plaids in quilts

Plaid fabrics are popular with quiltmakers today, but there is nothing new about plaids in quilts. 

"Plaid Shirt Guy"

No need to throw shade if you didn't know. If you look at old quilts, you'll find plaid fabrics. Here are a few of my favorite quilts with plaids.

What is Wonky?

Several years ago, I gained a new appreciation for the word wonky at a quilt guild meeting in Portland, Oregon. Of course, I'd heard the word before, but not in that way.

Someone said, "It's wonky!" referring to a quilt she made, and there was a small eruption of laughter. An error in geometry caused something to look askew. However, by calling it "wonky" she owned it and got everyone else to see the humor in it.

The word wonky seemed to have layers of meaning among quiltmakers, and there was onomatopoeia in the way they said it, with special emphasis on wonk. 

They could use the word to laugh at themselves, or give themselves permission to make an error and own it. They could use it to embrace accidents, both happy and unhappy.

From that point forward, I loved the word wonky and associated it with quilts. Most of the antique and vintage quilts I collect have something wonky about them, even if things look right from a distance.

Some of my favorite quilts are wonky. They have those human elements that say, "this quilt was made by hand, and it may not be perfect, but who is perfect?"

Obsession du jour - "Which quilt is your favorite?"

People ask me this question all the time. "Which quilt is your favorite?" It's a tough question.

More than 20 years ago, Shelly Zegart published her book, "American Quilt Collections, Antique Quilt Masterpieces" -- a book highlighting many of the premiere collections and collectors of great, antique quilts. I received a copy from Shelly in 2001. It was the first quilt book in my library, and it included one quilt for each entry, accompanied by written information about the quilt and the collection.

The book got me thinking. What would it be like to be a quilt collector? At the time, I only had two or three quilts and did not think of myself as a collector, but my first quilt was definitely a masterpiece.

Over the years, there were all kinds of quilts from various time periods. Becoming enthralled with new discoveries was practically an everyday event.

Each quilt led down a rabbit hole of historical information. One day I could be researching pictorial hexagon quilts or ships in the Spanish American War, the next day I could be learning about the early wool mills of Rhode Island or Queen Lili'uokalani of Hawaii.

So, I do not know which quilt is my favorite. It changes daily, each day is a new day and each quilt is the obsession du jour.

A lot of my obsessions du jour are posted here, on my blog, or on Facebook. Stay tuned for more great antique and vintage quilts.

Happier Times in America?

Does this 1930s pictorial quilt tell a story of happier times in America, or does it simply long for happier times? The stock market crash of October, 1929 set the tone for the 1930s, the Great Depression, when widespread poverty and unemployment devastated American families.

a cheerful, 1930s quilt from Kansas

The 1930s were also known as the "dirty thirties" because of the Dust Bowl, a severe drought with dust storms, which affected ecology and agriculture throughout the plains and prairies of North America.

1930s Double Wedding Ring

Cheerful colors and patterns such as Double Wedding Ring and Grandmother's Flower Garden were on trend in the 1930s. Popular pastel colors were tangerine, lavender, sky blue, pink, Nile green and butter yellow. Considering how difficult life was, it is intriguing to think about the happy colors in American quilts.

Bicentennial quilt by Barbara McKie

The 1970s may seem like happier times almost 50 years after the fact, but it was another tumultuous decade. The Bicentennial in 1976 was a high point, but there were significant low points such as the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, and the energy crisis.

Pieced star, c. 1976

Patriotic quilts were popular in the 1970s, in large part due to the Bicentennial, but the feeling of patriotism was not the general tone throughout most of the decade.

1850s floral applique quilt

Elegant quilts were popular during the Civil War period, even though it was among the most bitter periods of American history.

Popular colors were Turkey red, overdyed green, cheddar orange and double pink-- and of course, a lot of white.

sunny, 1930s Giant Dahlia quilt

Some of the most beautiful quilts were made in troubled times, and I find it so interesting. It is almost as if quiltmakers decided the world was not beautiful enough, so they had to make it better with gorgeous quilts.

Fabric Time Capsules

Silk diamonds, c. 1890 -- a fabric time capsule

I love how some quilts are like fabric time capsules. One of my college friends, Kristin Hubbard who was a classmate at Rhode Island School of Design saw a photo of my silk diamonds quilt, and it reminded her of samples from garment making, specifically garment lining fabrics. They could be, although it is hard to know for sure. Clearly the quilt is a fabric time capsule.

1950s Tumblers quilt looks like a stashbuster

When you see a fabric time capsule, you know it. There are often more fabrics than you can count, and the fabrics represent one time period. Sometimes it seems like the maker got every possible fabric from the period and used them all.

Tile Blocks is a time capsule of polyester double knit

One of my favorites is a monumental scale Tile Blocks quilt made entirely out of polyester double knit. It was made in the 1970s and came from Louisiana. The maker had to have some connection to the fabric industry. The patches look like they could have been fabric swatches out of a sample book.

I also love those fabrics that Carolyn Ducey and I call "sweet little calicoes" -- the cotton print fabrics from the 1970s with small-scale, often multicolor floral designs. The green one-patch from Oregon is like a time capsule of those fabrics. When I saw it, I realized there were a lot more cotton calico designs in the period than I first realized.

My current favorite type of quilt is the Hawaiian scrap quilt, but it's more of a genre than one specific quilt. The quilts have such a variety of fabrics, the tell the story of the Hawaiian garment industry as well as the individual garments do. Tip of the hat to Kristin, aka "Hubby" for inspiring this blog post.

The Dating Game: Education

Why do I believe this quilt was made between 1976 and 1986?

The other day, someone called me a "quilt whisperer" because I appeared to magically know things about old quilts. It wasn't magic. I studied quilts, and you can, too. A great place to start is "Clues in the Calico" by Barbara Brackman.

In a recent blog, "Circa Dating Old Quilts" I wrote about Brackman's system and how it involved looking at five characteristics in old quilts--fabric, style, color, technique, and pattern. The basic premise was that each quilt had a specific set of characteristics which, when compared with dated examples, could lead us to well-educated determinations of circa dates.

Sometimes we are fortunate to have quilts with inscriptions and dates. I found "Interacting Pyramids" (1974) by Barbara McKie in an antiques shop in Aurora, Oregon last year. The inscription led to finding the artist and corresponding with her about the quilt.

Posting photos of the quilt on social media led to finding it in print. The quilt first appeared in "The Complete Guide To Quilting" by Audrey Heard and Beverly Pryor, published in 1974.

We are also fortunate to find specific fabrics with their own circa dates in some quilts. A wholecloth quilt found in Connecticut had two blue and white copperplate printed fabrics from the late 18th century. 

These fabrics gave us valuable information about when the quilt could have been made. To read more about it, see my blog post, "Eighteenth Century Fabrics" (May 24, 2018).

Other types of clues appear in quilts, but sometimes they require more information. The NBC Quilt is a good example. It has specific materials, style and method of construction as other quilts do, but the most specific clue is the NBC "N" logo, which is called the "Trapezoid N".

"Trapezoid N" logo, introduced in 1976 for NBC's 50th Anniversary

This logo was used in the middle to late 1970s, and was created as part of NBC's 50th anniversary. It was in use between 1976 and 1986, but in 1979 NBC introduced an updated version of the Trapezoid N with an NBC peacock. It was called the "Proud N" logo and was in use from 1979 to 1986.

"Proud N" logo, in use from 1979-1986

"Modern Peacock" logo, introduced in 1986

In 1986, the "Modern Peacock" logo was introduced, and it did not have any Trapezoid N design element. The Trapezoid N has been absent from the NBC logo ever since. To read more about the history of the NBC logos, click here.

Tilton Family Quilt, c. 1840, Burlington County, N.J.

Sometimes what you know is only as good as what you have seen. Several years ago, I took the appraisal skills courses offered by the American Quilters Society in Paducah. At one point, we broke off into small groups to look at a quilt and determine the circa date. I commented about edge finishes being clues, saying, "You won't find a 1/16th-inch piped binding in a 1970s quilt," or something to that effect.

the quilt has a 1/16th-inch, piped binding

One of the instructors, who seemed unhappy any time someone in the class knew something she did not, overheard the comment. She said, "You will never see a 1/16th-inch, piped binding on any quilt!" and stormed off before I could tell her about the Tilton Family Quilt in my collection.

The stunning, 1840s Mariner's Compass quilt has an exquisite, very narrow piped binding. It varies slightly in width but is 1/16th-inch at its narrowest, and 1/8th-inch at its widest. The instructor obviously had no knowledge of the Tilton Family Quilt, but I did.

If I had to choose a moniker, it would be "quilt magnet" rather than quilt whisperer, but either way, there needs to be education. Quilt history is a relatively new field, and up to this point, the type of knowledge we find in other fields is mostly gleaned from independent study. There are always clues in the calico. Look carefully at all the clues, and how to date old quilts is the very least of what you could learn.