt Repair

Just in case anyone is curious, here are photos of the individual fabrics that I auditioned for repairing the Lone Star quilt I recently wrote about.

Two greens:

Four tans:

Here are all six.  They are in the same order left to right as the photos above.  Which would you have chosen?

Glowing Lone Star Quilt

Here's a quilt that's definitely "one to write home about", or in this case, ha-ha, one to write a blog post about.

This 1930s beauty was sent to me for repairs.  The ring of green diamonds was pretty much totally in shreds, and the ring of tan diamonds was not far behind.  In the end, the owner and I decided to have me replace all the greens and just the tans that were in the worst shape.

That decision hinged on finding fabrics that blended well with the originals.  I ordered swatches from my favorite on-line source, Reproduction Fabrics, and took photos to compare them and pick the best match.

Cozy Log Cabin and Woven Gingham

This cozy log cabin / straight furrow quilt dates to around the 1920s or early 1930s.

That first photo isn't cropped badly.  This quilt actually has just one border.  And that one border was a pretty bold color choice, given the main colors used in the blocks.  The red border fabric was the only one that had started to give out, along with the gingham binding which was the back fabric brought around front.  I used a red reproduction print replacement, and also re-bound the edge with a vintage woven gingham.

Little Cat Quilt

A repair customer brought me some of her other quilts to look at, just for fun.  Here's one of them.

I like it because I like cats.  I also like it because it's signed and dated - 1997 - another quilt that can help document and date fabric colors and styles.  I'm quite fond of finding these and adding them to the online "data base".

Sailing Ships

I repaired a very, very worn basket quilt made in the 1880s or 90s.  It was so tattered that all I could do was put on a new back and stitch what was left to the new backing for support. 

The background and alternate blocks fabric was wonderful.  It's a conversation print with detailed masted sailing ships and anchors.  The designs are about 3/4" tall.  Here's one of the alternate blocks that was still intact.

Such a fun fabric!  I'm getting more and more into collecting conversation prints.

Rescuing a Double 9-Patch

Here's a nice old quilt with two large, dog-chewed holes.  Needless to say, this is never a happy circumstance....

The first step was adding new cotton batting, basting down the raw edges of the holes on both front and back.  After that, I patched the back with a solid blue. 

    

   

Mushrooms!

I found this delightful fabric on the back of a cotton crazy quilt.  The top was probably pieced in the 1950s, but I think this backing was applied a little later.  The color palette says 1970s to me.

It's really silly and happy, isn't it?

The cluster of mushrooms measures 1 1/2" tall.

The quilt was very, very damaged.  The backing and batting were mostly torn and gaping in many places, and lots of the top had barely a single piece of intact fabric.  I did manage to salvage and mend a few corner areas for keepsakes.   And I found enough fabric intact on the back to take a couple of photos for my (and I hope your) enjoyment!

A 9-Patch Quilt with Many Stories

Some quilts are repositories of stories, memories, and love.  This is one such quilt.  It was made c. 1950 by the owner's mother.  She can relate the stories of all the fabrics in it.

The quilt is still used by its owner and her husband as a lap quilt on the couch.  The original binding was tattered, there was a hole, and and some of the fabrics were starting to wear.  Her husband found my website, and sent the quilt to me for a fix-up.  A loving gift indeed!

More About Conversation Prints

The previous post is about a 1940s hexagon quilt that has opened my eyes to mid-century conversation prints.  Barbara Brackman in her book Clues in the Calico defines conversation (aka conversational) prints as prints with recognizable objects other than flowers.

There are conversation prints from the late 1800s onward.  Brackman distinguishes the 20th century prints as less detailed and having more colors than the 19th century prints.  I would add that they tend to be very whimsical.

While poking around for info on these fabrics, I discovered a book that I think is going on my wish list:  Conversational Prints: Decorative Fabrics of the 1950s by Joy Shih

Here's a look back at some other blog posts of quilts I've repaired that I now realize have some very fun conversation prints:

The Joy of Conversation Prints

I recently repaired a 1940s hexagon quilt.  It was made by the owner's mother when she was a teen.  It's a smallish quilt, quite likely made for a twin bed.  There are cottons, rayons, and also, I think, a couple of silks.  It's what is generally called a summer quilt because it has no batting.  It needed several hexagons patched and a whole new back.

To be honest, this mid-century period is just not my favorite design-wise.  This is true of the fabrics and colors in the quilts as well as furniture design, and so on.  In other words, when an estate sale is full of supposedly exciting mid-century items, I usually don't go.

But this quilt taught me that I actually do like some of the fabrics from this era!  This is a good thing, since quilts of this age are coming to me more and more often for repair.

I am in love with conversation prints!  The most succinct definition of conversation (aka conversational) prints I've found (Barbara Brackman's Clues in the Calico) is that they have renditions of recognizable objects other than flowers.

Sunburst Quilt

 

I love this quilt! 

The blocks are c. 1860.  And some of the fabrics were in pretty bad shape.

 

Then some 120 years later, in 1980, the circles were set into squares and the quilt was backed and quilted.  That event is recorded in embroidery on the back of the quilt:

 

“Quilted: 1980  Carversville Pa”

Mending a Large Rip in a 19th Century Tulip Quilt

Sometimes, a quilt with a very sad story comes to me to be repaired.  The sad story here is that this gorgeous c. 1860 tulip quilt was torn during a move.

It had been mounted on the wall with a velcro strip.  It looks like the movers just pulled straight down, and the quilt gave way just under the velcro.  Also, the area marked with a safety pin in the photo suffered many small tears.

Crib-size Crazy Quilt, c 1890

Antique crib quilts don't come around often.  For pretty obvious reasons, they were used hard and washed a lot.

This one came to me for repair and sprucing up.  In addition to being well over 100 years old, it has family history and provenance.  This adds up to a quilt whose significance way outstrips its actual size (22" x 35")!

To make this even more fun, the quilt's owner sent me two old family photos to include here.  Here's the family home in Blue Island, IL.

And here's the family photo taken at the wedding of her great-aunt Sadie.

Antique Grandmother's Flower Garden Blocks

 

Recently, I received my second fantastic quilt history gift of the year.  A friend's neighbor was moving, had some quilt blocks she didn't want to keep, and they made their way to me.  They are super lovely!  There are 35 of them.  Hexagons are 1 5/8".

(The 5-part story of the first gift, a late 19th century quilt full of names and stories, begins with Part 1.)

What makes the blocks particularly fun is that the outer row of hexagons still has the newspaper patterns.  So I read them all, searching for provenance information - and found it.

 

Missouri Daisy

 

I received an email query about the name of this quilt block.  I've seen flower blocks with gathered petals before, but usually the gathered pieces are rounded not straight-edged like these.

I did find a block with this shape petals in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Quilt Patterns.  It's called either Golden Glow (if it's made in gold and white) or Missouri Daisy.  Both were published in the 1930s. 

The similar block with rounded petals has been published as Missouri Daisy, too, and also as Star Flower, Sunflower, or Star Dahlia.

The range of fabrics looks like the blocks were made from the proverbial "deep scrap bag."  I think I see fabrics from the1930s, maybe even a few from the 1920s, through the 1960s!

The stories this woman was telling me during our discussion were so entertaining that I asked her if she'd like to share them on my blog.  These are her words (several e-mails edited together by me for flow) and her photos. 

Scavenging Fabric

I accomplished a long overdue task - sorting my filing cabinet and culling out the ancient Stuff!

In amongst it all I found a set of swatches I'd ordered umpteen years ago, late 1980s or early 90s I bet, from a place that sold reproduction or vintage-looking fabrics.  The store's been out of business for years and years now.

So I put 'em all in a net lingerie bag, and put 'em through the wash.  And then ironed them one by one, and sorted into color families.  That part took a bit of time, but hey, I'm still in a summer mindset when everything's supposed to be a bit lazy and laid back, right?

And besides, now I have loads of little bits that one day might be just right to patch a scrappy quilt with small-ish patchwork, a Grandmother's Flower Garden for example. 

One never knows what will come across one's path.  This has always been my reasoning, ever since starting out in the repair biz, for having a roomful of fabric and always saying yes to pretty much all the interesting bits that "show up".  Makes sense, right?

The only problem is contemplating the fact that fabric I actually purchased is now entering the category of "vintage".  I guess it happens to us all eventually!

Sharing Some Fun Blogging

Stephanie Ann, over at her blog World Turn'd Upside Down, posted two really fun items last week.
Stephanie Ann is a re-enactor, historian, crafter, and cook whose blog has tons of great info on all these things, well worth a visit.

One -
Her new 1940s dress.

Photo: World Turn'd Upside Down

I just love the 40s styling.  It has some pretty detailed patterning and extra seams, but the end result is much more exciting than shaping the look just with basic darts.  (Be sure to scroll down to the end of the post.  Stephanie has included links to other folks who've used the same pattern, so you can see it in a variety of fabrics.)

I'm reminded of a dress I mended for Basya Berkman not long ago.  It's a 1930s-40s rayon.  I don't have photos of the whole dress yet, but here are a couple of construction details.  And I just love the fabric.  (You can see from the seam allowances along the zipper how much it's faded over the years.  I think I like it both ways, new and aged.)

Fun and Easy Crib Quilt

This perky crib quilt was brought to me for repairs.

 

The idea is so creative!  Absolutely everything is reversed from red to white - two-color polka dot fabrics, trims, ties, and ruffle.

My First Quilt - The Fabrics

Here are some photos of the fabrics in the first quilt I ever made.  You can find the story of making the quilt in the previous post.

Most of the fabrics are from the 1960s, and some are from the 70s.  Scraps are from clothing my mom and I made, the constant stream of aprons and kitchen curtains my mom made for the south-facing window, and scraps I inherited from a good friend's family scrap pile.

I am reminded of a quilt that a student brought to one of the first quilt classes I ever taught.  It was a simple 9-patch quilt, made in the 1870s or so by a 13-year old girl as I recall.  There was a map of the quilt with details of every fabric - Aunt So-and-So's dress, and so on.  One of the fabrics had this story:  The girl and her sister had been dressed in their brand new best dresses for an event, and then wandered off and did some strawberry picking.  The result, as you might expect, was strawberry juice stains that wouldn't wash out.  The mom made the girl put those stained patches in her quilt, as a reminder of the lesson learned!