Flower Power!

"Flower Power" - All Double Knit Polyester, c. 1970

Yesterday, Madge Ziegler posted pictures of a double-knit polyester Grandmother's Flower Garden on the Facebook "Quilts-Vintage and Antique" page, and there was something very familiar about its construction. Loosely speaking, it was double-sided, but one side of each hexagon was solid, and the other side looked like each hexagon was folded and stitched together. It looked familiar because I have a double-knit polyester quilt that was constructed the same way (pictured above).

Madge Ziegler's Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt

Madge commented on her quilt, saying it was made from circles folded and stitched and then whipped together by hand or zig-zagged on the machine. To some people, the "wrong side" of the quilt actually looks better than the front side. It reminds me or origami. The front side is flat pieces, just like any other quilt.

The reverse side of my quilt.

The front side of my quilt.

As Madge and I both observed, these quilts are very heavy for their size, despite having no batting or backing. Double-knit polyester is fairly thick, and we think that may account for the weight. As you can probably see, Madge's quilt is much more like a traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden, with flowers inside flowers. Mine is more like interlocking flowers with centers, and in bright colors. Groovy!! 


Many thanks to Madge Ziegler for allowing me to use her pictures and information. We both wonder if there are other quilts like this out there in the world. A very interesting technique, which produces an intriguing result. Hope you enjoyed!