Lessons From An Old Double Wedding Ring Quilt
Click HERE or on the image to watch the video.
The Double Wedding Ring quilt has been a symbol of love and commitment for generations—which makes sense, considering how much patience it takes to sew all those tiny curved pieces together. After all, if a quilter can get through making one of these without throwing it out the window, marriage should be a breeze!
The design itself has been around for ages, but the name “Double Wedding Ring” started popping up in newspapers and mail-order catalogs in the 1920s. It quickly became a go-to quilt for wedding gifts and hope chests, because what better way to start a life together than with a bedspread full of hand-stitched symbolism? During the Great Depression, it became even more popular since it was perfect for using up fabric scraps—flour sacks, old dresses, and whatever else quilters could get their hands on. Waste not, want not!
In this particular quilt, I can’t help but wonder about the quilter who made it. Was she lovingly piecing it together for a special couple? Or muttering under her breath while wrestling with all those curves? Either way, this quilt has survived decades of love, wear, and probably a few naps. In this post, I’ll take a closer look at its details, its history, and why this pattern continues to charm (and challenge) quilters today.
About This Old Quilt
Details-At-A-Glance:
Size: Approx. 67” x 67”
Age: 1940s
Acquired: A viewer sent this to me! It was so sweet of her. She requested to remain anonymous, but she did give me some information to share.
Quilt History: This quilt was made in a Mennonite community in a small southern Iowa town. The wonderful viewer who sent this to me was unsure of a lot of its history, other than it was owned by a family member and was most likely cherished since the family member didn’t usually keep things that weren’t meaningful. After receiving and studying this quilt, I can certainly see why! It is amazing.
Double Wedding Ring Circles: Each circle measures about 12” in diameter.
Number of Blocks: There are 72 center pieces and 161 arches. Each of the arch sets contains 22 fabrics, making it a total of 3,542 little pieces of scrap fabric. That’s a lot of little cuts!
Construction Technique: Everything is done by hand
Quilting: The quilting is 100% by hand.
Fabric: Cotton
Batting: Cotton
Binding: Added separately, but a lot of it is worn and missing from age in use. You can see the remnants of a pretty yellow fabric on the scalloped binding.
Condition: Considering this quilt’s age, it is in very good condition. There are some holes in this quilt, especially along the edges. The binding is worn and the fabric is faded in many areas. The quilt is super soft and beautiful, however. I can just imagine how gorgeous it was when it was newly made.
A Closer Look
Drape
Before we chat about anything else, I need to mention the softness of this quilt. It is one of those quilts that you just want to wrap yourself up in and enjoy while reading a good book. It is what quilts should be. The love is felt in this quilt. It’s soft, cozy, and drapes beautifully.
Quilt Blocks
With double wedding ring quilt patterns, blocks isn’t the right word. Units? Arches? Concave and convex pieces? I am really not sure what to call them, but there are a lot of them in this quilt!
Let’s start with the center unit that is called the Apple Core shape. There are 72 of these in this quilt. Next, we have the Orange Peel units with the colorful fabric-pieced arches. There are 80 orange peels and 161 arches. Each arch and orange peel units contain 22 scrap fabrics for a grand total of 3,694 hand-pieced pieces in this quilt! This doesn’t include the pieced blocks (see below) or the binding or backing. That is a lot of pieces!
Quilting
The blank areas inside the block, often referred to as negative space, is the perfect place to add quilting, don’t you think? The makers hand-quilted a sweet flower motif with hearts, leafs, and circles in and around these double wedding ring units. It is exquisitely done, too.
Corner Fabrics
Adding some consistency to this quilt are the fabrics at the ends of the arch units. The makers used the same fabrics for all of the ends where the arches meet, giving the quilt an anchor. And speaking of anchors, let’s talk about that wonderful yellow and blue fabrics!
Fabric Color Choices
Each end of the arched piece units before the larger corner unit (are you following me here?) are yellow fabrics. Although these are not all the same print, they are all the same yellow. This shows a wonderful contrast between the corner units and the rest of the arches. This picture here shows how vibrant they are, even after all these years. Many have faded, but if you look close enough, you can see the hints of the yellow that was once there. Can you just imagine this right after it was made? It is a stunner now, but WHOA. I am sure it would have stopped traffic in its youth.
Adding to this are all the blue fabrics sprinkled around this quilt. Again, it adds a pleasant look to the entire quilt.
Tiny Pieces!
Look at all those little itty bitty pieces! I had to take a picture with a penny just so you could see how small they are! They are approximately 1” long (tall?) and 1/2” wide. That is tiny! Can you imagine piecing them all? Cutting them all? Keeping track of them all?
Measurements
Just to give a better idea of just how tiny these pieces are, I added this image. So little and wonderful! I just know I would have lost some on the floor, in my lap, on my clothes. :)
Binding
Keeping with the traditional construction and layout of this double wedding ring quilt is the scalloped binding that follows the arches, peaks, and valleys along the edge of this design. Unfortunately, a lot of the fabric has worn away, but what you can see is yellow. Of course it is yellow! It ties it all together. LOVE this.
Pieced Units
We have seen this before, but it is still worth mentioning, right? About five or so of the apple core units are pieced. This, in and of itself, is always cool to see, but there are three things about it that makes it even more interesting: 1.) It is pieced in the dead center, or almost in the dead center. Sometimes makers try to hide it. Not here. They owned it. Love that! 2.) Some of them are stitched with blue thread. Now, I am not complaining at all—in fact, I love it because I can really see those itty bitty stitches, but it is peculiar, isn’t it? 3.) The pieced blocks are all on one end of the quilt. So interesting!
Batting and Backing
The backing is in two pieces and is pieced together by hand. It appears to be the same fabric as the background of the blocks, but it is hard to know for sure.
The batting is 100% cotton and has a lot of wear, of course, which is to be expected due to the age of this quilt. We can see the back of the quilt front because of the wear and breaking down of the batting. I think it helps add to the softness.
Damage
Although this is an incredible quilt, there is some damage, especially on the edges. As shown here, there is some significant damage. Considering its age, it can be expected, right? I want to repair this one and help it have a. much longer life. Quilts are magical and this deserves to stick around. I can’t wait to wrap myself in this quilt this summer on a crisp evening on my back porch.
Lessons We Can Learn
So, what can we learn from this double wedding ring quilt?
Consistency within Scrappiness: Between the same fabrics being used for the ends of the orange peel units and the yellow fabrics being in the binding and on the ends, this quilt sparkles! It offers a consistent element to a very scrappy quilt. I know I can learn from this. What a wonderful way to pull it altogether.
Hand Quilting Design: Using the negative space for quilting is not an new (or old?) idea by any means, but in this quilt, it was done so well. The flower motif is in the center and hearts, leaves, and circles add to the floral quilting theme. So smart and beautifully executed.
Tiny Pieces: This one freaks me out a little bit, but maybe it won’t freak you out. :) Those tiny pieces! I struggle with this. If I am going to make something with tiny pieces, I tend to make the units much bigger and cut them down. I doubt that happened here, right? Anyway, as a maker I want to learn to do this—use little pieces. This quilt has given some (maybe not enough yet, but SOME) confidence to try it. Who’s with me?
Piecing the Apple Core Units: Some are pieced, but the ones that are are along the edge of the quilt. Did the makers run out of fabrics? Why was blue thread used? So many questions and lessons about this! Either way, if I do have to piece units, I am going cluster them on one end. For some reason I would think to sprinkle them around but I think the makers knew something here, right? Just own it!
Yellow Binding: Just imagine how cool this quilt was in its hay day? I just love the yellow accents in this and how it gives it a pop of color and consistency. We can learn so much from that! AND to continue that color on the binding. Brilliant!
Thank you so much for reading about this beautiful old quilt.
Kris
