Lessons from an Old Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt
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Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt
This gorgeous quilt design is called Grandmother’s Flower Garden. Usually when we see these patterns, we immediately think of the 1930s and 1940s, but it’s history dates back earlier than that and became very popular in the 1930s. In fact, it was so popular during this time period that in 1933, Sears catalog sold cottons in this quilt design (source: Clues in the Calico: A Guide to Identifying and Dating Antique Quilts by Barbara Brackman, p. 95.). This classic design is still popular, even today.
Although there are many variations of the Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt pattern, traditionally flowers (made of hexagons) were arranged with a path (also made of hexagons) placed between each floral motif. These patterns were made using the English paper piecing (EPP) method, where the maker uses a paper or cardboard hexagon base and wraps fabric around it. The maker then sews the hexagon edges together by hand, adding more and more hexagons until the desired design is complete.
Details About This Quilt
Size: Approx. 87” x 100”
Age: At first I thought the owner bought the quilt top at an auction or yard sale and finished it later by appliquéing it to the gingham borders. However, after looking at the fabric closer, I don’t think this is the case because the grandmother’s flower garden path (the hexagons between the blocks) is the same fabric that was used for the binding and the backing. This tells me it was probably made by the same person. The grandmother’s flower garden part is appliquéd on to a gingham background but the actual panel is crooked. She did add some pieces where needed on the upper and bottom edges. The fabrics in the hexagon portions are from the 1930s and 1940s. The yellow gingham seems to be later than this, however.
Acquired: Just like the Hawaiian quilt, I purchased this quilt at an auction. I couldn’t let this one go, so I paid a wee bit more than usually. I won the bid at $150. I couldn’t go home without it.
Quilt History: This doesn’t always happen. In fact, I would even say it rarely happens. I actually had the opportunity to talk to the maker’s family about this quilt and find out some details about the maker. Here are a few details about her:
Her name was Mildred, but everyone called her Sis.
Born in the late 1920s.
Married for 80 years and had five children, 12 grand children, many great grandchildren, and even a few great, great grandchildren before she passed away a few years ago.
Avid quilter all of her life; Her family have fond memories of her quilting; was always working on something
Her family says she. made hundreds of quilts in her lifetime.
In case you are wondering, yes, I did try to talk the family into keeping the quilts. Her nephew says they kept many that she made. He is happy they are going to a good home (I bought a few at this auction—more of her quilts to come!).
Blocks Size: Each hexagon block contains 19 hexagons that each measure 1” in size (measurement on one hexagon side).
Number of Blocks: 77 Blocks
Number of Pieces: Each hexagon block has 19 pieces in it, and there are 77 blocks meaning there is a whopping 1,463 pieces plus the ones on the sides/in the path. Wow! There are A LOT of pieces in this quilt!
Borders: The maker appliquéd this hexagon portion of this quilt onto a yellow gingham border. The owner/marker seemed to love gingham; we see it show up in most of her quilts.
Construction Technique: All by hand. Everything. Wow!
Fabric: Pastels and brights with plenty of feedsack fabrics; yellow gingham border; the center/body of the quilt was appliquéd onto the yellow gingham border.
Batting: Cotton
Binding: Binding is a separate piece for fabric (not pulled from the backing); It is a beige fabric (same as the path and the backing fabric) and was attached by hand.
Condition: This quilt couldn’t be in better condition. There aren’t any tears, holes, open stitches, or stains. In fact, this one lives on my spare bedroom bed. It is clean and wonderful!
Other Notes About This Quilt: Just like this maker’s other quilts, the hand quilting is simply amazing. It is perfect. The quilting is especially noticeable on the back where you can see all the hexagons pop.
Blocks
Simply amazing! Look at these blocks! Oh my goodness! There are 77 blocks in all, with each made of 19 little 1” hexagons, making the total of hexagons in the blocks (not including the path) 1,463! Whoa. That’s a lot of English paper pieced hexagons! The colors are organized well with the centers being the same solid yellow throughout. Each block has three fabrics in it: center (yellow); first inner flower; second outer flower. All the fabrics are prints, mostly feedsacks, except for the yellow centers and the off-white muslin path.
Borders
The borders are an interesting part of this quilt. They are yellow gingham fabric and the body or main part of this quilt (flower garden) was appliquéd to the border. What is really interesting, however, is that it appliquéd on at an angle. This is something curious about this quilt. Why did the maker do that? Further, there appears to be hexagons added to this (see the color difference). Was the maker trying to make it straight or wanted it at an angle? I have so many questions about this aspect of this quilt! What do you think?
Batting & Backing
LOOK at this backing! I mean, don’t you just want to run your hand over it? It is perfect. This is why I love quilting. Look at that dimension. Can you just imagine quilting all of those little hexies? And to quilt them twice—the inside and outside! As for batting, I am pretty sure it is made with cotton batting. It does have a bit of a puff, however, so it could be a polyester or polyesster/cotton blend. If it is a blend, the quilt would have been finished much later. Still very possible considering I have UFOs (UnFinished Objects) that are 20+ years old! 😆
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.
Straight Is Overrated: Is your quilt not straight? Do what this maker did and make it not straight on purpose! Why not? This—dare I say—crooked layout adds interest and solves a problem at the same time, right? One of the issues makers have—including myself—is how to finish the edge of a English paper pieced Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt. Do you appliqué it on to a border, like this maker? Do you cut off the hexagon blocks? Do you add more hexagons? This maker shows a unique way of finishing a Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt, and I love it!
Heavy Quilting: Okay. Hear me out on this one. If you look at the back of this quilt, you can see the exact pattern that is on the front. That echo hand-quilting is tedious, sure, but it is also amazing! Consider quilting your own Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilts this way. The overall effect may just be worth it!
Adding Gingham: Classic with a touch of whimsy. That’s the way I would describe gingham. This yellow gingham fabric in the borders is perfect for this quilt. It compliments the hexagon blocks so well without distracting from them. Yellow gingham also matches the flower centers, which ties the entire design together. Perfect.
Flower Centers: How smart is it that the maker stayed consistant with the flower centers? This anchors the quilt blocks well, allowing the other fabrics (flowers) to shine.
Path Matching Binding: This may seem a little silly to mention, but I think it is important for this quilt and is definitely something that we can all learn from this maker. That binding matches the path, again adding to the over look of this quilt. To me, the yellow borders look like the outside of a country garden, almost like the garden borders. The path is like pavers and the binding is like those border pavers you can get a Home Depot or Lowes. Can you see it? Beautiful garden, Sis. I see your vision, and I am here for it.
Thank you so much for reading about this beautiful old quilt.
Kris