Welcome to part two of personal favourites from Christopher Wilson-Tate's recent exhibition at Cowslip workshops. Part one is here. Many of these quilts were also displayed as part of a show and tell at the Wimbourne Fabrics booth (Moda) at this year's Festival of Quilts.
I chose the quilts above and below for their use of colour. The top one is silk so it really shimmered. It dates from 1880/1900 and is from the North country. I couldn't find any notes on the one below but I was drawn to the orangey, yellow prints.
This quilt also featured a cheddar colour but this time a solid fabric. The black fabric looks solid but close up you can see the small floral print.
This Medallion quilt was one of the older quilts in the exhibition with some of the fabrics dating from the 1770s. It was made by Mary Gibbs from Sussex, dated 1812. Such a simple but effective design. This quilt was the design source for Christopher's first Moda fabric collection, Regency Blues. Like many of the quilts on display, it was more like a coverlet than a quilt as the wadding layer looked so thin from the side.
This Wedding quilt is my other joint favourite quilt (see the first post for the other one!). The washed out paste colour palette is very appealing, as are the organic applique shapes and the medallion design. It's a North Country Wedding quilt from Durham, completed in 1884 and apparently very rare. It was even better close up...
I love the diagonal ridges on the white background fabric, it looks like a twill weave. It also looks quite tough to sew through. You can also see by these details that the applique is raw edge throughout and attached by herringbone stitch. It combines function and decoration and you can see it's held those fabric pieces in place for over 140 years! Herringbone stitch also uses a lot of thread, this quilt must've taken many reels considering the quilting stitches too.
This Irish quilt dates from 1780/90 which surprised me as it still seems so fresh with all the spot and sprig light fabrics contrasting against the blues, pinks, yellows and greys. Another one of my top choices from all the quilts on view, I do love the hourglass block. This quilt was also the inspiration source for Christopher's next Moda collection, Regency Ballycastle.
The next quilt was the centre piece of the exhibition. It was massive, 260cm x 300cm and was originally an exhibit at The Great Exhibition in 1851 at the V&A. A masterpiece! I was transfixed by the little thread knots, I assume they were holding the hexagon papers in place? You can see the scale by my blurry thumb floating in front.
On these last two pictures, I was a little confused by the bluish line around the quilting design and stitches and wondered if any of you could throw any light on this?
It looks like water soluble marker that hasn't come out but obviously that isn't what would've been used for quilts of such age. Is it pounced chalk maybe that has remained in the fabric? The marks look too continuous for this. Anyone have any ideas? Let me know in the comments.
***Edited to add*** See below in the comments for the explanation!
Such a gorgeous exhibition, I felt very lucky to catch this one.
Perhaps they used thread with a bluish tint to it and the dye washed out or it reacted to the fabric and some way
ReplyDeleteI right away though it was Blueing left over from washing. Blueing was used to get whites white but it often turned very absorbing cotton a tint of blue.
ReplyDeleteHi Dana and Michelle, I put this question on Instagram and Chrisopher Wilson-Tate (who owns these quilts) and two other vintage specialist quilters answered. It turns out the blue is left from the quilt being 'stamped' or premarked by a professional quilt stamper, Elizabeth Sanderson who lived in Northumberland. It's a blue pencil or chalk wish washes out after a couple of washes.
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