Since I first began using vintage and antique fabrics to make my quilts, my sources have been old tops, blocks and scraps that I carefully pick apart. Most of the tops I purchase have issues related to condition and construction, so I never feel guilty about taking them apart. Until last year, only one top I purchased was kept intact.
Then I got the bug. I like to blame Ann Champion and Tim Latimer, who each have amazing collections of vintage and antique tops. As a result of their inspiration, there are now a dozen old tops in my trunk that I plan to quilt. Of course, you might think that someone who already has a pile of her own tops to quilt would hesitate to go down this path, but when I find a beautiful old top at a reasonable price, I feel like I have to save it.
This top is one of two purchased from the same estate sale. It is all hand stitched using very small flying geese units (2 1/2″ wide) in strips separated by a gorgeous dark blue print (not quite as dark as indigo, but darker than cadet), and it has a chrome yellow design that reminds me of a neon print. It’s crisp and clean, and big at 74″ x 89″.
Anyone have an idea of the decade this top was made? Click on the photos to see the individual prints.
I would have had a hard time leaving this quilt top at the estate sale, Martha, especially if the price were within my budget. It looks like its creator was using up scraps, but I wonder where she obtained such a great variety of fabrics. Perhaps she exchanged with friends, or collected for years, or I suppose she could have been a seamstress.
Lucky you to add such a great find to your collection. Will you quilt it?
Yes, Nancy — I definitely plan to hand quilt it. First I want to do a more thorough inspection to make sure they’re aren’t any weak or brittle fabrics that need replacing.
I like the column of very dark geese!
I like the way she varied her columns. Some have all light geese, some have all dark geese, and others alternate dark and light geese to make a chevron. Much more interesting than if they were all done the same way.
The blue bordering the geese puts it squarely in the 1890s, we call that kind of fabric “neons” now. There also appears to be a red and black print in one of the geese (red and black) which is of the same era. I would think that she had a deep scrap bag because of the variety of last quarter 19th century fabrics in the geese. There is an aqua and white stripe print that I find in my quilts from around the centennial. I think an appraiser would date it around circa 1900 (circa–10 years before or ten years after). It is a truly wonderful find!!! Enjoy it! I love it and it was a great save!!!
Thank you, Mickie, for all the info. I knew you’d be able to tell me more about it.
It’s funny that I’ve never considered tops as a source of fabric. For years and years I simply didn’t buy them, because what would I do with them?! Now I use them as they for all sorts of things and find my own collection steadily growing!