doppelgänger

If you have seen my blog recently, you may recall the stunning, mid-century modern black and white quilt made and signed by Barbara McKie in 1974. 

Well, here's an interesting and fun coincidence. There is a fabric print design just like Barbara's patchwork design, and it is in the Bible of fabric identification books, Eileen Trestain's "Dating Fabrics: A Color Guide". There are two editions of Dating Fabrics, and this neat little swatch is in the first, which covers the period from 1800 to 1960. The second edition covers the period from 1950 to 2000. Both books are essentials in quilt identification.

In the section covering the period from 1910 to 1935 in book one, the blue and white print appears on page 137, one up from the bottom on the left. My friend Janis Pearson pointed it out. Thank you, Janis, you have an eagle eye! It's fun to find a fabric print identical to such a cool quilt design.

I will have to ask Barbara if she'd ever seen the fabric before. I know she couldn't have seen it in "Dating Fabrics: A Color Guide" before making her quilt in 1974. Trestain's book was published in 1998.