Stars in a Time Warp 17: Conversation Prints

Cynthia used a conversation print with her chrome orange

reproduction in February.

Vintage quilt about 1870-1890

The blue shirting pictures a small jingle bell.

We always enjoy coming upon a conversation print while examining an antique quilt. The subject matter and detail give us something to talk about, which must be where these prints get their name. "Conversation prints" or "conversationals" feature figures of recognizable objects other than florals or abstract geometrics. Today manufacturers call them "novelties."

A vintage dog print.

From a French swatchbook by Persoz.

He is showing a roller print for shirts printed in 1846

by the Koechlin Brothers mill of Alsace.

The finely drawn, light-weight cottons shown here were a subcategory of shirting prints.

A terrific small quilt with fussy-cut conversationals, about 1900.

Sporting print, a subcategory of conversationals.

Horseshoes, jockeys and racing images were a common theme.

The printers often referred to the detailed prints as mill-engravings, a reference to the printing technique. In this case, the word "mill" does not mean the textile factory, but rather the old die and mill technology introduced in the early nineteenth century. A mill made of hard metal like steel impressed pattern into a cylinder or roller made of copper.

The mill is harder metal impressing a pattern into the roller, which is softer metal, sort of like this diagram. When the softer metal roller began to wear out the mill could re-impress the pattern on to the copper.

A woman working on a cylinder or roller about 1870.

After 1870, that technology became inexpensive enough that textile factories could print quirky designs like bees or flies, patterns which did not promise to be big sellers.

Horses, however, must have been popular prints.

Vintage top with horse, anchor and horse shoes, about 1880-1900.

Vintage indigo blue anchor print, about 1900.

During the latter part of the nineteenth century, at the same time that the mill-engraved conversational shirtings were popular for clothing and quilts, factories also produced conversational prints featuring white figures on Turkey red or indigo blue grounds.

 The dark prints, which were quite popular for children’s clothing, appear in quilts from about 1880 through 1920. They rarely show the detail of the mill engravings, and are primarily sporting prints, another subcategory of conversationals. Anchors and sailing images, horse shoes and racing equipment are common in these red and blue shirtings.

Reproductions

Reproduction star by Becky Brown.

 She's divided the center square

into 4 squares and rotated the bicyclists around.

Happy Hexagons by Wendy Caton Reed.

Each light hexagon features a converation print...

as you can see in this detail.

Terry Thompson did a line of shirtings a few years ago.

Conversationals are another example of "Buy a yard when you see it."

Lisa Bongean's recent Lakeside Gathering

From American Folk and Fabric

From Classic Conversationals by Judie Rothermel

A nice range of conversationals in Ascot

One of Amy's stars in January set with a rooster print.

And another of Becky's with a dog.

Is that the same dog in the 1886 Bloomingdale's catalog?

You could buy a boy's shirt already made.

"American Percale, in a beautiful variety of heads, birds, figures, etc.,

very stylish and striking effects."

What to Do with Your Stack of Star Blocks?

Alternate a HST.

(current quilters' jargon for a square pieced of 2 Half-Square Triangles.)

Vintage quilt from about 1900. 

The taupes and tans may have once been bright reds and blues. This quilt alternating stars and triangles blocks is from the decades when solid color cottons were quite fugitive.

Same idea with more contrast. Cut your triangles for the alternate squares 8-7/8" . Cut into 2 triangles with a diagonal slice.

If you set the stars and alternate blocks on point you can get a different look

as in this quilt from about 1870-1910.

Wish...Upon A Star by Joe Wood for Thimblecreek Quilts

You might want to control shading and color to make an alternate block quilt look like a strip quilt.

One More Thing About Conversation Prints

Another subcategory of conversationals is commemorative prints. These reproductions are based on patriotic variations perhaps printed during the Civil War.

The Union Forever, a reproduction 

It's hard to know if these were printed during the war or commemoratives.

Union, one of my reproductions, out of print.

The 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia inspired many 

souvenir prints

Vintage quilt with Centennial sashing dated 1776-1876

This Washington print is dated 1776 but it's another Centennial design from 1876.

Two similar reproductions

Read more about conversation prints in America's Printed Fabrics, pages 112-117