Fabric Flowers

Fabric Flowers

At my Charmers Ladies Small Quilt Group in January, I brought a hand-work project to try making a fabric flower from 6 3-inch circles of fabric.  I used dental floss for the thread, because it needed to be strong.  It worked great!

It went so well, I should have brought a few more kits to make more flowers.

 

I can use up some of the buttons in my stash that I saved for journal closures. 

This is the tutorial I used for both pointy and round-petaled flowers.

 

I love the pearls and sparkle on this one, but I think it might be a little too big for this little flower?

 

 

Expect a few more of these ...   

This may be my contribution to the boutique for the Quilt Shows this year.  I

t's the kind of thing I would buy at a quilt show!

Watermelon Quilt Top is Complete

 

The Watermelon Quilt Top

While I was on vacation this past week for Thanksgiving, I added the final borders to this quilt top.  I always thought of it as a picnic quilt with a watermelon theme, hence the picnic tablecloth check for the borders.

I sewed the center blocks at Quilt Camp in October.  I'd gotten a jelly roll called seedless watermelon for the center blocks.  I added some black to put the seeds back in [Wink!].    The light accent is really a light green to simulate the rind part of the watermelon.

Nic to have it done this far, though I can't say when the rest will be finished ...

A Little Rosey Pink Coverlet: Morningstar Pattern

 The price was too good to pass this one up on eBay!

I thought this was the pine cone pattern, but it's not quite spikey enough for that.   The seller identified it as Morning Star -- not that  morningstar.  

 

 

There are some moth holes in it -- although they don't go all the way through, they are visible when I help it up to a sunny window.

 

Good enough for the back of the couch! 

 

I am intrigued by the pattern.  In this one, you can see circles, like ripples from water droplets on a pond.  It's mesmerizing!

eBay item number:204320527957

Price: $25

Item specifics

Condition: Pre-owned: An item that has been used or worn previously. 

Pattern: Geometric

Shape: Rectangular

Size: Small Single

Color: Pink

Material: Wool

Item Length: 55 in

Brand: Rosemont

Type: Blanket

Theme: Periods & Styles, Romantic, Seasonal

Style: Traditional

Country/Region of Manufacture: United States

Room: Bedroom, living room, den

Item Width: 42 in

 

Item Description from the Seller:

Vintage wool blanket/throw made by Rosemont in Marion, Virginia. Pattern style is Morning Star Design in colorway Rose. Faint yellowish stain in a couple of areas and one small area where the rose color is minimal/faded. No holes that I can see and edges are intact. The dating of this blanket could be anywhere from 1920s-1950s. 

Measures approximately 55" x 42", photographs were shot on uneven grass so the blanket might be slightly larger. 

Raspberry Coverlet in a Simplified Whig Rose

Raspberry Coverlet

Yes--another coverlet!  Apparently, I was the only one to bid on this one on eBay.  A very reasonable price at $50.   I was perfectly prepared to be outbid on this one, but I got it!

What is the pattern?  I poured through my coverlet pattern books trying to identify the pattern, but I never came up with an exact match.  From a distance, it looks like a basic grid where the squares and lines dominate. 

 

When you move in a little closer, I can see inter-twining rings -- almost like a simplified Whig Rose pattern -- That's also apparent in the 4 roses and diamond motif in the corners [highlighted in the draft above], but it lacks the larger roses.

The reverse side, with pink roses. 

Even though it's all squares, you still get a feel for octagons and circles in the overall pattern. 

 

Whig Rose draft - p.120 of Carol Strickler's American Woven Coverlets.

 

 

 

It was a little musty smelling, so I let it air out in the sunlight and open air this afternoon.  That made a big difference!

I also noticed that it looks like the reds ran and made it pink.  You can tell by looking at the fringe / tassels at the corner where some of the warp strings are still white.   It's ok-- I still like it.

Another Woven Overshot Coverlet: Pink Black and White Beauty

Pink-white-gray-black Coverlet from circa 1810? (Maybe?)

I got this one off of eBay.  I'll admit: It was a rebound purchase.  I'd had my heart set on a different coverlet -- antique and definitely old, sewn in 3 panels.  Indigo blue and creme.  It was fresh from an estate sale and the price was so reasonable.  For days, I had the top bid, and I was sure it would be mine ...  and then in the last 30 seconds, I got sniped.  Someone (prob. with software designed for this very purpose) swiped it out from under me before I had time to raise my bid.  That was really crappy.   

So I went searching for another coverlet ...  and found this lovely specimen.  I put in the opening bid, fully expecting to lose this one, too. 

And then, I won!

$40 plus shipping and a little for taxes.  Shipping was a little high.  Not bad.  The seller says it's 1800s -- I'm not sure I believe that, as I don't think I've ever seen pink in an antique coverlet.  I don't think they had the dyes to do that then ...  But maybe? I'll have to research that a bit more.  Seller says it's in excellent shape -- No moth damage. Just a little tear along one edge.

I love the colors:  Dark gray, white and pink.

 

And an interesting weaving pattern, too.  

• Is it Fox Crossing? 
• Or Dogwood Blossom? 
• Or 9 Stars and Table?

I'm still trying to identify the pattern, so if you see it and recognize it, please tell me!

 

If you are interested, check out Kentucky Coverlets by Lou Tate.  The fulltext is online via Arizona State University in their On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics.  You can flip through a number of named patterns.  Bookmark the AZ site for future reference.  It's a goldmine of weaving info!

When this coverlet arrived, I opened the package and hung it on the back of the couch so I could see it during the week (The getting-to-know-you phase.)  It's a lovely coverlet, and I do think the seller was right -- It is old, but very well cared for. 

It's not as soft as the first one I bought, which I think might be a much more recent merino or alpaca. 

It is sewn in 2 panels with a stealth center seam sewn down the middle.  There is no ridge where the panels meet.  The only way you can tell is that the pattern doesn't quite meet up as you would expect (This may be why most people who do overshot today make towels or other 1-panel items where they don't worry about the consistency of making the panels meet up properly.) 

The pieces came together quite nicely in that center seam where the panels joined up.  I'm calling this side the top side, because the overshot is in relief on this side.

Here's the flip side or back side, because this showcases the white tabby that makes the weave structure stable. 

Turns out, Carol Strickler, in American Woven Coverlets, says they DID have a variety of colors to work with back in the 1800s--including pink.  The black has a green cast to it -- which is much more visible in sunlight.

Lesson Learned: I decided to wash it.  If it really is 200 years old, that's a lot of dust making me cough when I'm near it.  I know how to wash wool items, and I knew I could guard against felting the wool fibers.  What I did not account for was the singles breaking under the stress of the spin cycle.  

OR ...  Black dye (This one has a slight green caste to it) is notoriously hard on fibers, and that could be the cause of damage.  They might have been fragile to start with, or it had been laying folded along that line which might also have added stress to the fibers.

Part of the reason for buying / collecting a few coverlets is so I can see them up close and study them in preparation for making one of my own.

 

Look at those lovely pink singles!  They have a little sparkle to them in person -- That was the reason I loved Patty Reedy's fleece at Rainbow Fleece Farm.  Her sheep / fleece had a luster to them that sparkled -- kind of like this does, in the right light.  It's hard to see it in these pictures, but trust me: It's there!  All these years, I've been plying the yarn I spin in effort to make it stronger, when I could have left them as singles in preparation for making a coverlet like this.  

The singles did plump up a bit after washing and drying -- as I would have expected. That only makes for a warmer coverlet, right? The wonders of wool!  [As a side note, I think the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival 2022 is happening this weekend.  I have so much fiber waiting to be spun, that I dared not even try attending this year. ]

Even after washing, this coverlet is still in remarkably good shape, and still makes me happy to look at it.  And it's CLEAN now.

I soaked / washed it with the above Wool Wash (a product purchased at Fleet Farm used for livestock with woolly coats. As far as I can tell, it's the same ingredient, Sodium Laurel Sulphate, that is repackaged and sold as Orvus Quilt Paste Soap for a much higher price in smaller quantities.   Orvus Paste Shampoo is the equivalent now.  I don't see Show Paste Shampoo on their website now.  I'm sure I only paid something like $8-12 for this big bottle that has lasted me many years!

This shot compares the front to the back where the white dominates vs the pink and black.  

You can tell that the pink has faded a bit on the pink dominant side.  Is that sub fade?

I am beginning to understand that owning and caring for these antique textiles is a responsibility if I want them to survive for coming generations.  Then again, there is something to be said about USING beloved textiles--quilts included.

Here is the parade of additional pictures for your viewing pleasure:

 

The following shots are courtesy of the seller.  I wanted to keep them for documentation's sake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My new love!