heritage hexagons- the Quilters Guild reply

I received a lovely detailed reply from the Quilter's Guild after sending pictures of the old quilt I found in a charity shop, and I am attaching it here in case anyone else is interested:

Hi Carol

Thank you for your email and the images you sent, it looks a very interesting and varied piece. I would say from the fabrics and style of patchwork that it dates from the late 19^th to early 20^thcentury. The colour combinations and patterns of print look very similar to some other items in our collection which have that date attributed to them, and mosaic patchwork was quite popular at that time. I have attached a couple for comparison – if you zoom in you will see some similarities in the fabrics, in their printed designs and colour palette. At this point velvets and silks were more fashionable and used for mosaic patchwork by those better off (or aspiring to copy them), and cotton fabrics were readily available and mass produced, making them cheaper and less desirable to the higher classes. The cottons used in patchwork which had dainty designs tended to be blouse, dress and shirting cottons, with some furnishings as well if the design is bolder and larger. The mixture of printed and hand written paper templates is also common in this period, and sometimes the printed text came from school text books, and handwritten text could be accounts, bills, old letters and handwriting practice.

It is a very lovely piece and it looks in fairly good condition as well, so it looks like a good chance find in the charity shop.

Heather Audin

Museum Curator

I think I'm going to back the quilt top with a vintage candy stripe sheet and actually use it on the bed. It seems a shame to lock it up in a cupboard, and maybe end up with my heirs sending it to a charity shop again in the fullness of time!

Links to the Quilter's Guild and Quilt Museum websites:

http://www.quiltersguild.org.uk/

http://www.quiltmuseum.org.uk/ 

The colours in this quilt make me think of the aquilegias which are all over my garden at the moment- so many subtly different shapes and colours, no two alike, and we didn't actually plant a single one of them!