Darlene Zimmerman was the guest speaker at the
LQG meeting for November. Darlene talked about Treasures of the Trunk. Her talk was full of history about fabrics and quilting. She brought many quilts to show and I loved every minute of her talk. I learned that bed covers have only been made in the last 200 years. Before the 1820's every bit of fabric had to be handmade, which meant creating the fibers, weaving, and dyeing of the fabric. The fabrics were made for clothing because of the time it took to create fabric.
The above photo is a early salesman's sample used to show fabrics that merchants could buy.
The early fabric was dark because a person only had a couple of garments and they were only laundered once a week. Also, you were lucky to have one needle and a few pins in your home because they were so hard to make. A needle at that time took 125 steps to make. That's where the term "pin money" came from because you had to save up to buy them. When the treadle sewing machine was invented, Coats and Clarks made a stronger thread for the machines. The initials on the spool "ONT" stands for Our New Thread and is still on the spools today.
The quilt with the red sashing was quilted in the Baptist Fan pattern and was a common pattern for the quilting because it follows the motion of your arm and you get less fatigued. In 1861, a quilt would be quilted by hand for about $2.00 and it took about 200 hours. In 1930, the price went up to about $5.00 and the quilting was charged by the spool.
Butterflies were popular quilt applique designs for persons who lived through World War One and the Depression. The butterflies were a sign of freedom. There are a lot of different designs for butterflies because a woman would see a design and then go home and draw her own. This is the same with Sun Bonnet Sue. That's why there are so many versions of those patterns.
I loved this sampler quilt. Before patterns, a person would have a box of quilt blocks and they were samples of quilt blocks they had seen at a fair or when visiting a neighbor or friend. The quilt block would be reproduced when they got home and then stored in a box. Later, women's magazines and newspapers promoted quilting and included patterns. Mountain Mist also included patterns in the batting.
The above quilt is a 30's quilt and it shows how bright and cheery the fabrics had become. Darlene designs 30's fabrics and patterns.
Darlene also brought an antique redwork quilt and it had this cute bunny on it and I couldn't resist. Thank you Darlene for all the knowledge you gave us during your talk it was very informative. It was a treat to see your collection of quilts!
This is my 100th post and I'm having a giveaway. The giveaway includes the book, Design Workshop by Ruth McDowell, a zippered bag by Moda and 3 "blue" fat quarters. I really appreciate everyone who stops by my blog and thank you for all the nice comments. I really do enjoy reading the comments!
