The Virtual Quilt

Also in this issue:

Japanese Paper Piecing, Charms and Schnibbles, andQuilt Heritage in Great Britain

Issue 40 May 2000

The Cabin or Someone Left Cherries for the Birds, Donna Lacy Chapman. Plano, Texas. Second Place Pictorial - QHC

This issue:

Two Big Quilt Shows!

The Quilters’ HeritageShow in Lancaster, PA

and

The American Quilters’ Society Show

in Paducah, KY

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American Quilters’ Society Show, Paducah, KYByLynnHolland

“One of these years, we’ll have to do Paducah.” We’d said this for a number of years, even before there was a TVQ. But since it came so close on the heels of spring break for our children, it just never seemed to be the right time to actually visit the famed American Quil-ters’ Society show in this small, western Kentucky river town.

That is, until the newsletter came.

Our local shop, Dream Quilters, in Tucker, Geor-gia, had arranged for a charter bus to the quilter’s Mecca and there were spaces avail-able. Even a trip to the fabled Han-cock’s was included. Without hesitation, we made the call and signed up. There was just one catch, though: the entire trip was to be completed in 26 hours! But hey, we were going to Paducah and what’s 14 hours on a bus when there are quilts and fabric?

So there we were at 5 a.m. on April 14, lined up with 60 other people, accompanied by tote bags, blankets and pillows. The ladies behind us had just gotten their seats the day before due to a last minute cancellation, so they were a bit more hyped than the rest of the crowd. We were all pretty sensibly dressed, knowing that this was going to be a day when comfort would be more critical than high style, but four ladies who are quilting buddies were wearing matching appli-que jackets whose cleverness put most of us to

THE TRAVELING QUILTER

shame.Wearing a jacket with the name John, our

driver announced to us that his name was Bill and he would be chauffeuring us to Kentucky and to the fabled show in Paducah. He was a bit amused to be the driver for so many women, and trotted out most of his bus driver

jokes about the female of the spe-cies. We climbed aboard for the first of many times that day, and our journey began.

We had hoped to get a few moments of sleep on the way up, but had not reck-oned on the movie “How to Make an Ameri-can Quilt” being shown a few inches above our heads at 6 a.m.

Nor had we envisioned the festive slumber party atmosphere that would instantly emerge from a busload of relative strangers.

“Hoffman . . . custom done in just three weeks . . . new Bernina . . . stupid UFO . . . rotary cutter in one hand and the tip of my finger on the floor . . . great website . .. . appliqued borders. . . .”

The way to Paducah from Atlanta is freeway all the way, north through Nashville and across the long skinny expanse of western Tennessee. At a rest stop just inside the Kentucky border, the welcome station was ready for the annual onslaught. They had maps and brochures of all the events, and by the time we got back on the bus, some of us were clearly salivating with antic-ipation. Just another short ride and we would be

Front Foyer of the convention center

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there!Shortly before lunchtime, we reached the con-

vention center, which is the Executive Inn. On the banks of the mighty Ohio River, this hotel and conference facility is clearly the biggest in town for this sort of event. As we piled out with all the other eager stitchers, it was also plain that it is not big enough! There were people everywhere, many sitting outside the front door on the embankment, talking, eating, or just resting their weary legs. As we made our way from the bus dropoff to the convention center we tried to take it all in. Outside the hall was a specially-set-up mobile branch of the USPS so you could ship your goodies home. There were many out-door food venues, with as many choices as you could possibly desire: Barbecue, ice cream, hamburgers, kettle corn, cap-puccino, pretzels, with plenty of outdoor benches for hungry show-goers.

A bit overwhelmed and hungry, we joined the sea of people and went into the quilted kingdom, grabbing a reasonably-

priced sandwich and can of tea on the way in. The foyer was clearly intended to help the city

of Paducah wring every last drop of economic possibility out of this annual influx of tourists. Every church and civic group appeared to offer a tour or a specialty luncheon/dinner for the few weeks surrounding the quilt show, and there was even a gentleman dressed as a Kentucky colonel who was available for photo ops. The show runs a free shuttle to the downtown area, and all the local restaurants had show specials.

But that was just the foyer. The real show was down the hall, and upstairs, and in the annex over by the pool. And what a show it was! Although it was slow going to get up and down the aisles, it was worth the long bus ride.

There was what seemed to be a disproportion-ate number of winning entries by quilters with Japanese names, and their precise yet imaginative work put much else in the shade. (The Japanese were also heavily represented among show visi-tors.) Among our favorite (non-Japanese) pieces was a realistic depiction of a blazing red Ford pick-up truck and a portrait of Sunbonnet Sue sit-ting in front of her laptop. While these two stick out in memory because of their funky subject

matter, the quality of the quilts, whether tradi-tional or contemporary, was befitting this, “The Mother of All Quilt Shows.” The stitches were

The portable post office lets quilters send their goodies home.

4The Virtual Quilt

POPPIES FABRICPoppies Fabric, located on Orcas Island in Washington, carries fabric, patterns and books, as well as some locally spun yarns. Browse our internet site, www.poppiesfabric.com, where you can find some of the widest selections of Moda Marbles, Benartex Fossil Ferns, Hoffman Batiks, and great deals on fat quarter pack-ages of coordinating fabrics, kits and notions. Our Photo board displays quilts made by some of the finest quilters in the Pacific Northwest, some of which are for sale. Come get ideas at our site, and while you’re there, visit our free pattern section!

way too tiny, the colors chosen through divine inspiration, and each and every work was awe-some and certainly beyond my ability level. The only drawback was the crowds, which of course Paducah is famed for, a product of the mismatch between the event and the venue. It was difficult to give each quilt more than a moment of attention, with people crossing in front of you and bumping you from behind almost constantly. The situation was made even worse by the close prox-imity of busy ven-dors to the quilt displays. Elbow-knocking was clearly the order of the day! Many of our compan-ions complained about this, won-dering why AQS doesn’t move the show to a bigger city, but it is clear the AQS founders have no intention of moving the biggest tourist draw of the year away from their home town. They ARE planning another show later this year, though, at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville the first weekend of Septem-ber.

The vendors were all doing fast-paced busi-ness, and after about an hour of too much input,

both visual and physical, we just had to get away a bit. We opted to take the shuttle bus downtown, which afforded us sort of a bird’s eye tour of the town. Paducah has seen better days from the quick look we got, although it apparently revitalizes somewhat each year for this week in April. Storefronts that are obviously unoccu-pied the rest of the year were turned into tempo-

rary quarters for some of the larger vendors. One cavernous build-ing housed a craft display in one end and a clean-ing solution sales demo in the other. I stopped for the demo and wound up purchasing a bottle of Immacu-10. A permanent shop had someone spinning wool in the window, and I came away with

some too cute Christmas bags featuring Santas with homegrown wool beards. We saw more vin-tage UFOs and block sets that day than I see in a couple of years combined in Atlanta and there were antique quilts galore.

Downtown has some nice antique shops that live there year round, as well as a fine selection of restaurants and boutiques. My favorite build-

5The Virtual Quilt

ing was the old theatre, which sports a beautiful blue and white facade, reminiscent of Delft china. There’s just something amazing about a whole

town turned upside-down over quilting.We took the city bus back and caught the rest of

the show and vendors we had missed, including a quick visit with a very busy Penny McMorris and Dean Neumann at the Electric Quilt booth. Weary by now, and getting within 90 minutes of our bus pick-up, we opted to walk over to the museum and just go through the gift shop. The museum itself is a low, graceful, modern structure set artfully in an expanse of grass with curving side-walks, not far from the river. It has gorgeous stained glass windows and a quiet spa-ciousness inside that is in dramatic contrast to the noisy, crowded Executive Inn. It would have been a nice place to spend an hour or two, becoming familiar with their permanent collec-

tion, but since we didn’t have the time we put it on our list for a future visit - probably at some time other than late April!

The last promised stop of the day was at Han-cock’s of Paducah, the famous local fabric store (not affiliated with the national chain). A couple of miles down the main drag from the convention center, Hancock’s is in a warehouse-style build-ing that seems to cover a couple of acres - all of it filled with fabric! Their sheer selection was over-whelming. Every pos-sible fabric line was displayed, many in mul-tiple bolts, and the prices, while not rock bottom, were reasonable. They also had a large selection of upholstery fabric at

significant markdowns, and the famous “back room” where they sell their remnants, was over-whelming all by itself. Even with the large crowd of show-goers, the lines were not impossible,

Outside the convention center.

Claustrophobic crowds inside the show.

6The Virtual Quilt

though we ended up not buying anything, dazed by so many choices. This store is another reason for a visit to Paducah, perhaps at a less distract-ing time.

We boarded the bus again at about 8 p.m. to head back to Atlanta. The driver announced that because of our delays we wouldn’t be getting back home until close to dawn, so the time for a

snooze was definitely at hand. Except, first, there was another movie (“The American President”) and lots of gossip and comparing of treasures bought this day. After a fitful night of dozing, we arrived home stiff but happy, just in time for the weekend!

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7The Virtual Quilt

SCHOOLHOUSEENTERPRISESAmazing but true!

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8The Virtual Quilt

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9The Virtual Quilt

Quilter’s Heritage, Lancaster, PAByCarolMiller

Quilter’s Heritage is held in the spring in Lan-caster, PA. Most years it is held the first week of April but, be warned, next year it will be March 15-18. This is a one time change.

Lancaster obviously makes us think of Amish quilts and rightly so. The entire area is awash in quilts, both the black backgrounds with bright solids that the Amish make for themselves and the light backgrounds with print fabrics that they make for the “outlander” market. The Amish may have declined to join the gadgetry of the twentieth century but they understand mar-keting perfectly.

This was my second trip to the area. Three years ago I convinced my husband that this show was the perfect place to spend our 25th wedding anniversary.

On this trip, I went by myself, driving the 4-1/2 hour trip alone. I man-aged to do this with only two “excuse me, but I’m lost” stops. I had agreed to work as a demonstra-tor in the Electric Quilt booth on Thursday and Friday. I also wanted to drive out in the country to Sauder’s, a shop housed in the basement of a Mennonite farmhouse.

My original plan was to be there when the shop opened on Friday morning (8 a.m.) and be back for the show opening at 10. Imagine my surprise to discover the show opened at 9 each day! The EQ people were very understanding and told me just to get there whenever I finished shopping.

QUILT SHOW REVIEW

Quilter’s Heritage is held at the Lancaster Host, a hotel which apparently promotes itself to people who enjoy outdoor sports. The complex includes a golf course and both indoor and out-door tennis courts. The indoor courts become the large display hall for the quilts and vendors.

To get there, you make a healthy hike down to the foot of the hill. That’s the easy part. When you are finished, you get to come back UP the hill.

The show also uses the Lampeter Ballroom on the main floor and the Distlefink Ballroom in the lower lever for quilts and vendors. That makes it sound like there are lots of both, doesn’t it? Not so. There were only about 35 vendors in all and most of those were extremely country and traditional. Very few of them carried any fabric at all. The two excep-tions that I can think of are Primrose Grada-tions, lovely hand dyed

fabric from Minnesota, and Mickey Lawler’s Sky-dyes, hand painted fabrics in a class by them-selves.

Across the street at the Continental Hotel, a renegade group of vendors has established a “separate” show. They have crammed vendors into every nook and cranny, some in places with little light and less ventilation. This group has a lot more fabric although most of it, with the exception of the booth My Hands to Thee, was again almost totally country.

Perhaps I should have expected this in the midst of Amish Country, but Mid-Atlantic is in

Moonlight and Kangaroos. Nancy S. Brown, Oakland, CA. 3rd Place, Pictorial, QHC

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Williamsburg and the tone of the show does not reflect Colonial tastes.

According to the printed program there were 14 Pieced Traditional quilts, only 10 Pieced Inno-vative, 15 Applique, 8 Other Techniques. Those are amazingly small numbers. The big categories were: 68 Wall Quilts, 22 Team/Group quilts, 37 Pictorial, 21 Miniature. That means there were fewer large quilts (the first four categories) IN TOTAL than there were Wall Quilts.

This makes me wonder if the best, brightest, and biggest quilts were sent to Paducah since this year’s schedule made it impossible for quilts to be shown in both venues.

Now I’m not an expert but I have been quilting for over 20 years and visiting shows for at least 15. I looked at the judge’s choices for many of the categories and I was totally mystified. I don’t want to risk libel by naming particular pieces but some of the winners showed no originality and poor workmanship. As viewers, I’m beginning to think we need to insist on a judges sheet by the winners telling us WHY this quilt was chosen. We certainly aren’t learning anything by just looking for ourselves.

So now you’re saying to yourself, geez, is this woman ever going to stop whining? Yep. Actu-ally I had a terrific time and the reason is the same as always - the people were terrific.

Thursday I ate with about 18 people at Miller’s, a delicious buffet (although it has gotten awfully pricey at $23.00). Next door is the Tee Shop where I found some terrific shirts with quilt designs on them and a grand hat for summer.

I thoroughly enjoyed demonstrating in the EQ

booth for two days. Those people are unbeliev-ably nice - they even had cards printed with my name on them! Friday we ate at the Starfish Res-taurant at one of the nearby towns. It was quite nice - even the chef came out to see if everything was okay.

You could buy your lunch in advance when you registered for class. I did this for all

three days and it was great. You didn’t have to stand in line and the food was won-derful. Unlike Houston where every mealtime was a contest to see how much they could charge you, this was quite reasonable.

Friday’s trip to Saud-er’s was a roaring suc-cess. I bought (now don’t laugh) 58 yards of fabric. I had a good reason - really. I had just received a com-mission to make three quilts. Now I realize that 58 yards will make more than three quilts BUT, I divided my yardage into my expen-diture and I paid LESS than $3.25 per yard for my booty. Could you

have resisted batiks at that price? If you could, you are a stronger woman than I am.

Saturday, I took a Landscape Design class with Mickey Lawler. This was totally addictive and I foresee many yards of fabric turning itself into lots of little pieces in the near future. We each brought a picture to use as a color guide and cut out fabrics that came close to the picture in color and texture. We put those pieces on a design wall. Most of us totally laid out our landscape by the end of the day and brought it home pinned in place to be sewn at leisure. It was terrific not to lug a sewing machine.

The weather added a delightful side interest. It was freezing when I arrived on Wednesday. By

Stars 2000. Lisa Haugh, Hanover, PA. 2ndPlace, QHC, Pieced Innovative

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MY FAVORITE THIMBLE GREAT NEWS - The My Favorite Thimble RE-COATING KIT is now available.

If you have been pleased with My Favorite Thimble but wish the rubber coating would last longer, we now have a solution. Each Kit contains enough material to repair your thimble approximately 10 times. It’s quick and easy, and you could even use the Kit to add a rubber coating to any brand of metal thimble.

Visit our web site at www.myfavoritethimble.com for details and receive a FREE gift with any order. This month the gift is a sample pack of My Favorite Fabrics Note Cards.

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Thursday, it warmed up to short sleeve weather. Friday was pleasant but winds gusted to 45 MPH and most of Lancaster County lost power (hap-pily, not us!). Saturday dawned beautiful but gusty and then around 3:30, the temps dropped 20 degrees and it rained like crazy. This was topped off by waking up Sunday morning to sev-eral inches of snow on the cars.

This brings us to the embarrassing part of the program. Here’s where I go out to scrape my car, turn it on so it will warm up, hit the electric locks so I can put the packages from the trunk into the back seat to make room for my suitcase and yes, you guessed it - locked the durn car. If you heard a loud scream about 8 a.m. EDT on April 9, that would have been me. I knew it happened the minute the door shut. It was probably the most irritating thing I have ever done. I mean, my husband was 340 miles away. There was no WAY I could blame him for this.

The trunk was open and I climbed in to see if the fold down back seats could be released. Natu-rally not. So I trudged back to the office (which I am not parked anywhere near) to report my stupidity and beg for help. They call a 24-hour service. It takes him about 20 minutes to get there. While I’m waiting, I finish scraping the snow off and snap my scraper in half. The car is still running. Did I mention my purse is in the

car and I am almost out of gas? I mean, it doesn’t GET any better than this, right?

Uh-huh. Actually, it does. The last person to have the tow truck didn’t put the lock kit back. So we drive around Lancaster trying to find it. We never do and he promises me that heads will roll on Monday, but that doesn’t actually make ME feel any better.

Finally, a little old man joins him and together they wedge my window and stick a coat hanger in there. I have one of those theft proof Japanese cars where there is nothing for the coat hanger to grab hold of . Actually, I was pretty gratified to see how hard it is to break into my car.

At last, miraculously, they are in. The car is still running and the snow has stopped. Something is finally going right. I grab my suitcase from the lobby and hustle down to get gas. Then, finally, only two hours later than originally planned, I headed home.

And you know what, I’ll probably go again NEXT year!

Carol Miller is dean of QuiltUniversity.com, the site where you can take quilt classes online. Carol can be reached at webmstress@quiltuniversity.com.

12The Virtual Quilt

GREENHAVENGreenhaven, a bed and breakfast retreat especially for Quilters, on the Olympic Peninsula.

Visit Washington State and stay with a quilter, and her cat Oliver.The Herbolds live just outside of Sunny Sequim. Their home, set in the tall trees, is warm,

pleasant, and affordable.Norma can direct you to quilt shops in the area, plus the natural wonders located on the

Olympic Peninsula. For those in the Northwest, Norma can also plan a personal retreat for you and your quilting friends.

You are invited to visit the website for Greenhaven, where you can check out Norma’s quilts, learn more about Sequim, and of course, see Oliver. The address is: http://www.olypen.com/normah

You may email Norma at normah@olypen.com or call 360-681-0364 for more information.

THE CRAFT CONNECTIONThe Craft Connection (http://www.craftconn.com/) is the most exciting place on the Internet if

you want to make or sell handcrafts. We sell quality cotton fabric, Mettler and Sulky thread, and quilting notions, all at a discount. Fabrics are linked to coordinating fabrics, so you know your choices will look great together. We try to find fabrics you won’t see anywhere else. And we’ll package them into packets of fat eighths, fat quarters, or 5” squares, so you can get a good variety without a big cash outlay. Among our fabric categories are florals, pictorials, and guy stuff, and you should see the new Lost Fabrics of Atlantis collection.

Every month some items are for sale at 20 percent off our already discounted prices. You can use your credit card online on our secure server to safely purchase our fabrics and also our crafters’ products. If you’re a crafter, you can sell here and take credit cards without having your own credit card vendor account.

Check out our Free Stuff. Each month we offer a new pattern and a new lesson. We also have a Calendar of upcoming Quilt Shows. Come by our website at http://www.craftconn.com.

THEQUILTBLOCKWe are a cottage industry located just outside of Yosemite National Park. We specialize in clothing

and patterns for quilters and for people who love quilts.We offer t-shirts and sweatshirts in sizes from medium to xxx-large. All of our quilts are machine

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Paper Piecing, In Japanese!Paper Foundation Piecing Sumiko Minei Patchwork Tsushin,Co., Ltd. 5-28-3 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 Japan email: patchwork@viq.com 1238 yen ($11.72 as of April 2000) +S&H105 pages

ReviewedbyChristinaHolland

This delightful book probably hasn’t graced the shelves of your favorite local bookstore. It presents a challenge, but if you like paper piec-ing, I think you’ll find it’s worthwhile, with pat-terns you aren’t likely to see anywhere else. The uniquely Japanese pat-terns in particular are sure to please.

The challenge is, it’s written in Japanese. No, I don’t speak or read Jap-anese; that one semester some ten years ago just isn’t helping me much here. When a thoughtful TVQ reader sent me this book almost a year ago, I loved it and wanted to review it right away, but I tried unsuccessfully to get a friend to translate it first.

The thing about it is, though, that you can get a lot of enjoyment out of this book without even being able to read the text. It is first and foremost a pattern book, and the patterns can easily cross the language barrier.

Such patterns they are, too! There are eighty-two patterns in all, with some-

BOOK REVIEW

thing for everybody. For the traditionalists, there are the geometrics: the pinwheels, baskets, leaves, stars, swirls, and more. There’s even a paper piec-ing pattern for a double wedding ring.

Also featured are nine flowers of exquisite detail, including a cherry blossom, an Easter lily and a carnation. Then of course there are the seasonal designs. From Santa Claus to a flying witch and a friendly looking ghost (and much more), these patterns should keep you busy all year round.

My favorites have to be the Japanese images, though. Come on, where else are you going to find a pattern for a sumo wrestler? Or how about a samurai warrior?

My husband loves Japanese things. That’s either due to living in Hawaii for a couple of years, or to his lifelong fascination with Godzilla movies; I’m not sure which. I’ll be making him a big fluffy pillow soon to lounge against when-ever he watches the big G tear Tokyo apart. I can’t think of better patterns to use for that than the ones found in this book.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that the text is very good, too. There are fifteen pages in the beginning which cover needed materials and general step by step paper piecing instruc-

tions, along with some specialized instructions. So if you haven’t done paper piecing before, and you don’t read Japanese, you might want to use this book along with another general paper piec-ing book. Or, if you’re feeling insightful, forge ahead - the instructions are accompanied by step by step color photographs and diagrams.

14The Virtual Quilt

I did run into trouble temporarily, which I suspect would have been avoided if I could read the directions. Many of the patterns are meant to be completed in stages, piecing two or more sections separately before assembling the components into the complete block. That’s not always apparent just from the picture. Taking the time, before starting to stitch, to make sure you know which pieces are pieced in what order will save you trouble later.

I don’t think you’ll regret buying this book. You’ll find something a little different there, fun and charming patterns to bring a new perspective to your next quilting project.

SILVERDOLLARSHEEPSTATION

What is small, soft, and furry and kind to your sewing machine and serger?

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15The Virtual Quilt

Patchwork & quilting exibition in ItalyMany events are scheduled for the year 2000 in Bassano del Grappa. Among them the Patchwork &

Quilting exibition will open in December with the support of the City Hall.This will take a place in two buildings: the municipal tourist building in Largo Corona d ‘Italia

Square, and the prestigious Palazzo Roberti, which gave hospitality to Napoleon, in Jacopo da Ponte, 34 Street, recently returned to its former splendor after an accurate restoration.

Many patchwork pieces of the local “Casa Patchwork e Quilting” will be displayed.Although patchwork originated in North Europe and in the United States, during recent years it

has developed in Italy thanks to the good performed by “Quilt Italia.”The exibition will be from 2 to 17 December 2000 : Monday through Saturday 9:30 - 12:30 and 3:30

- 7:30 Sunday 10:30 - 12:30 and 3:30 - 7:30.For information please contact Giuliana Nicoli Andretta, head of “Casa Patchwork e Quilting “

telephone: 00390424502906, fax: 00390424524840, e-mail: andretta@libero.it

Quilts and the Australian ParalympicsQUILTS 2000 is a officially endorsed fundraising project for the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.

Over 2000 quilters have donated 630 quilts which are currently for sale through exhibitions and the web at www.Quilts2000.org.au. This is the largest fund raiser in the world using quilts and QUILTS 2000 hopes to raise $500,000 for the paralympic games in Sydney. All the quilts will be on exhibit during the paralympic games October 18-29 at Sydney Olympic Park and many of the quilts will create an Australian flavor in the athletes village.

Two special QUILTS 2000 days are planned during the paralympic games on Sat 21, Sun 22 October when special quilt-related events will take place side by side with the many exciting sporting events.

The site is one of the largest virtual quilt shows on the net. 40% of the collection has already sold in ten weeks which is certainly a record in Australia with several very significant sales which are all recorded on the site - http://www.Quilts2000.org.au. Contact is Karen Fail at mailto:failkandp@bigpond.com

CHARMS AND SCHNIBBLES:

News Notes from All Over

PINETREE QUILTWORKS, Ltd.http://www.quiltworks.com

PineTree Quiltworks has been growing by leaps and bounds and has made a major commitment to keeping certain “staples” in stock. These include the full lines of: Marbles by Patrick Lose for Hi Fashion, Basic Realities (formerly called Palette) by Jinny Beyer for RJR, Fossil Fern (from Benartex), the 1895 series batiks from Hoffman ...

Please stop by PineTree’s store at www.quiltworks.com, click on What’s New to see the latest additions, and remember to make a bookmark!

16The Virtual Quilt

byCeliaEddy

Although I’m not aware that there was a particularly strong patchwork and quilting tradition in West Cumbria, in the far north west of England, quilts and coverlets were cer-tainly made here and a few of them have survived. I have two examples, both acquired from local fami-lies who wanted them to “go to a good home”.

The one I want to tell you about now is a cotton coverlet inscribed in Indian ink on the back: M.Myers 1868. There’s no wadding between the pieced strips on the front and the calico backing fabric, so that means it’s a coverlet and not a quilt. The whole visual effect of it is light and airy; a fresh, sum-mery bed-covering. It’s reasonable to assume that it was made here in Maryport since it had been handed down to the previous owner through her family.

The curious thing about this coverlet is that it is made entirely by machine, which, given that it is generally accepted that the sewing machine only came into common domestic use in about 1864, makes this an interesting example of the prompt application of modern technology to a traditional domestic activity. The strips are pieced by machine and the whole surface is machined in a diamond grid of straight diagonal lines.

The coverlet is a generous double-bed size, measuring 82” X 90”. It is made from 15 X 5-1/2” strips, ten of which are of print fabrics, flowers and sprigs, all with a white background, the remaining five being of dark print fabric. This dark fabric has faded to various shades of brown ranging from light to medium, but I have an

idea that origi-nally it may have been lilac or purple. Why do I think that? Well, although purple was a popular colour from the latter part of the eighteenth cen-tury until well into the twenti-eth, the process by which it was produced prior to the introduc-tion of synthetic dyes in about 1868 involved the use of an iron mordant. In Quilt

Treasures it is noted that “During the documenta-tion sessions a defect of iron purple was noticed in quilts from all periods. It seemed to revert to a brown through oxidisation!”

The intriguing thing is that while the white prints are in good condition, with no evidence of wear or shattering, the dark prints show very extensive wear and, in places, have disintegrated. If my theory, mentioned above, that these are iron-mordanted prints, is correct, could this have been a contributing factor to their poor condition relative to the white prints? The fabrics appear to be from a specific range of prints: all of the same quality and texture, the only distinction being in the printed patterns, although even these are

QUILT HERITAGE: Great BritainBritish Quilt Traditions, A North Country Coverlet of 1868, some textile history and some notes on care and conservation of historic textiles

Section of coverlet showing light and dark fabrics used.

17The Virtual Quilt

clearly part of the same range of designs. One might almost imagine that they would have been off-cuts, remnants or fents, from a textile factory. This is not impossible, given the proximity of Maryport to Carlisle, once a thriving UK textile centre. Visiting the local fabric archives, of which there are several in Carlisle, will be my next move in trying to identify these fabrics and to date them.

Preservingthecoverlet

The condition of this coverlet raises some inter-esting questions about how to preserve it, which in turn throw light on some general questions surrounding the care and conser-vation of textiles. As I said above, most of the fabric is in good heart and the areas of wear are very defined. Although there is some staining on it, it looks and smells quite clean, which comes as no surprise knowing the family who owned it! I’m sure this coverlet would have gone through the wash time and time again. So, since in general one would avoid immersing any textile in water without taking strict precautions to check the way in which the fabrics and, importantly, dyes, will react to it, I’ve decided not to wash this coverlet, particularly having regard to the damaged portions. Although it looks clean, it IS old and, inevitably, dust and dirt accumulate in fabrics. It’s always sensible to remove as much of this as possible because the tiny particles of dust and dirt are in fact gritty and will, inevitably, cause wear.

Here’s what I shall do to surface-clean the cov-erlet, and it’s a method you can apply to textiles

of any sort: use the small, flat head (what you’d use for curtains or upholstery) of a hand-held vacuum cleaner. Cover the head with light, thin cotton fabric, such as muslin or cotton gauze. Use the lowest suction possible and run the head over the entire surface of the object. You’ll be amazed how much dirt this lifts out.

Now, what am I going to do about the dam-aged areas of fabric? I know that some people like to try to repair patchworks and quilts by replac-ing patches or patching over damaged areas. The problem with that is that your textile will end up as part modern, part old. Even if you’re able to track down appropriate reproduction

fabrics (and they are easily avail-able now) the old and new fabrics are unlikely to sit well together -- although I have seen it done suc-cessfully. Person-ally, I don’t as a rule attempt to repair textiles, but prefer to try to preserve them by arresting any fur-ther deterioration. One good way of doing this is by “netting”, by which I mean cov-ering the dam-

aged area with fine net and gently hemming it down to the nearest good areas of fabric. This not only prevents further wear but also means that you can still see the original fabrics -- or what remains of them.

In the case of my coverlet, the problem is that I’ll have to net over five complete strips. How-ever, that’s more time-consuming than arduous so that’s what I intend to do. Next question: what do you use for the netting and where do you get it? Well, the specialist textile conservation suppliers stock a fabric called crepeline, which is extremely sheer silk and, undoubtedly, is the fabric of choice. But it’s very expensive and for

Part of dark strip showing extreme wear and ‘shattering’ of fabric.

18The Virtual Quilt

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the amount I need the cost would be prohibitive. Fortunately, a supplier of a less expensive, but satisfactory, alternative has been found. Their 45” wide cotton netting is perfect and I estimate I’ll need just over 2 metres for the job in hand. What do I mean by “satisfactory”? First, the netting must NOT be synthetic as synthetics are harsh and could themselves cause wear. Check that the netting is silk or cotton. Next, the netting must not fray because if it does you have to turn the edges under to sew them down and you end up with a double thickness at that point.

A final point, in undertaking any restoration project, do try to take Before and After photo-graphs of the item.

Note I should be most interested if anyone can throw more light on the reasons for the extreme wear and tear on the dark fabrics, as described above.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

Quilt Treasures, The Three Year Documenta-tion Project of The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles The Quilters’ Guild and Deirdre McDonald Books, 1995 ISBN 1 898094 09 8

Janet Rae, The Quilts of the British Isles E. P. Dutton, N.Y.1987 ISBN 0 525 488348 1

© Celia Eddy 2000

Celia Eddy lives in northern England and is the author/editor of The Quilter’s Handbook. She can be reached by e-mail at

celia@eddy.u-net.com. Her website, QuiltStory, is at http://www.quilt.co.uk

19The Virtual Quilt

PCQuilt for WindowsPCQuilt for Windows is easy to learn and

easy to use quilting software. The block and the quilt are on the same screen so you can see your quilt emerge as you design and color your blocks. Combine blocks in a vari-ety of ways to see endless new designs. The program includes all the features that have always made PCQuilt easy and fun to use.

Now with the new Windows version, PCQuilt will help you estimate your yard-age, print templates, quilts and blocks, and has a friendly Windows interface with easy to use toolbars. PCQuilt comes with a exten-sive library of blocks, border, quilts, palettes and fabric patterns.

PCQuilt is also available for the Macintosh. Look for PCQuilt at your local Husqvarna VIKING Dealer or visit our website at

http://www.pcquilt.com

IMPORTANT SUBSCRIPTION ANNOUNCEMENT!

As of December 31, 1999, The Virtual Quilt newsletter has temporarily suspended new and renewal subscriptions. We are in the process of transitioning to a new subscription system early in 2000. All current subscribers will continue to receive TVQ without interruption, even if their subscription lapses. We will announce the new subscription procedures and benefits in a future TVQ and post them at our website at http://planetpatchwork.com. We know you will like them, but we need to work out the details before we make the change. We have NOT suspended publication, just new and renewal subscriptions.

Anyone who would like to subscribe to the publication during this interim period should send their name, address, and e-mail address to rholland@planetpatchwork.com and state in the message “I would like an interim subscription to TVQ.” An interim subscription will be entered in your name and you will begin to receive TVQ immediately. There is no charge for this interim subscription and it does not obligate you to any payment later.

Current subscribers do not need to renew during this period!

If you have questions, please e-mail us at rholland@planetpatchwork.com.

Thanks for your interest and support!

20The Virtual Quilt

Like any news publication, TVQ is always hungry for information about new developments in the area we are trying to cover. If you have an idea for a story, or want to tell the world about something you are doing which relates to computers and quilting, we’d like to hear about it.We’d like news of new classes starting up to teach quilt design on computers, or new approaches to that teaching. New products, maillists, World Wide Web pages, etc., are all fair game, and we’d appreciate any tips you can provide. Send your tips by e-mail to rholland@atlanta.com.If you have a comment about an article, a complaint or a correction, we’re glad to hear that, too, and may publish some comments as letters to the editor. Again, these may be sent to rholland@atlanta.com.

COMMENTS, QUESTIONS, NEWS, IDEAS, BRICKBATS? The

Virtual Quilt

A Newsletter for Computing Quilters

Editor and Publisher: Robert Holland, Decatur, GA

Copyright (c) 2000 by Robert Holland. All rights reserved. This file may not be reproduced in any form except to be printed out for the personal use of the subscriber without the expressed, written consent of the copyright holder.

Layout: C. Holland

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