Lessons from an Antique Scrap Quilt
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I have had this quilt in my collection for about two years now and have been waiting to share it with everyone. I am not sure why I waited so long—it is a beauty. Maybe I wanted to keep it to myself for a little longer? That is probably it. Although I say this about all the old quilts I review, this really is a favorite, and possible the one that has taught me the most. At one point I was going to make this my 100th Lessons from an Old Quilt video because it is so special, but I changed my mind. The time is now to share this one with the world. I hope you love it as much as I love it.
What a beauty!
Details About This Quilt
Size: Exactly 80” x 80”
Age:
Four-Patch Blocks: Many of the fabrics suggest it is from the late 1800s/early 1900s.
Seminole Border: Many of the fabrics suggest it is from the 1940s/1950s
Acquired: I purchased this quilt at an auction. I can’t remember how much I paid for it, but I usually purchase quilts at auctions for around $40-$60, sometimes less and occasionally more.
Blocks Size: 6.5” Square Four-Patches each made of (4) 3.25” squares
Number of Blocks: 64 Blocks each made up of (4) 3.25” squares (64 x 4 = 256 patches)
Construction Technique: Hand Pieced and Hand Quilted
Fabric: Blocks = Cotton Fabrics, many shirting pieces (I believe); Background: feels like a cotton canvas from, possible feedsacks.
Batting: NONE!
Binding: Binding is a separate piece for fabric (not pulled from the backing); I believe this was added later because it is done by machine. Everything, including the pieced backing, was sewn by hand, except for the binding.
Condition: Although there are plenty of stains on this quilt, it is in great condition overall. There aren’t any holes, tears, or rips. I did hand-wash this quilt and it was dirty, but it cleaned up well.
Other Notes About This Quilt: One of the things I love most about this one is that it is far from perfect. The points in the seminole borders are all cut off. There are wonky blocks. There are warped blocks. There is shadowing of the fabrics in the sashing and borders. Still, this quilt is beautiful! This just goes to show you that we are way too hard on our own work.
Blocks
Oh, these are so cool! The maker used a mix of stripes, plaids, dots, and florals to create these hand-stitched blocks. In most of these blocks but not all, there are two fabrics in each—one set of light squares and one set of dark squares. In the blocks where the fabrics are different, the maker used the same color/tone to keep turn to the block design. All the blocks are in the same formation with the dark squares set the same direction, except for one block, which is turned. This, in my opinion, adds to the visual appeal of this quilt, giving it a cohesiveness in the layout. Although some fabrics are repeated, there is still a lot of variety to not be overly organized, if that makes sense :).
Border
I am pretty sure this border was added either later or by someone else or something. Here are the clues: The fabrics are different than the main body of the quilt (the four-patch parts). They are brighter and newer (1940s/1950s). However. the background fabric is the same as the sashing fabrics. What do you think? Was it made by the same maker? Different maker? Same maker at a different time? I would love to hear your thoughts on this!
This border was made using a seminole technique.
Sashing and Corner Stones
The blocks in this quilt are very scrappy, but the corner stones are made using the same large-scale quilt, adding to the scrappy feel. Because the maker used different sections of the the large-scale print, it looks like different fabric. What a wonderful thing we can add to our quilt-making practice!
Measuring 2” wide (finished) the sashing strips are all made from the same beige heavier fabric. It is a corse fabric that reminds me of a light canvas. This makes me think it is feedsack fabric, but there aren’t any markings/prints that can confirm this.
Quilting
The quilting—oh, the quilting! It is just beautiful! The marker used two different quilting motifs, one for the body of the quilt and one for the borders. The body is quilted with a grid design, meticulously hand-stitched vertically and horizontally, like a quilted plaid pattern. The borders, however, are hand-stitched in a diagonal cross-hatch pattern that looks like lattice. The stitches are made with a beige thread. They aren’t super small, but they are even. So pretty!
Batting & Backing
Surprisingly, there isn’t a batting in this quilt. Although I am not sure exactly why there isn’t, I can guess that is may be because of the weight. The quilt is HEAVY. Can you imagine how much it would weigh if there was batting in it? I can’t imagine washing it alone.
The backing really highlights the wonderful quilting on this quilt. The backing is made up of two separate pieces and pieced (by hand!). I just love that!
Binding
Interestingly, the binding is the only part of the quilt that is done by machine, making me wonder if it was replaced or finished later. Another possibility is the maker decided to add the binding by machine. I really wish these quilts could talk.
Lessons We Can Learn
Although there are many lessons we can learn as modern-day quilters from this quilt, here are a few I chose. Let me know if you can think of others.
Cornerstones: Large scale fabric; looks different because it is a large-scale fabric
Less Than Perfect—Who Cares?: This quilt is far from perfect. There are wonky squares, missed points, and some measuring errors. That said, who cares? The quilt is beautiful. As modern makers, we can learn a lot from these missteps (I hesitate in even calling them that!). Quilting Police beware on this one! Good thing I don’t like the Quilting Police.
Seminole Border: Ahhhh. Seminole borders! So pretty! This is a wonderful choice (in my opinion) for this quilt! With your eyes following the diagonal lines throughout this quilt, adding a seminole border mimics the diagonals and the squares. Win, win!
Corners: A cool way to do the corners! I love the interesting way the maker did this. Again, just like the seminole borders, the design in the corners mimic the overall quilt design, and I am here for it!
Fabric Shadowing: Although this isn’t a big deal in this quilt, it is worth mentioning and is something we all can learn from
Thank you so much for reading about this beautiful old quilt.
Kris