A Vintage Inspired Quilt – Looking back, Moving forward

The Island Batik Ambassador Challenge for April is “Looking Back: Vintage Quilts Inspiring New Creations”.

And I am having a ball. The only trouble with looking back as you’re moving forward, is that you can get tripped up…… and end up down a rabbit hole……..

So, where to begin?

I can’t possibly tell you everything I have explored under the topic “Vintage Inspired Quilts” lately, but it is fair to say that I wasn’t really sure where to start with this challenge. “Vintage” is a category of quilt that I thought I didn’t like very much. When I think vintage quilt, I immediately think “muted, dull, brown”. Which doesn’t agree with me, nor with my idea of batik quilts.

Do you see what I did there?! I said “I thought I didn’t like vintage quilts”. Past tense. I’m doing that a lot lately, with all the Island Batik challenges. It is doing me much good to be gently stretched!

It turns out that there are some very cool vintage inspired quilt creations out there. Even some Australian flavoured ones. Let me tell you about one I have long admired, and then, about my newest quilt infatuation……

Where to begin?

I found the internet to be much too big a rabbit hole on vintage quilts, so for the first time in a long time, I borrowed a real book from my local library. I decided to try to stick to Australian vintage/antique quilt history to narrow things down a bit. And the authoritative voice on that topic is this impressive tome. “The Fabric of Society – Australia’s Quilt Heritage from Convict Times to 1960” by Annette Gero. 

The reason why I knew that this book exists, is that years ago I stumbled onto the Gum Valley Patchwork blog written by Linda. She has taken the process of reproducing a vintage quilt to a whole new level! 

In 2010-2011 Linda stitched a hexagon quilt of 17,977 hexagons smaller than the size of her fingertip to reproduce a quilt she found in “The Fabric of Society”. Yup. And those tiny hexies were bigger than in the original!! I know, right!! Here is the original patchwork she was inspired by…. three hexies fit under an Aussie 5c coin!

It is hard not to be gobsmacked by Linda’s hexagon quilt either, which is called “Dear Prudence”. If you are even remotely interested in epic quilts, you’ll want to read about it, trust me! I was so fascinated at the time that I even bought and read the pattern booklet Linda wrote about the process ( I am not associated with Linda White or Gum Valley Quilts in any way.) 

A New Creation

Since then, Linda has made a second hexie quilt of her own original design and 22,500 hexies called “Elenor Jean”. Linda has two daughters, so she had to make two “once-in-a-lifetime” quilts! I was lucky enough to see “Elenor Jean” in the flesh in 2015 after it had won the Bernina Best in Australia and was doing a national tour. Just Amazing! Because by then I had connected with this quilt’s backstory, I was even more super impressed than usual. And also my paternal Grandmother’s name was Elenor. 🙂

Linda has also produced a pattern booklet for “Elenor Jean”. I only found that out from Linda herself today, so I haven’t seen it, but I imagine it is as good as the Dear Prudence pattern. 

Anyway, I kind of digress…… the point is that, thanks to Linda’s amazing skills, I remembered and re-borrowed the “The Fabric of Society” to search for some Australian vintage quilt inspiration of my own. And in the book I found…….

……… lots and lots of…… dull, muted, brownish quilts……. And all creative thoughts ground to a halt.

Letting things sort and simmer

Luckily for me, I started my search for vintage inspiration early. Because at first I was totally Not. Inspired. to match anything in “The Fabric of Society” with the fabrics that Island Batik has given me for the Ambassador program.

But then something grew on me…….

The first spark of an idea occurred when I went to the South Australian Art Gallery with my daughter and saw the William Morris display (c1880). You can read about that little prelude in this post. It actually ended up shaping my final design choices a great deal.

Then, a few weekends ago, Paul and I had a rare weekend away in the Adelaide Hills and spent a morning in a village called Hahndorf. Hahndorf has a lot of German immigrant heritage and a significant number of the farm and town buildings and layout have been preserved from the mid 1800’s. So it is a very touristy spot. Which means it boasts a large number of artisans and specialty food outlets per capita and visiting is a marvellous way to spend half a day. After gently unwinding at Hahndorf in the shadow of the 19th century, I was in a much more vintage creative mindset.

Back at our accommodation, and after paparazzing some galahs, I had another look at “The Fabric of Society”. A long in-depth relaxed look, not a “flipping pages, desperately looking for inspiration” look. And I finally noticed this…..

Auntie Green’s Floral Appliqué Coverlet

This coverlet was made by Mary Ann Wellen c1860. It was made in London, but has spent most of its life in New Zealand and then Australia.

On first glance, I had written off this coverlet as just another antique floral appliqué quilt. Even though it made the inside cover of “The Fabric of Society”. But once I actually stopped and looked at it, this quilt drew me in. And then drew me in some more. While this quilt has a lot of structure, each piece is unique, and each block is unique, as if made on the fly. Annette Gero also comments that there appears to have been no formal pattern for this quilt. And the variety of motifs used in the flower clusters is huge. There is even some broderie perse thrown in for good measure! The more you look at this quilt, the more you see. And that’s entirely why I have fallen in love with it.

A structured improv appliqué vintage inspired quilt….. now that is an idea that appeals!

I am not the only one to think this quilt is worthy of a modern re-make. You can even find a quilt pattern based on Auntie Green’s Coverlet here. 

I’ve looked backwards, now to move forwards….. my vintage inspired quilt idea

I briefly had grand visions of using my newly polished turned-edge appliqué skills to whip up something Auntie Green-ish. LOL! But a reproduction of Auntie Green’s Coverlet, by turned-edge appliqué is a long term project indeed. Totally unsuitable for a monthly challenge. And since we are actually encouraged to create something new….

I decided I will do Auntie Green’s tribute quilt in raw-edge appliqué. But not just any old raw-edge appliqué…… shadow appliqué. I will also only do the equivalent of the centre portion of Auntie Green’s Coverlet. And here is where we get back to William Morris. My design is also going to incorporate ideas from the vintage Morris strawberry thief and rabbit fabric prints I saw in the Art Gallery. Just as one of my wonderful readers, Thunder, suggested in response to my Strawberry Thief post. 

Thanks Thunder! 

By the way, I haven’t done shadow appliqué before. But no, I am not a completely rabid rabbit….. I did a trial run this week, and I enjoyed it. And I have ended up with a cushion cover made from scraps and stash. I will tell you more about that on Monday, as part of the monthly Craft Room Destash blog hop I like to participate in when I can. Here’s a preview……

But now I must be off.  I have to go make a 36″ square or larger Auntie Green-inspired quilt for the Island Batik challenge. Before I fall into any more rabbit holes.

P.S. If you like modern takes on vintage appliqué, you may also enjoy another Australian blog, Tazzie Quilts. Tazzie Quilts is written by Tara Sniedze, another quilter local to me, who makes award-winning quilts.

---

Would you like to keep in touch with Clever Chameleon and the fun quilty ideas I design as well as find all over the internet? You can follow directly for email updates, or through Bloglovin’, Pinterest or FB. All your follow options can be found here.