Recently I purchased a group of old wool suiting samples. I have no idea how old they are, but they are definitely vintage — the stickers are yellowed and brittle and the swatches are mostly all wool, with a few wool/silk and wool/rayon blends, but with no modern synthetics. The patterns are cool, the fabrics have great feel to them and they are in wonderful condition — there are only a few with moth holes under the stickers (I guess moths like glue). My plan is to embroider the squares and make a wool throw similar to a quilt in a photo I saved ages ago (and can no longer remember where it came from). The original quilt used dark and light/medium wool squares — probably samples just like mine — with embroidery only on the dark squares. Because I have more dark samples than medium or light, I went to the Goodwill on Friday and purchased a few vintage men’s wool slacks and cut them up. Now I have enough lights and I can also use these pieces for borders. The embroidery patterns are from many sources — old transfers of mine, the Simplicity Needlework Catalog, and the Hoop Love Vintage Transfers group on Flickr.
This is the first row of blocks (4 1/2″ finished size) — all I’ve completed so far
Here is the photo of the antique quilt I saw somewhere online
And here are some of the samples I purchased — most about 5″ x 8″
Hi Martha!
I have been saving wool suiting for awhile for this type of quilt, but the ones that are my “reference” seem to have a lightweight wool blanket as “batting”. They are very warm and have saved us from chill on many a Girl Scout Campout, but probably too warm for indoor use. What do you plan to use for backing and/or batting? I love the embroidered blocks instead of just decorative stitching around the blocks.
Can’t wait to see the finished project!
Jan
What a neat idea. Yours looks great so far, your embroidery is impeccable! I remember those old wool suits, I loved the smell of them. So many photos here at mom’s house of men and young boys wearing wide-leg woolen trousers, held up by suspenders and cigarettes in the corner of several mouths. I love knowing the sort of history, the sort of people who owned those kinds of suits.
Thanks Jan and Bunny — When I showed these samples to my husband, he was surprised at some of the rather wild tweeds and unusual colors, and also the weight of the fabric — some of the samples are quite heavy. Perhaps they were used for topcoats. I just love the look of a nice topcoat. My dad wore them when I was young — with a fedora — but he never wore suspenders.
This is wonderful-just wonderful! What are you using for the embroidery-cotton/silk floss or wool?
Thanks Miri — I’m using DMC cotton floss (1 and 2 strands). I tried Persian wool, but I couldn’t get the level of detail I wanted on the 4 1/2″ block — probably because I have no experience doing crewelwork. I think silk might have been nice — I didn’t think of that.