Stars in a Time Warp 41: Neon Novelties

Bettina Havig,

reproduction star using a black novelty print

Becky Brown, same repro print different colorway

Star top from about 1900-1925 with the black novelty or neon prints

at the top.

Amidst all those monochrome prints in the 1890-1925 era you

sometimes get a glimpse of color in the blacks.

Early-20th-century catalogs called these novelty prints. 

1895 Montgomery Ward & Company catalog describing "an unusually attractive novelty. For a dark effect it is one of the most stylish things we have ever seen..."

The 1896 Sears Roebuck & Company catalog sold: "Fancy dress skirts of black novelty goods."

1895 Montgomery Ward catalog sold: Cacheco Fast Black Novelties, solid black grounds with colored printing...heliotrope, gold, blue, green...."

We tend to call them neon prints.

Black novelties or neons---they are a good clue to an early-20th-century quilt.

"an unusually attractive novelty"

Doll quilt with note "About 1901."

"My mother made this 'top' for doll quilt

for me to learn 'feather stitching.' 

about 1901"

Look for hot pinks, purples, bright blues and emerald green

floating in black backgrounds.

Vintage quilt about 1910

Vintage Prints

Color and black---always dramatic.

Swatchbook from the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Sylvia's pinterest page

You get a whole new appreciation of 1915 fashion

if you imagine the black and white portraits

in color---lots of color.

Reproductions

Reproduction star by Bettina Havig

Years ago Terry Thompson and I did a Moda

line called Ragtime full of neon prints. 

Reproduction star by Becky Brown

We based some repros on a star quilt I have.

Bobbi Finley, Morning Star

Reproduction of the star quilt from about 1910.

Original showing some of the neon prints.

Three prints from Ragtime

These reproductions are hard to find. Here are

two from a recent line called Turn of the Century

If you can't find any neons in your stash or store you

could use a black and off-white print and say it's a faded neon.

See below.

Bettina Havig still has some of this reproduction print

that Pilgrim & Roy did a few decades ago. A lot of the neon

prints seem to be reproductions of early 19th-century styles

but done in bright colors.

What to Do With Your Stack of Stars?

Copy this vintage quilt.

We've started with a different block but we can get a close interpretation by sashing our 6" stars with 3" finished sashing. 

Above a very scrappy look.

Below more controlled.

66" Square

To piece the sashing strips which finish to 6" x 3"

EQ7 Says:

A - Cut 2 dark squares 2-5/8" and cut each into 2 triangles with one diagonal cut. 

       (You might want to add an 1/8th of an inch and make these larger to trim later.)

B - Cut a 3" light square for the center. Add the triangles around this squares

C- Cut 2 rectangles of light fabric 2" x 3-1/2" and add to either side for each sashing strip.

D - Cut the cornerstones of light fabric 3-1/2" square.

With 25 stars your starry field will be 48" square

54" square

Add a border of dark squares cut 3-1/2".

Add two more strips finishing to 3" to make a checkerboard and it's 66" square.

One More Thing About Neon Novelty Block Prints

We often see these at their bright best in tops and blocks.

They fade when washed.

The more they're washed, the more they fade.

Doll quilt date-inscribed 1911 with a washed-out neon

 print on the top row here.

They don't seem to be tub-fast, as one might have phrased it 100 years ago. It's not the black that's fugitive, it's the color.

Quilt date-inscribed 1912

Some times a well-washed quilt will have

a black and white print where just a suggestion of

color remains in the white, maybe a pale, pale green or yellow.

Was it once a bright novelty print?

Illustration of period prints from Making History

Read more about black novelty prints in my book Making History: Quilts and Fabric 1890-1970.

Our time machine has dropped us into 1915. Next week we'll go back a hundred years or so.