It’s Never Too Late To Mend.

16 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by mcinnesjanette in antique fabric, Double Pinks, Mending, Repairing old quilts

Tags

1890s to 1910s. Antique Quilts, double pinks, hand quilting, old quilts, Piecework

The Letter H Quilt

This gorgeous late 1800’s quilt arrived from America in good condition bar a 2 inch tear in one of the H blocks. As the general condition of the fabrics is excellent I can only presume that the quilt caught on a sharp object that caused the tear.

I sorted through my reproduction fabrics for a match to repair this block but could not find a suitable tone of red and black. I thought about using black tulle but didn’t have any on hand. I then remembered that I had some old black lace in my lace collection. I stitched the damage section of the quilt back onto the batting and covered the exposed area with the lace. This was an easy solution and the tear is practically invisible. I am happy with the result.

Repaired block

About this quilt

The Letter H quilt dates to about the late 1890s to 1910. The Letter H blocks were probably made from the quilter’s scrap basket. The cream background fabric in the blocks is consistent throughout, as is the gorgeous double pink used for the alternate blocks.

Detail of blocks

The quilt has another double pink used for the side borders. The quilt measures 230 cms. (90 inches) by 178 cms. (70 inches) and the blocks are 24 cms. (approx 9inches) sq.

The backing is a very pretty shirting with a pink on white design. The maker obviously ran short of fabric and joined in a similar shirting to create enough fabric for her backing.

Joined Backing.

More of the pretty backing.

The quilting is the Baptist Fan design and is executed in a loose, relaxed style. The quilter bound her quilt by bringing the backing fabric to the front of the quilt. The batting is a hand carded cotton. When I washed the quilt the little black cotton seeds were clearly visible when the quilt was wet.

This quilt is one of my favourites. I love the design, the colours and the quilt’s tactile quality.

Unusual fabric design

So it really is never too late to mend. ” Mend in time; patch to a purpose; reinforce for strength and take care with all.” (quote from Mary Brooks Picken).
Hope you enjoy the quilt and it’s story, Happy Mending – Janette – The Plain Needlewoman.

Long Nights and Short Days

04 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by mcinnesjanette in antique quilts, handquilting, quilting projects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Antique Quilts, Fabric Study, hand quilting, Quilting

Bee Pincushion and Watermelon Needlecase

Winter is well underway and the longer nights offer a great opportunity to settle in for a good few hours of hand quilting.

Antique Red and White Star quilt.

Seven Sisters quilt – hand pieced and hand quilted.

Peony Rose in French General.

Tax time is here. Receipts, financial statements and paperwork needs sorting and filing. It is also an opportunity to reflect on our quilt making and to take stock of our achievements so far. I keep a list of my sewing projects including quilts I plan to make in the future and quilts waiting to be quilted. Checking over my 2015 list I think at this point in time I have made progress. I finished quilting my Seven Sisters Quilt. This is heavily quilted with triple Baptist Fans, so the quilting took some time. The quilting on the antique red and white star quilt is going well. I am quilting the spider web design in the plain blocks. My next quilt in line for quilting is a scrap quilt, which I call Paths to Peace – this is my wish for peace in our time.

Paths to Peace.

A few other odds and ends have been finished and started. My sewing room has had a tidy up and I have taken stock of projects bundled into boxes. I am hoping to finish piecing my Peony Rose quilt before Winter’s end and will be looking forward to starting a new project.

Nellie’s Sewing box – A Quilted Crows kit – finished.

Jelly roll quilt – machine quilting in progress.

Scrappy Churn dash top finished.

New rug hooking project drawn up.

I am looking forward to a busy second half of the year. Wishing you all productive months ahead, Janette – The Plain Needlewoman.

Collecting the Pieces

26 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by mcinnesjanette in Old Quilts, Scrap quilts

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

1930s quilts, Antique Quilts, Fabric Study, feed sacks, hand quilting, old quilts, The Donnellys

Basketweave Quilt circa 1930s to 40s

In times past when home dressmaking was a common practice and many a mother was kept busy stitching clothing for her often large family, scraps of cloth would have accumulated quickly from her endeavours as she produced dresses, shirts, nightwear and linens for her household.

No scrap would have been wasted and fabric would have been collected from worn out clothing, household linens and feedsacks. These fabrics would go into the scrap basket to be put to good use for the making of patchwork quilts. The ‘scrap basket’ represented the fashions of several years and would often include older pieces than what was typical of the era the finished quilt would represent. As any-one who has a collection of sewing scraps knows, we seldom get to the bottom of the basket. One quilt leads to another and the scrap pile continues to evolve.

Detail of Basketweave quilt showing a collection of fabrics both plains and patterned.

Whether the quilts demonstrate artistry in the arrangements of design and colour or the effect of the design is pure chance, scrap quilts made from a collection of fabrics will always be my sentimental favourites.

A beautiful feedsack backing.

Scrap Fans, Circle of Friendship or Around the World.

The Around the World Quilt, (which has many other names) came to me from the collection of Bernie and Eileen Donnelly. It is a beautiful quilt which they purchased at an exhibition of old and rare North American Quilts and Canadian Quilts by John Leach at South Yarra, Victoria in 1995. It was stated that the quilt was made by Old Order Mennonites from the area of Elora and Unionville in Southern Ontario Province in Canada.The quilt has quite a heavy batting, which is lovely on these cold Winter nights. Eileen commented that the quilter used an exceptionally clever arrangement of the small fans. The yellow setting squares in the sashing tie in with the yellow bases of the fans. The fans are appliquéd onto the block with very fine machine stitching (probably a treadle machine was used). The quilt is hand quilted and has a feedsack backing.

Feedsack backing.

Another quilt that contains many scraps and displays an artistic use of colour is this gorgeous Fan Quilt from the 30s.

Fans with red.

The quilt is very typical of the Depression era. When I purchased this quilt it had never been washed although it does have a sleeve for hanging on the back, so I presume it has been displayed at some point in time. The simple design of the Fan becomes a very sophisticated quilt with the placement of red in the centre of the nine tiny blades that create the fan. The quilting further enhances the effect created when the fans have been arranged by the maker to create an illusion of another design.

Detail of Fans and arrangement of blocks.

Hand quilting detail

My Scrap Collection includes many different fabrics, many of them bought at op shops including woollen material which I use for rug hooking. When I saw this darling little bear pattern in the Spring Edition of Primitive Quilts and Projects, I just had to make it. I found some heavy coating scraps in the wool trunk and made my version of Roly Poly. I just adore the paper hat.

Roly Poly.

Happy fabric collecting, Warmly Janette, The Plain Needlewoman.

Postage Stamps and Strings

01 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by mcinnesjanette in stitching, vintage quilts

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

1930s quilts, feed sacks, hand quilting, old quilts, vintage fabrics

Cut and stitched from the last remaining pieces of the scrap bag, Postage Stamp quilts and String quilts represent the ability of our quilting predecessors to be able to make wonderful quilts out of myriad fabric fragments. These scraps gathered from the remains of worn out clothing, practical sewing done for the household and treasured pieces from the dressmaker’s basket became the quilters’ palette in creating beauty and warmth for their loved ones. Throughout the years of hardship brought about by the Great Depression of the thirties quilters kept busy with needle and thread, stitching quilts to brighten their lives and lighten their spirits.

String quilt detail

Fortunately many of these quilts have been preserved and we can enjoy studying the style and artistry of the makers who created beauty out of the scrap bag.

Not one but two.

Tiny pieces

Twin Postage Stamp Quilts.

Set against a white background and solid red squares surrounding the assorted patterned fabrics, these quilts consist of 5,670 seventh/eighths inch squares. Each quilt measures 58 inches by 82 inches. The fabrics are typical of the 1930s with a couple from earlier decades.

An earlier fabric included here.

A darker red amongst the pastels.

Some of the fabrics show signs of wear which indicate they were probably cut from used clothing. The quilt was skilfully machine pieced (more than likely on a treadle machine) using tiny seams. There were no rotary cutters or quarter inch seams in those days as that would have been considered far too wasteful. The quilts are simply hand quilted with neat, even quilting. Many designs belong in the category of Postage Stamp quilts and this lay-out of the squares using the red surrounded consistently by a floral fabric set with white can be identified as Jewel Box or Steps to the Altar.

Love the red.

String Quilts.

The maker of this quilt not only saved her strings and strips, but saved the thread from the feed sacks at her disposal, to stitch the strings onto newspaper foundations. The quilt consists of 288 blocks which were stitched by hand onto the foundation. The 288 four and a half inch blocks were stitched together by machine, once again probably a treadle.

Detail of block

There are some amazing fabrics used in this quilt including many feed sack fabrics, ginghams, solids, stripes, plaids and most pleasing to me red polka dots.

Polka dots.

The strings range in size from one quarter inch pieces to 3 inch at the very largest. This quilt maker would not have been following a pattern or instructions but would have worked freely and intuitively to create a vibrant design without letting one tiny string go to waste.

I have been inspired to make string quilts and continue to add to my scrap bag saving dressmaking scraps, recycling my son’s expensive pure cotton shirts,saving postage stamp size pieces and strings and strips from every quilting project.

String Pieced Star

Saving the pieces

Angels and tulips

The String Pieced Star and the Alice’s Tulips quilt, made in memory of my mother-in-law, are two of my attempts at string piecing. Needless to say there are many more quilt plans ahead.

Save the Pieces
Janette – The Plain Needlewoman

Strippy Quilts – A Study in Frugality

26 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by mcinnesjanette in Cumbria, English Quilts, hand quilting, North Country quilts, old fabrics, stitching, Strippy Quilts

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Antique Quilts, Christopher Wilson-Tate, English quilts, Feedsacks, hand quilting, Strippy Quilts, The Donnellys

Strippy Quilt – circa 1850-70

Not in her wildest dreams, would the maker of this quilt have imagined that her quilt would turn up for sale at an antique market in rural Victoria in 2015. When I saw the quilt for sale on a vendor’s display, I knew immediately it was an old English Strippy quilt. The seller confirmed she had purchased the quilt from an Englishwoman living in Australia. The seller had owned the quilt for some years and had enjoyed using it on her bed.

On studying this quilt, I could see that it’s maker had joined fabrics together to achieve the length required and in one instance has used a different print to do so. This may indicate that the maker was utilising fabrics already available to her.

Two patterned fabrics joined to create length.

The quilt is constructed of eleven – 8 inch wide strips. There are five different fabrics used in this charming and humble quilt. The quilt is quilted in an all over zig zag design. I suspect it was quilted from the back as the stitches are very even on the back when compared to the front.

Back of quilt showing hand quilting detail.

I contacted Christopher Wilson-Tate, the owner of Antique Textiles Company, UK who is an expert on English quilts. On seeing photos of my quilt Christopher identified the quilt as a typical North Country Stripe from Cumbria/Lake District. The simple wave quilting is typical of this area. Christopher thinks the quilt was made about 1870 or possibly earlier. Thank you Christopher for your knowledge and expertise

Patches.

The quilt measures 84 inches by 85 inches and there is some wear on the vertical edges. A couple of little patches stitched onto the quilt only adds to it’s charm.

With clever joining of her fabrics and an orderly placement of contrasting colours this frugal quilt maker was able to celebrate her thrift and personality in a quilt that has had an interesting journey beyond its humble beginnings.

Fabrics Make the Quilt!

Travelling in time and crossing the Atlantic Ocean to arrive in Tennessee USA we have another Strippy Quilt that demonstrates frugality and verve. This quilt was purchased by the Donnelly’s (quilt collectors) in 1997 at the Donnelly House, Mountain City, Tennessee. It measures 86 inches by 87 inches.

American Strippy.

The assorted blocks that make up this quilt consist of stars, nine patch and album. The quilt maker was not constrained by size, fabrics or colours. Many of the blocks have small strips added to make them fit.

Yellow strip added to size up the block.

Detail of blocks used.

The blocks date from circa 1880 through to 1930. The fabrics consist of shirtings, dress fabrics and feed sacks. The strippy lay-out was achieved by joining the blocks with a hand dyed blue/grey fabric (probably faded over time) and then set into the strippy lay out with the pretty pink solid fabric.

The backing is the same dyed blue/grey fabric which appears to be plain feed sacks as a feint print of lettering and a feed sack symbol is visible.

Hand dyed backing

Block detail with hand quilting.

Frugal use of scraps

Eileen Donnelly named this quilt ‘She did the best she could with what she had’, which I think is a perfect name and what I now call the quilt as well. I think this quilt maker stitched a life time of quilting into a quilt that is a testimony to a frugal and creative quilt maker.

I would like to share this lovely print of a Plain Needlewoman working on a hexagon quilt.

Thank you for visiting, yours in quilting, Janette – The Plain Needlewoman

Sailboats and Sunbonnets

07 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by mcinnesjanette in Uncategorized

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

A Piece Of Cloth, applique, Fabric Study, feed sacks, hand quilting, old quilt tops, quilt collections, reproduction fabrics, vintage fabrics

Vintage Toy Sailboats

Beautiful old French monogrammed bonnet

Here in Melbourne, where I live Summer is well underway. January arrived in a blaze of heat. Hot, dry and windy conditions prevailed and we are once again faced with the prospects of bush fires. With temperatures in the high thirties, dare I say it is almost too hot for hand quilting. As I always have a few projects on the go, I turn to my hand piecing when the temperature soars.

My ‘Sail into Dreamtime’ quilt brings to mind a Summer’s day spent out sailing on our bay with cool breezes blowing off the water. The pretty fabrics in this quilt which are either reproduction thirties or vintage fabrics from this era, transform me to another place and time.

Sail Into Dreamtime – a quilt for Summer

I was inspired to make this quilt after being shown some old quilt blocks from 1939, that were signed and dated. I drafted my pattern from the original blocks and made 36 sailboat blocks using fabrics from my collection. The quilt is machine pieced and hand quilted.

Detail of fabrics used.

Sailboat block

Sunbonnet Sue quilts were very popular in times past. This quaint design evokes little girls in pretty dresses and bonnets playing happily in shady gardens. Studying these quilts transports me back to another time, when girls wore floral dresses, bonnets and cute little boots. It must certainly have been Summer.

Sunbonnet Sue quilt

This quilt is once again inspired by the wonderful quilts made during the Great Depression. This little girl is my own design and it is hand appliquéd, embroidered and hand quilted. Choosing the dress fabrics and co-ordinating them with just the right shades of solid pastels for the bonnets and boots was a wonderful opportunity to look over lots of pretty fabrics.

Another little Summery Sue.

Another gorgeous Sunbonnet Sue quilt

I purchased ten Vintage Sunbonnet Sue blocks from ‘A Piece of Cloth’ and made one more from the original design to construct this quilt. By setting it in a zig-zag setting I was able to create a good size quilt and preserve the beautiful work started by another quilter many years ago. These girls are appliquéd and finished with a black running stitch around the appliqué pieces. The reproduction and vintage fabrics worked well together. It is amazing how similar the reproduction fabrics are to the original.

Vintage Sunbonnet Girl

the eleventh block reproduced from the originals

I hope these quilts have carried you to another place and time. Either to escape the heat of Summer or to send you Sailing Into Dreamtime, perhaps looking forward to warmer days to arrive.

Happy Quilting, Janette, The Plain Needlewoman

The Stars Are Shining Bright

13 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by mcinnesjanette in hand quilting, old fabrics, old quilt tops, old sewing books, vintage quilts

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

hand quilting, old quilt tops, quilt collections, reproduction fabrics, vintage quilts

The Variable Star Quilt Top

Star Designs are one of the most numerous and splendid of all quilt patterns. If you only made quilts featuring Stars you would have many beautiful quilts.

The Variable Star quilt top is a recent purchase from my friends and quilt collectors The Donnellys. Eileen and Bernie identify this quilt as a ‘Time Span’ quilt. The Donnelly’s date this top as being stitched from Circa 1880 to 1930. A Time Span quilt is a quilt which has been made over a period of time, and in this case it is over quite a long period. The fabrics appear to be dress cottons including some fabulous shirtings, turkey reds, double pinks, a 30’s dark maroon and some pretty florals, stripes and gingham.

Dark Maroon and floral print circa 1930s

Shirtings circa 1880s

Another from the 30s.

I love the way the maker of this Variable Star quilt placed similar colours together making for a very strong focal point. This practice seems to be common in older quilts, whereas today we would place them apart.

Reds side by side

In studying and documenting this quilt Eileen has noted ‘The patchworker has essentially used the same pattern when assembling the blocks but occasionally she seems to have reversed the pieces, and also altered the centre of some blocks. She has therefore created the impression of different block patterns forming the quilt. Perhaps, as it took so long to make she made some blocks without looking at the ones already constructed and just forgot which pattern she was following.’ Many of us can relate to this.

Variation in design

Also noteworthy is the pink setting squares and bright blue sashes and borders. The Donnellys purchased this top from James Carrol through the Quilt Loft at Groton, Massachusetts, USA in 1996.

When I first saw the Variable Star top I loved it immediately. I thought it was the same block that I had used in a quilt I had recently completed. However, on returning home and placing the two together, I realised that my design is another variable.

Constellation Star

I had long admired this quilt from the book ‘In The Beginning’ published by That Patchwork Place in the Quilt Shop Series and written by Sharon Evans Yenter. Sharon calls this quilt Constellation Star and I think it is also known as Annie’s Choice. Which ever name you prefer it is a lovely design. I drafted the pattern for rotary cutting and machine piecing. I made it a fraction smaller to make use of my collection of reproduction fat 16ths. The lattice and borders are vintage fabric that proved difficult to hand quilt, but the colour is just perfect. As my block is smaller than Yenter’s I made 36 blocks, which is the same number as in the Variable Star quilt top.

In The Beginning

Inspiration from the book

The Constellation Star Quilt is dated Circa 1910. Perhaps there are similar fabrics as in the Variable Star.

I think my Constellation Star Quilt could be described as a ‘Time Span’ Quilt as well. It contains some vintage fabrics, including shirtings. It has been inspired by an old quilt from a book that was first published in 1992. I pieced and quilted the Constellation Star during 2013 and 2014.

Finished quilt showing reproduction backing fabric

Constellation Star prior to binding

May all your Stars shine brightly,
Janette – The Plain Needlewoman

All Things Thirties

04 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by mcinnesjanette in appliqué, hand quilting, old fabrics, old sewing books, vintage quilts

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

1930s quilts, Fabric Study, feed sacks, hand quilting, old quilts, vintage quilts

China Swans in Shades of Green

An early childhood memory of mine is of our cream and green kitchen. This lovely soft colour scheme was replaced in the 60s by a much brighter colour scheme. Every cupboard door (and there were many) was painted alternating colours of hot pink, aqua, yellow and red. We thought it was fab.

Green and cream colours for the kitchen

Bright colours for brighter times

It is understandable following the decades of the depression era and World War 2, that bright colours became popular as the world celebrated peace and prosperity.

Quilt Designs from the Thirties by Sara Nephew

During the Great Depression quilters turned to soft, pretty colours to use in their quilts. There was a multitude of patterned fabrics to choose from. These dainty prints were more often than not offset with bleached calico and a solid colour. Nile green was a favoured choice. In the book ‘Quilt Designs from the Thirties’ by Sara Nephew,
Nephew states ‘Many of the colours of this period are pastels or softened colours. Most common among these are ‘thirties green’, pink, lavender, a buttery yellow, a light blue or blue green, and soft brown or tan. Popular solids also included a strong burgundy, a bright, clear red and a bright clear blue’.

Original greens.

If you have the chance to buy reproduction or vintage fabric in these shades, don’t hesitate. It is invaluable in reproducing quilts with the look of this era.

Reproduction Green, pieced with contemporary, vintage and reproduction fabrics.

Missouri Daisy quilt made with reproduction and vintage fabrics. Includes some feed sacks.

I love working with both vintage and reproduction fabrics from the 30s and 40s and look forward to sharing future posts on All Things Thirties.

Happy Making, Janette

Fabric Study in Old Quilts

19 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by mcinnesjanette in hand quilting, old fabrics, old sewing books, vintage quilts

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

1850s-1870s quilts, Antique Quilts, Fabric Study, hand quilting, old sewing books, The Donnellys, vintage quilts

Four Poster Bed Quilt

Straight Furrow – Log Cabin Quilt

These two quilts came into my collection from ‘The Donnellys’.

They purchased the Four Poster Bed quilt in 1997 in Groton, Massachusetts, USA from The Quilt Loft. This was owned by Diane Reese who has a Master’s Degree in Antique American Textiles from Boston University.

The quilt is dated circa 1876, which is substantiated by the fabrics used as they are very distinctive. A lovely fine red and white stripe fabric was used for the sashing, borders and binding. The quilt is backed with a coffee coloured linen type fabric that was possibly a homespun fabric. It is beautifully pieced and features well executed hand quilting. The red and white stripe fabric sets off the nine patch blocks beautifully and lends the quilt a timeless quality.

Detail of the nine patch blocks and sashing

Fabric detail to study

There is no other information available regarding this quilt but Bernie and Eileen did see George Washington’s bed at Mt.Vernon in Virginia, it was a four poster and they were surprised that it was so short.

Quilt Collectors – Eileen and Bernie Donnelly

The Log Cabin quilt was passed on to me by Eileen and Bernie as they thought I might have the time and patience to repair this very old but still beautiful quilt. It contains a stunning collection of fabrics including many shirtings. It is very faded and has worn to shreds in some sections.

Log Cabin block detail

Log Cabin Construction Method

Primarily Patchwork published in 1975 includes detailed construction method of foundation piecing log cabin quilts

Primarily Patchwork published in 1975 includes a detailed construction method of foundation piecing log cabin quilts.

However, the worn areas allow for studying the method of construction. The strips have been foundation pieced onto squares of patterned and plain fabrics. The squares were then stitched together and backed with a plain homespun. There is minimal hand quilting, also with a linen or coarse cotton thread. The Donnelly’s believe this quilt to be circa 1850s to 1860s. The process of repairing this quilt is ongoing. I am re-stitching the strips back onto their foundation block and in some instances the fabrics have frayed away completely. I trim these off to reveal the foundation fabric underneath which is quite fascinating to discover. Although the Log Cabin quilt is very fragile now, its beauty will be enjoyed for another generation and provide a unique study of the old fabrics.

Still beautiful

Happy Quilting, Janette

More on Mrs. Lewis’s Quilts.

14 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by mcinnesjanette in Welsh quilts

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Tags

hand quilting, old quilts, Welsh quilts

Beautiful Quilting on Wholecloth Welsh quilt

Pretty floral fabric in this whole cloth quilt

Wholecloth Miner’s Quilt- hand quilting detail

As these quilts are so special and feature wonderful hand quilting, I thought I would publish them once again in the larger format. I hope you can enjoy them and be inspired by the workmanship involved. They certainly are beautiful examples of the Welsh Style of quilting.

	mcinnesjanette on Marjie”s Star Quilt
	Lowana Radel on Marjie”s Star Quilt
	Jill on My Wagga Quilt
	mcinnesjanette on My Wagga Quilt
	Sherry on My Wagga Quilt

The Plain Needlewoman

~ Quilt Study, Sewing, Vintage Textiles, Collecting quilts and other old odds and ends.

Tag Archives: hand quilting

It’s Never Too Late To Mend.

Long Nights and Short Days

Collecting the Pieces

Postage Stamps and Strings

Strippy Quilts – A Study in Frugality

Sailboats and Sunbonnets

The Stars Are Shining Bright

All Things Thirties

Fabric Study in Old Quilts

More on Mrs. Lewis’s Quilts.