The quilt I’m pulling from the quilt top cupboard today is one of my favorites. It’s a Railroad Crossing top. It’s not a common pattern. It dates to 1860-1880. This top contains shirting, reds, madder prints, mourning prints, pale aqua, and one of my favorites..cheddar. The quilt top is hand pieced with nice tight stitches. The fabrics in this top are crisp and unwashed. It does have a couple of small spots, which I think will wash out? They don’t concern me and I display it as is.
As usual..the wind was picking up as I was trying to take pics. The top is flat and square I promise! The dark border you see at the outer edge has mitered corners and I think the maker intended this to be the binding?
The block is pieced with the cheddar running across it forming an X. The blocks were then sashed with the cheddar as well. The blocks are 9.5″ finished.
The outer corners of each block has a shirting print and the same print is used as corner stones. This use of the same fabric throughout forms a small churn dash where the blocks meet.
Here you can see where the tiniest of pieces were sewn together to form a piece of fabric big enough to cut the piece needed for the patchwork. This was a common practice and is affectionately known as a “poverty patch.” I always like to point them out, because I just love them!
Here is another example of a poverty patch. As you can see, a small 1/4″ strip was sewn to the edges of the block to make it the right size. This is the only block like this and makes me wonder if the maker cut a few pieces too small..and then added the red..or did she only have scrap bits and this was the only way to piece this portion? Oddly enough, it is placed right at the center of the quilt rather than in a corner or edge where it wouldn’t be as noticeable.
Most of the blocks have high contrast in the piecing..but not this one. Did the maker run out of lights/shirtings? When I see an odd block like this one it always makes me wonder…”why”? On the right hand side of the quilt, four rows down and second from the edge, there’s a block that’s mostly light. If the maker had switched her fabrics a bit..these two blocks would be more like the others. A common term for a block that’s different from the rest is a “renegade block”. I always like those too!
Here you see more poverty patches in the aqua, and one of the two small spots on the top. I suppose I could put a little spot lifter on and rinse with water..I just haven’t bothered.
Here you can see a couple of the mourning prints and a gorgeous madder print. Madder dyes produced a wonderful copper brown that always looks so warm and rich.
Mourning prints got their name from the fashions of the day. Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert died in 1861. She went into a state of mourning and dressed in black, later followed by very dark prints such as black with some white, dark grays, dark purples, etc. Women at that time in history wore clothing made from those same sort of fabrics.
Here you can see how I display this top. I may quilt this beauty some day, but for now I enjoy it as is.
*Note: I have added pics of the antique fabrics to my Flickr album so anyone interested in seeing a larger pic of the fabrics can click to enlarge. There’s an extra large option there too.
Today I’m pulling a quilt from the quilt top cupboard.
I date the quilt top to after the 1880’s, but it’s a scrappy style quilt and has fabrics that are a bit older.
The red fabric used to set the blocks together is a crimson red and has little black sprigs on it.
I’m including a lot of photos of the fabrics, because I know that’s what those of us that like the older quilts really want to see. The style of this quilt is very simple. It’s a diamond block sewn together as a nine patch. I couldn’t find a name for the blocks done that way in my reference books.
Maybe someone made a Lone Star quilt and had left over pieces? They wouldn’t have let them go to waste? OR..maybe the maker of this top wanted to do a variation of the usual nine patch made from squares? It’s evident that the maker had good sewing skills and maybe she wanted to show them off a bit?
There are homespuns, shirtings, stripes, and a few larger scale florals. There’s crimson reds, cadet blue, a bit of indigo, and lots of warm browns and dark tans. I like the brown and red combo and it was popular in quilts from this era.
I quilted this top using cotton batting. I stitched in the ditch on the diamond piecing and stitched long lines down the zig zag setting to emphasize it. In this era it was common to quilt a fan pattern across the whole top, quilting across seams as if they weren’t there. I kept my quilting simple because the red fabric is a bit fragile.
Here is a peek at the backing I used. It’s a homespun and is what might have been used if this top had been quilted when it was new. When dating a quilt, it is dated by the newest fabric in it. So..technically, this not an antique quilt. If it were for sale it would have to be advertised as an antique top finished at a later date.
These last pics are left over bits and pieces that I had to edit out because the red fabric is too damaged, or weak to have been used. I’ve kept all of the pieces though. Maybe in the future I could use them to repair another top? OR I could take the red away and make a second quilt using a different fabric?
I’m finding the biggest challenge to be the placement of colors. The applique is easy!
Today the quilt top I’m pulling from the quilt top cupboard is a scrappy quilt set with a strip setting.
Here you see shirting, a nice antique green, homespun checks, indigo fabrics, crimson red, and chambray stripes.
In this second pic you see a nice example of a purple print that is printed the same as some of the double pinks. There’s a bit more homespun plaid, shirting, and a nice paisley that dates a bit earlier than the other fabrics.
Here in the third pic is another indigo print, shirting stripes, crimson red, chambray, and another poison green. The red fabric is most likely dyed with a chemical dye, called alizarin. Fabrics dyed with alizarin were a brighter red than those dyed with madder. Dying with madder was a very involved process so fabric manufacturers were happy to have a less costly and less labor intensive way of producing a nice red.
Here in the fourth close up pic you see more shirting, indigo and cadet blue. Cadet blue was vat dyed similar to indigo dye but is lighter and brighter than a true indigo. Cadet blue was not used before 1880. You also see more of the homespun here.
In this last pic you see some of the seams have let go in this section. There is no tearing. The thread appears to have broken? Then, as now there were different grades of thread. Thread also came on wooden spools which weakened over time from the acid contained in the wood. Maybe the maker used some older thread when sewing this section? It’s an easy repair..and I just need to set aside some time to do it.
As you approach the room there is a bookcase directly in front of you. Why? Because I ran out of wall space to put cases against. Just behind that bookcase is my work table. Or at least it USED to be my work table!
Are you ready for the tour? As you enter the door..there’s a bookcase so you have to turn to the right to navigate through the room. This area holds large yardage, bolts, and shelves of vintage fabrics, sorted by era. I use these to repair old tops or quilts when needed. It’s in a terrible state of disarray right now. I need to sort and restack..a Winter project?
Butted up against the back of the bookcase containing vintage fabrics, is my bookcase of solids. I like to keep a good supply on hand and every once in while when they go on sale I go buy half yard-one yard cuts of any colors I like. As you can see..there’s a heap of fabrics in front that I’ve gathered for a project. There’s just no place to put anything! You can see my stereo system too, to the left. I love to crank up the volume and get lost in my own world. 
To the left of the stereo are my bins of 30’s repro, Civil War repro, and black and cream fabrics. There are fabrics stacked that need to be put away. I just got them and it’s a bit of a chore to get into those bins..they’re heavy! Another Winter project? 
As you turn to the next wall..you’ll see the bookcases I store a lot of my fabrics in. This is where I stored my fabrics when we first moved to this house 15 years ago…and everything fit! I keep the red cloth, which I got dirt cheap at a garage sale, covering the fabrics so they don’t fade. These book cases are opposite a window with a southern exposure.
This is a pic with the red cloth lifted. I mostly have these fabrics sorted by color, except the bookcase on the right has baby/children fabrics. These are my all purpose fabrics. There are bolts of fabrics on top of the cases.
This is my work table..or at least it WAS my work table! I know it’s still under there..somewhere? This sits almost in the center of the room. There’s an aisle in front of the bookshelves so I can get to them. I have magazines with projects I’d like to do bookmarked, and another stack of fabrics I’ve been gathering for a future project. Just behind that stack is a small divided shelf unit for fat quarters. There’s a basket to catch little items..a roll of ribbon, pins, pencils, and paper, etc. Below the table I have additional reds, rusts, and oranges that wouldn’t fit on my shelves. There’s a bin of novelty fabrics too.
As we turn to leave the room you can see the pegboard I have with quilting stencils, masking tape, and various notions. Below that are shelves I store my quilting magazines on. The top of the shelves need a good sorting and organizing too? I’ve just been plunking stuff down and really need to get things a bit more orderly and tidy!