Lessons from an Old Bow Tie Quilt
To watch the video about this quilt, click on the image above or click HERE.
Oh, this is a beauty! Are you ready? Love this quilt!
Details About This Quilt
Size: 71” x 96”
Age: 1930s-1940s
Acquired: My parents purchased this beauty for me at a yard sale for $10! I can’t hardly believe it!
Blocks Size: 8” Square
Number of Blocks: 88 Blocks
Construction Technique: Hand-Pieced and Hand-Quilted
Fabric: Cotton
Batting: A light-weight cotton blanket
Binding: Added separately, all by hand. There is a lot of wear on the binding, which is to be expected.
Condition: Due to age, many of the fabrics are faded, along with several blocks that are completely faded to white; there aren’t any stains or marks on this quilt; there is a rather large hole in it, but it can be repaired, I hope. The hole looks like a mouse or something ate through it.
Other Notes About This Quilt: It is beautifully pieced and quilted.
Blocks
These blocks are so pretty! I mean, look at them! They are all hand-pieced and the workmanship is exceptional. Many of the fabrics are faded with some to the point that there isn’t any color at all. Because of all the fading, it makes me wonder what this quilt looked like in its prime. Can you imagine how bright and cheery it was? Now it has transformed into a soft quilt that reminds me of the early days of spring. Each block is 8” x 8” and has five pieces. Imagine hand-piecing all those inset seams! Amazing.
Quilting
Not only is the piece near perfect, the quilting—oh, the quilting! It is amazing! Those tiny stitches are stitched around each of the shapes and also on the diagonal, making a lattice design. All of the stitches are even. So pretty!
Top Border
Unfortunately, there is a lot of wear on the top and bottom borders, as you can see in this picture. Although I am heartbroken by the damage what most likely came from wear and use, it will give me some material to use when repairing the large hole that is in this quilt. Looking at the silver lining on this one!
The Fabric & Colors!
It didn’t take long to determine that these fabrics are from the 1930s and 1940s. They are stunning! There are conversational prints as well as stripes, checks, and plaids. Within each block, there are three fabrics: the knot, the bow, and the background. The knot is consistent throughout with the same lavender fabric in all the bowties. The background is the same as the backing and borders—a crisp white fabric.
What Happened?
It looks like a mouse or some other critter got to this quilt, doesn’t it? This makes me sad, but there are some positives, too! First, I believe I can repair this. YAY! That’s not always the case with damage. I am happy it can be mended. Second, it is on the edge, so even if I couldn’t repair it, I could save the majority of the quilt. Win, win!
Backing
The backing isn’t seamed anywhere. meaning it is one large piece of fabric. You can see some of the blocks (especially the turquoise ones) through the backing. This could be because of the thin blanket used as batting or could be from the wear and usage. This quilt is almost 100 years old, after all. There are also some stains and yellowing on this quilt. Again, this is to be expected. The fabric on the back is white and crisp. The hand-quilting shows up beautifully on the back of this quilt. I love it so much!
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.
Bow Tie “Knot”: Even though this quilt is made from an assortment of scrap fabrics, the maker kept the knot consistent. It ties (see what I did there—ties? Haha!) the entire quilt together with that single element. This is a great lessons we can all learn from this quilt.
Variety of Prints: Although I have talked about this before in other episodes of Lessons from an Old Quit, it is worth repeating. Mixing stripes with plaids and dots and florals—ohhhhh, I love that! What a wonderful variety of fabrics that add interest to the quilt.
Background Matching Borders: Often as makers we want to add a print border to our quilts to frame them. And if we don’t add a printed border, we often add a printed binding. Or we do both! In this quilt you can see how using the same border and background works, too! I need to do this. It is a great lesson for all of us.
Meticulous Piecing & Quilting: Okay—I almost didn’t include this because I am of the “who cares if it is wonky” school of thought when it comes to quilt, BUT I got to thinking about this maker and the legacy of the maker. I mean, props to the maker for the extraordinary workmanship! Between the piecing and quilting and finishing—it is near perfection and is stunning! Great job, Maker!
No Sashing: This quilt doesn’t have any sashing between the blocks. None. Nada. And it is stunning! Lots of learn here, too!
The Blanket Batting: Yes, the maker used a blanket. I think this is self-explanatory. We can do this, too!
Thank you so much for reading about this beautiful old quilt.
Kris