Stars in a Time Warp 3: Shirting Prints

Shirting print star by Becky Brown

The blue shirting reproduction is from my Union Blues collection. The yardage

is scheduled for deliver in March. You can buy precuts now.

Vintage star with solid white for the background,

about 1840-1865

Quilters often used a plain white cotton for the light contrast in their quilts.

Vintage quilt, about 1830-1870

Another choice was a textured light print, something with a white background and small figures.

Vintage block about 1870-1900

Light prints became increasingly popular after

the Civil War when they were also fashionable for clothing.

Reproduction star by Bettina Havig.

The shirting print has a rabbit and some musical notes,

recognizable figures classified as a subcategory of shirting

prints: Conversation Prints. 

We'll do more about conversationals later in the year.

We classify these neutrals as shirting prints today.

The prints are characterized by minimalist, monochrome figures without

much detail. The figures are set far apart

to let lots of the white background show through.

Vintage star about 1870-1900

Vintage stars about 1900

There were a lot of shirting prints manufactured,

particularly between 1870 and 1920

when the light cottons were so popular for clothing.

"Shirts" of shirtings by Carolyn Friedlander

http://carolynfriedlander.com/tag/shirts/

They are again easy to find because they are so useful

for backgrounds with a traditional look.

Reproduction North Star by Mary L at Quilting in Oz

North Star by Jayne's Quilting Room

Repro quilt from an online store

The shirting print is in the foreground in the blue block

at lower left.

Detail of Jeanne Poore's reproduction Quilt for Alice

On the left a mid-19th-century inspiration block, on the right my

interpretation of the way she used her shirtings and madder stripes.

Three shirting prints from my next Moda line

Union Blues, which should be in shops in March

;

Part of the appeal of period scrappy quilts is

the variety of shades in the lighter prints. Shirtings

and other lights were printed in different color values.

Some have become more yellow or tan over the years.

Nantucket from Seams Crazy Quilts Blog

http://www.minickandsimpson.com/catalog.php?item=132

The above version of the Minick and Simpson pattern Nantucket mixes up those values to give

a distinctive scrappy look.

http://seamscrazyquilts.com/2013/12/02/catching-up-on-everything/

Minick & Simpson's 2014 Lexington collection has many good shirting repros.

As does Primitive Gatherings' recent

Lakeside Gatherings.

Amy's star with a "neat" shirting in a regular diagonal set. 

She's used it to show off

a kind of coral stripe from her stash.

Valerie's combination of a madder red print

and a shirting with a small figure.

One More Thing About Shirtings

"Superfine Shirtings." 

Stamp on a quilt backing. The quilt is dated 1844.

Shirting is an old textile term and probably refers more to the cotton's weight and weave rather than the print style. Within that category were subcategories. An Oneida, New York mill entered a group of fabrics in the Great National Fair in 1846: "Extra fine shirtings, superfine shirtings, fine shirtings, twilled shirtings and striped shirtings." The category we are discussing here is shirting prints: Shirting-weight weaves with a certain style of simple print.

Setting Idea for Your Stack of Star Blocks

In strips

In this circa-1900 quilt 72 stars are

set between same-sized light squares and then 

with Turkey red strips of the same width. 

A Quilt for Alice by Paula Barnes

The stars are set in strips

with a small spacer between each

and then vertical strips the same width as the star.

Using a consistent shirting print background 

makes the stars float.

See the pattern here:

http://www.redcrinolinequilts.com/shop/Patterns/p/A-Quilt-for-Alice-Pattern-sku-BBQ047.htm

Find out more about shirtings on pages 113-117 in my book America's Printed Fabrics and see a pattern for "Lost Ship" on page 118.

Reproduction quilt, Lost Ship by Barbara Brackman, 2002.

Shirtings and Madder Prints-

Classic mid-19th century.

Vintage shirting print yardage

Read others posts I've done about vintage shirtings:
http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2014/07/shirting-document-print-for-richmond.html
http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2013/03/shirting-prints-as-neutral.html