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Vintage Embroidered Baskets Quilt Top

Posted on October 2, 2010March 21, 2013 by Martha

This top was purchased on ebay a couple of years ago, and it was so cheap — $20, including shipping. It’s difficult to determine the age of the top since there are no prints. If I had to guess, I would say 1930s or 1940s just because of the color and weight of the green fabric.

There are some interesting features in this quilt. Despite having exactly the same design, each of the 12 embroidered blocks is neatly stitched with unique basket, leaf and flower colors, although the cross-stitching on the bottom of each block is the same. It is completely hand stitched (did she not have a sewing machine?), the blocks are 17″, and the borders are unusually wide which results in a rather large top.

Condition problems are minimal for a vintage top — only a few light brown stains and a couple of tiny pin holes. The stains look like they’ll respond to a soak in Oxyclean, and I’ll darn the little holes. There is some fullness in the horizontal sashing, but it’s not terrible. If I decide to quilt this as it is (and I haven’t decided this yet), I think I could quilt this out.

When the top arrived in the mail, I was certain I would redo it — I thought there was too much white in the blocks, and the borders were too wide. Now I’m not sure. I could do some nice quilting in the green and I am a little hesitant to remove all of her nice hand stitching. What do you think?

Embroidered Baskets Quilt Top
Unknown Quilter
hand embroidered, hand pieced
75″ x 95″

10 thoughts on “Vintage Embroidered Baskets Quilt Top”

  1. Holly says:
    October 2, 2010 at 9:50 pm

    Great find! I don’t know if I could bear to undo the hand stitching! I like your idea of using the wide sashing to feature some quilting. Can’t wait to see what comes of this!

    Reply
  2. Ann Champion says:
    October 3, 2010 at 5:59 am

    Oh how pretty! Each basket is a little work of art.
    It’s hard to tell from the pic just how bad the extra fullness is in the sashing. The way it looks shown here..I’m afraid I’d take it out? It would be an awful lot of work to try to quilt it out..and it might not work? If you did a cable or something, I wonder if the differing lengths would throw the design off?
    That wide sashing would be a wonderful place to show off some quilting!

    Reply
  3. LoriD says:
    October 3, 2010 at 6:14 am

    Wow! The embroidery is lovely!!!

    Reply
  4. mickie says:
    October 3, 2010 at 6:21 am

    I love this and you saved it! I think I would redo the sashing, only because I think it distracts from the baskets themselves. That’s just me…..you always figure out the perfect thing to do!

    Reply
  5. Ann says:
    October 3, 2010 at 8:23 am

    That’s a BEAUTIFUL find!

    I don’t know about the sashing. At first I didn’t like it at all, but after looking at the baskets close up and returning to the picture of the whole quilt, I found it to be QUITE appealing.

    It’s a pleasant, springy green and as you mentioned it gives you a bit of a feel for its age. Although it is a bold choice, it doesn’t compete with the blocks – almost like the baskets are sitting on a lovely patch of grass.

    Since it is wide, that does give you more room for creativity in quilting it. You could even have the quilting flow off of the green sashing and curve around the baskets since there is so much extra room on those blocks – like a circular frame. I think it may be worth a shot provided the ripples aren’t too much of an obstacle.

    I think this lovely quilt wants to play in Adobe to try out quilting possibilities! 🙂

    Reply
  6. Allie says:
    October 3, 2010 at 10:25 pm

    Somebody spent a LOT of time making this – it’s amazing! The more I look at it, the more I really like the sashing. I do think it would be a fabulous place to show off some quilting. I love Ann’s suggestion of carrying the quilting into the blocks.

    Reply
  7. Chris Jurd says:
    October 4, 2010 at 1:47 am

    You are so lucky to find this gem. And made into a quilt too.
    I am constantly searching our op shops for doilies and embroideries but they are few and far between these days.
    Have you seen my gift on my blog post dated 7th Sept?

    Reply
  8. Miri says:
    October 4, 2010 at 7:07 am

    The embroidery is lovely and I agree it would be shame to open the whole thing and loose all the vintage hand stitching but I think you may have to open one or two sashes. I’ve done that-just opened and corrected the spots I was afraid wouldn’t quilt out.

    It is really a wonderful classic example of a 1930’s set for embroidery blocks…wide sashing and that green! Perfect. This quilt actually looks more balanced than some I’ve seen as the embroidery pattern is fairly complicated and holds the eye wonderfully.

    Reply
  9. Alice says:
    October 6, 2010 at 6:06 am

    Whatever you do with this top, I am sure it will be gorgeous.

    White quilting might look nice against the green – and if ordinary quilting thread doesn’t stand out quite enough you could use Perlé 5.

    I wouldn’t worry about undoing the hand stitching if that is what you really want to do. Hand stitching was just utilitarian at the time – my neighbour was born in 1911 – never owned a sewing machine and hence hand stitched anything that she had to sew (with a simple but even running stitch). I hand stitch my quilts (including the borders) and I wouldn’t be offended if you unstitched something that wasn’t up to scratch. Especially as the maker put so much perfection into the baskets – perhaps she would be happier if you fixed it up:)

    Look forward to seeing what you decide to do.

    Reply
  10. jan says:
    October 6, 2010 at 9:44 pm

    Hi Martha! I am trying to catch up on some blog reading and had to comment on these wonderful baskets. You have such a good eye for what would look best, but I think those baskets would be set off by narrower ‘framing’. What a great find! Really lovely!

    Reply

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