Stars in a Time Warp 37: Chocolate & Blue plus Lace Prints

Becky Brown's reproduction star,

made from the last scrap of an old chocolate and blue

reproduction print in the center.

Vintage star. 

There are two fashionable late-century brown styles

here. In the large triangles, a bronzey-brown acorn print.

The other browns are something seen about the same time, a brown

on a blue background.

Block from a top dated 1879

The large squares above are another example

of this color craze of the 1870-1900 period, kind of a silvery blue

and dark brown.

Quilt dated 1872 from the North Carolina quilt project,

photo from the Quilt Index

Look for two color prints---brown on pale blue gray---as in the sashing here.

They read as a warm gray or silver and may have been called mourning prints. 

I imagine the combination was thought suitable for everyday housewear: fashionable but won't show the dirt. There were quite a few of these in 1870-1900 scrapbags. Double pinks for the girls; brownish grays for the women.

That distinctive blue-gray background makes the color scheme

 a good clue to a date of 1870-1900.

Note the blue and brown lace print under the piece of Lane's net in this charm quilt from the 1870-1890 period. In it we really see the two colors that were so fashionably combined. The Lane's net in the center and several other hexagons are in the same palette with figures of fine brown lines on a pale blue ground.

You also see a redder brown added as in the coral print above.

It may be that the brown figures were done with madder (or artificial madder) dyes.

There's a tiny reddish figure in the center square here.

The browns tend to be a chocolate color.

I'd guess the blue gray has something to do with the Lancaster blue

printing process discussed last week.

Quilt dated 1894 with  dark print of blue gray, brown and brick red

I'd imagine madder reds could easily be added.

A dress in the height of fashion:

The brown on pale blue palette;

the figure a striped lace print.

An 1892 ad for "Lace stripe and other fancy Ginghams,

neat stripe and check effects in Zephyr Ginghams.

 (Gingham refers to the fabric weave rather than the look.) 

"A goodly proportion of these have 

been selected expressly for children."

I have several photos of doll quilts and crib quilts

in which the lace stripe seems to have been cut out

and used as a border.

I'd estimate these are all from the 1870-1890 period.

Turkey red dogtooth applique over a lace print for a crib quilt border.

The same print, a stripe?

Or was it an all-over dot with a lace border?

In the 1870s and '80s you see a lot of lace borders

along the selvages of calicoes.

Lace prints were printed as all-over designs as well

as stripes and border prints. The main criterion is

that the figures imitate lace. Above a classic from

the 1870s with a dot of madder orange.

Lace prints were also printed at other

times. Above a charm quilt with a striking

blue and green neon print from about 1910.

Another neon: bright and black lace stripe from the early 20th century.

Lace prints were quite the thing in the 1870-1920s, so if you want to reproduce that look you need a few in the stash. Chocolate and blue would be perfect for last quarter of the 19th century.

Lace print in the lower right corner.

[Time Machine Information: Dial it back to the 1870s

when prints were so abundant, beautiful and cheap.]

Reproductions

This week you have two options:

1) Chocolate and blue prints

2) or Lace Prints

A repro star by Kathy Cline...

Using a lace print from Jo Morton

The chocolate on blue palette is not easy to find but here are

a few from recent years.

Another by Jo from Emilie

Two  repros by Judie Rothermel

American Pastimes,

again chocolate on blue or madder on blue.

You may remember Becky's terrific star in eccentric prints.

The stripe (an African fabric) is chocolate brown on blue.

What to Do With Your Stack of Stars?

Make a Triple Irish Chain

The inspiration here is a Triple Irish Chain and star quilt made

about 1900 when red and white quilts were the thing.

I monkeyed around in Photoshop and figured out the

pattern, which is a traditional Triple Irish Chain.

Two blocks based on a checkerboard of 49 squares.

For more about the Double Irish Chain see post #34:

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2015/09/stars-in-time-warp-34-bronze-style.html

BlockBase says that Ruby McKim

first published the name Triple Irish Chain for this pair of 

alternating blocks (BlockBase #1019a).

The variation with the star in the center has no number but it's an interesting way to set stars. Maybe more interesting with 14" stars rather than the 6" stars we've been working with. But it's an idea.

Since we are working with 6" stars and putting them into

a 7x7 grid the math will not be pretty.

Here's the 7x7 checkerboard

Here's the alternate block

with one of Becky's stars inside the frame.

Seems simple but the question is what size are all those squares.

It only took a few hours to figure it out.

(And there are good odds I am wrong, wrong, wrong.)

UPDATE: Suzanne says I am wrong, wrong, wrong.

If you added an inch strip to either side of the 6" block you'd have an 8" block.

If you divide an 8" finished block into a grid of 49 squares you need to cut those squares

1-5/8".

At least that's what EQ7 says.

Now there are easier ways to get a checkerboard grid

than cutting individual squares.

I'll leave it to anyone ambitious enough to try it

to figure out some fast piecing methods.

I have to rest my brain.

One More Thing about the Brown on Blue Palette

The combination just suggests chocolate, possibly because the Hershey Company has been using reddish brown and silvery blue on their chocolate bars for generations.

(They seem to have dropped the slogan "More Sustaining than Meat.")

Quilt with Centennial prints in chocolate on blue,

dated 1876 in the quilting in each sash rectangle.