Your sports-only digital subscription does not include access to this section. Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading. You must be a full digital subscriber to read this article. Please subscribe to keep reading. You can cancel at any time. We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content. Carol Elmore gives a brief overview of quilt history and trends during her quilt dating workshop at the Stuhr Museum Sunday afternoon. Participants of the quilt dating workshop pass around images of fabric design examples Sunday afternoon at Stuhr Museum. Workshop presenter Carol Elmore shows an example of a quilt that used English paper piecing method at Stuhr Museum during the quilt dating workshop Sunday afternoon.

Eileen trestain dating fabrics

Textile appraisers and collectors of fabrics, quilts, and antiques can use this book to recognize, identify, and date vintage American fabrics as used in quilts and clothing. Over 1, color fabric swatches are shown in this handy, pocket-size reference guide. Simply match antique fabrics by selecting a time period and comparing colors and prints.

Dating fabrics eileen jahnke trestain. Goodreads helps dating quilts of their uses in this reference book: a fabric or personals site. She was raised in art and.

One important part of appraising a quilt or any textile is accurate dating. Sometimes there is no doubt of the date, because the maker embriodered it onto the quilt or wrote it somewhereon the back in indelible ink. Sometimes a quilt was so obviously designed for a special occasions — such as the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago — that its date can be easily ascertained. Most of the quilts that are available for collecting were made in the 19th and 20th centuries, although it is possible to find an earlier treasure for sale or maybe even in your own attic.

However, unless there is a direct connection to the maker, the dating of quilts is not precise science. It is more like a mixture of detective work and educated guessing. The most important clues to the age of a quilt are the stiches, the fabric and the design used. It must be remembered that fabrics, especially those used for patchwork and applique, often started their lives as other things dresses or curtains before becoming scraps and then part of a quilt, so they may be much older then quilt itself.

Stitching in quilting will help not so much in dating as in locating the origin of the quilt or the maker. Running stitches were usedin northern Europe, in Provence in southern France and in Britain for wholecloth quilting. Running stitch was also used widely in USA. In applique the technique of working buttonhole stitch and couched cording over the raw edges was known as Persian embriodery, a method used mainly in France, Italy and Spain, and still known by the French name broderie perse.

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French quilts have their own magical place in this patchwork of textile history! Quilting is a very early practice, evidence tracing it’s origin back thousands of years. This process was used for bedding, curtains, clothing and even armor.

I brief been planning on making a crazy quilt for some time now. So far we are still gathering the fabrics. From what I can dating, there are very little printed.

With the encouragement of friends, Eileen began producing her own line of patterns under the business name of Peonies Needlework Crafts. Would you like to tell us about a lower price? If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support? From poodle skirts of the s to baby doll dresses of the s, the fabrics of our everyday lives are featured in this handy reference guide to the materials of the last half century.

A companion to Dating Fabrics: A Color Guide , this source is ideal for those studying fashion and clothing trends from the late twentieth century, as well as collectors of recent quilts. Today’s quilts may have elements of more than one decade because many quilters collect a great deal of fabric, and may draw from one group of fabric over a long period of time.

The recent proliferation of reproduction fabrics has caused concern for the ability to differentiate the old from the new in reproduction quilts and repairs. An informative section on these fabrics from the era provides a blueprint for building confident conclusions as to the fabric’s origins. For ease in identification, prints are shown actual size and specific fabric lines and styles are grouped and sorted by date, then color.

French quilts and fabric

Although few collectors can claim such expertise, most do enjoy knowing from whence their quilts came. According to Country Home magazine, even the novice collector will be able to place a wide number of quilts in their proper historical perspective by learning to recognize the most typical quilting styles of certain major epochs. During the years between the American Revolution and the beginning of the westward migration, bedcovers blossomed with cotton cutouts salvaged from leftover bits of expensive European chintz.

Using a method called broderie perse Persian embroidery , women carefully snipped around the bird-and-flower motifs of the imported chintzes and appliqued them on fields of plain domestic cloth to make the most of the patterned fabric available to them.

A forum for research and ideas about quilt history, the women, and textiles: – An educational site on antique quilts and their history, quilt historians.

The 18th and 19th century category of antique quilts, spans approximately years, and encompasses a large variety of styles and fabrics. The earliest antique quilts available for sale at Rocky Mountain Quilts are from the last quarter of the 18th century. Many of the colonists used homespun, others used rare and expensive imported Chintz fabrics. The vegetable dyes available in the 18th and 19th century limited the colors available, but those same rich, deep tones are just the ones many are seeking today.

Vegetable dyes were made from flowers, herbs, bark, and roots. As the 19th century progressed, advances in aniline dye manufacturing processes expanded the color palettes available, and beautifully pieced and appliqued quilts continued to be made, using the extra fabric choices available. The close of the 19th century saw the upsurge in popularity of Victorian Crazy Quilts, those wonderfully exuberant creations of silk, velvet, ribbons and all manner of embellishments.

Shading is due to lighting, not representative of the quilt. Please call for the availability or any questions. This exquisitely sophiticated appliqued red, white and green quilt has some of the most intense and minuscule quilting I have ever seen. The amazing design as crowned with an 11 inch wide border of what appears to be an original design of meandering strawberries and vines. Even the applique stitching is minuscule. The double line row quilting is indicative of the s.

Vintage and Antique French Quilts

Quilts contain a fascinating wealth of information and each one has its own unique story. Even if very little is known about the maker, careful examination of the fabric, methods of construction and overall style of a quilt can tell us about the social and historical context in which it was made. Any pre-existing information about the quilt can be helpful and is a good place to start. Knowing who made the piece or through which side of the family it was passed down can allow you to use family history resources to track down where it could have been made and a possible date range.

However, anecdotal evidence passed on through the family can also be problematic.

The exhibit highlighted numerous textiles including quilts, blankets, to determine the date of a quilt by using examples of quilts and fabrics.

They made the production of a families clothing, MUCH easier, and this, coupled with the ability to purchase ready made cloth, allowed the American woman more time, from what had been a pretty utilitarian need for clothing a family, and to allow her to create with an eye toward beauty There is often a similarity in design, from state to state, and it sure would be wonderful to trace one, from place to place – quilter to quilter.

These 4 block appliques continued well into the s, depending on where the quilter lived In , the American public was introduced, though the World Exposition in Philly, to fabrics and designs from all over the world This helped to usher in the next big change in quilts Woman, freed from the need to produce fabric and hand sew clothing, were now able to create these works of art, and decorate them with wonderful embroidery. Those of fancy fabrics were never utilitarian items, but used for ‘show’, while a country cousin might be made of wool or less showy fabrics

Researching Quilt History

By Kimberly Wulfert — May 2nd, Kimberly Wulfert is a quilt historian and collector whose website, www. Many antique quilt collectors think of themselves as caretakers of historical documents, made at the hands of the needlework sisterhood before them. Their quilts speak to them and tell their story through clues in the style, fabric, pattern, quilt stitches and sometimes stitched or inked words, names, cities or dates.

Quilt tops that have not been quilted, “summer quilts” (with a backing but no quilt padding), identifying quilts. Dating Fabrics – two editions by Eileen Trestain.

Hunting crazy an Easter egg mystery:. Who is MH? Very interesting! I love crazy quilts. Making them and studing others. Thanks for the info. I’m looking forward to your brief post. I brief been planning on making a crazy quilt for some time now. So far we are still gathering the fabrics. From what I can dating, there are very little printed fabrics in crazy quilts, most of the fabrics are solids with a few variations.

Is there a craze for this? These early quilts do tend quilt be of solids, probably because they liked to embroider on top. By the s crazy quilts were often pieced of splashy rayon prints.

Dating quilts – a brief overview

Sewing diary. One important part of appraising a quilt or any textile is accurate dating. Sometimes there is no doubt of the date, because. Cunningham’s handwritten notes accompany many samples and indicate variously where the fabric was purchased, who made it into clothing, who wore it, and where it was worn.

Jul 30, – Explore Maggi Honeyman’s board “Fabric Dating“, followed by people on Pinterest. See more ideas about Fabric, Antique fabrics, Antique quilts.

Welcome to the Quilt Index Wiki page on fabric dating references. If you have information about books on dating fabrics, or general information on dating fabric materials, patterns and prints, or colors and dyes, please consider adding your information to the Wiki. To contribute to this resource, please create an account on this Wiki. Once a QI staff person approves your account, you will be able login and edit the page.

Eileen Jahnke Trestain. Dating Fabrics: A Color Guide. Barbara Brackman. EPM Publications, Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. In Print. Please do not modify this section of the page.

How to Tell if a Quilt Is Vintage or Antique

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Clues in the Calico: A Guide to Identifying and Dating Antique Quilts: Brackman, a helpful guide in dating vintage fabrics in old quilts and odd fabric pieces.

War-Time Quilts: Quilts from Military Fabrics features a dazzling array of unique and diverse quilts made from through to the end of the 20th century, covering a multitude of different wars, cultures and countries. While quilting is often considered the domain of women, this exhibition casts a different spin on the production of quilts during war-time, and shows how the hands of men turned to quilting as a past-time in the midst of the extreme conditions of war.

Made by active soldiers and prisoners of war, the quilts are constructed using rugged and difficult textiles such as thick felt, heavy woollen serge or worsted twill; all scoured from disused uniforms, army blankets and other discarded military fabrics. Although the exhibition presents a solemn and poignant collection of the quilts made in conflicts over the past years, the colours and patterns in the quilts are quite extraordinary and sure to be an inspiration for the exhibition visitor.

Image: Intarsia with Soldiers , c. Photo Tim Connolly, Shoot Studios. Search for:.

Retro Clean – get rid of the yellow in your fabrics