Vintage Quilts - Growing the Collection

 Sometimes I joke with people that we "have one of everything in our barn".  But really, I sometimes think we do.  My FIL has been going through boxes and such and pulled out three quilts and a blanket earlier this summer.  I have spent the whole summer and early fall airing them out.

Mothballs.

Don't do it people.  Balls of stink and cancer.

 On to the quilts.  This first one is wool and flannel.  All the patches are wool selvedges.

 It is most likely that my FIL's grandmother made these, and probably mostly when they lived in Chicago during WWII.  She would have had access to men's suiting cut offs in a place like Chicago.

 They are stacked with the selvedge edge up just like our selvedge quilts today.

 Tied with red yarn.  The "binding" and backing are flannel.  Inside?  An old tied plain comforter.  This one probably weighs at least five pounds!

 Up next is one made of muslin and shirtings.  The blocks are nine patches.

 This one has seen a lot of love/wear.  The edges are quite tattered and the shirtings are wearing through in places.

 The "batting" is a cotton blanket.  Here you can see a corner of it coming out.  The whole quilt is hand quilting.  No binding, rather a knife edge.

 The back is mostly one large piece of muslin.

 There are a couple of patches sewn on as well.

 This one isn't really a quilt, as such.  From what I can tell there is not an actual layer of batting inside.  It is instead a couple pieces of fabric or sheets sewn together and then tied.

 Perhaps a summer weight covering?  This one is actually in perfect condition.

 Lastly is this log cabin quilt.  Again, very heavy because of the tied comforter inside.

 Now that they've lost their stink, they've been stored with the other vintage quilts. 

Vintage Quilts in My Home

This month I have been participating on the Soak Photo Challenge on Instagram.  You can find me @rachel_thelifeofriley on there.

Day 21 Was Vintage.  You see, I have a few vintage quilts and tops hanging out in my closet.  They come from my father-in-laws family.   The photo challenge got me to pull them all out.  I hadn't looked at them in years, and it was great fun to pull them out and look.  And then I figured since they were all out, I'd share them with you. (see I'm generous like that)

 First up is this flimsy.  Obviously scrappy.  Those are real feed sack fabrics in there.  No reproductions here.  Also quite a few shirtings, as well.  According to Jinny Beyer's book, the block is called Grandmother's choice.  At least that was the most similar block I could find.

 The background is an unbleached muslin.  Its in very good shape.  I only found a couple of dirty areas, but I think that they could easily be washed out.  Definitely a candidate for being finished.

 A shot of the back of one of the blocks shows that the top was machine pieced.  All in white thread.

 The next flimsy are these stars that have been appliqued on to individual muslin back ground squares that were then pieced together.  The stars are blanket stitched with a thick red yarn.  Notice that the blanket stitch is backwards from how you usually see it.  In this case the solid line on on the star, not the edge.

 The stars are somewhat scrappy, but you will notice that the fabrics are all plaid, checked, or striped.  This top is in good shape, as well.  However there are some areas where the color has run/transferred either from the red yarn, or the fabrics themselves.

 This one is quite interesting.  A column quilt top of sorts. 

 This black and white section is actually a cheater cloth and is also double layered, so the front and the back are the same, with no 'wrong side'.

 The colored sections are pieced.

Hello Flying Geese!  This one is cot sized.  It isn't technically a quilt, although it is pieced and finished.  There is no batting in the middle and the top and bottom are connected only around the edges, no tying or quilting.  I think that makes it a Coverlet. (feel free to correct me if you know)

 It was also used.  There are a few worn areas at the "top" of the coverlet and a couple of holes.  The background is an unbleached muslin, as is the back.

This one makes my heart sing.  Blue and White stars in really good condition.  I can't help but wonder if this was a 'good' quilt.

Some interesting things to notice about this one.  The back ground pieces are partly unbleached muslin and partly plain feed sacks.

See the printing on the corner block?

Also look closely behind the muslin fabric. See the plaid?  That is the "batting".  My best guess is that it is a heavier blanket, maybe flannel?  The quilt is tied, as you can see.

 The quilt is finished with what I think is called a 'knife edge', where the two layers are folded in and then the edge was finished with a running stitch.  The blue floral is the backing.  It looks to be many pieces pieced together - feed sacks?

 This Churn Dash quilt (or Monkey Wrench) is the one I shared on IG.  The backgrounds for the Churn Dash Pieces are all shirtings.  The sashing is unbleached muslin.

I'm not sure what the batting is in this one, but it is surprisingly heavy for how thin it is.

 This quilt is also in really good shape.  Also tied like the last one.

 And the backing?  All feed sacks turned over!  This one reads "Bakers Flour Co, Chicago, IL, Bleached Flour, None Better, CrackerJack.

These were all made by my Father-in-law's grandmother - Dora.  My guess is probably during the Second World War or before?  I know that they lived in Chicago during the war to work.  I'll have to ask some more questions and make up some labels for these beautiful works. 

Hope you enjoyed this little tour.