Saturday, October 20, 2012

A Civil War Quilt?

A few months ago I saw this quilt for sale in an online auction.
It didn't last very long but I copied the photos.
 

On the back you can see that each of the blocks was quilted and bound before being set together, what we today call potholder quilts. This technique was done during the Civil War by sewing groups making quilts for soldiers---but you also see it in other eras.

Could it be a Civil War quilt
made between 1861 and 1865?
A look at the overall quilt tells me no for a couple of reasons
1) That crazy quilt block in the lower corner below---not done till the 1880s.
2) That large scale black or navy blue print looks wrong for era too.


But this block makes me think there is some Civil War connection.
Here we have four Union shields

Very much like a quilt with repeat blocks of four Confederate shields. It's an unusual pattern.
Perhaps the blocks were begun during the War and finished later. One could just keep adding finished blocks....

13 comments:

Colleen Lunt said...

Prehaps UFO's aren't such a new concept!

Carmen Sutton said...

How would they join the "potholder"parts? Just using a ladder stitch? I don't do much quilting so have not seen this method before

WoolenSails said...

I like the idea of doing the blocks and quilting, then putting it together. I notice what looks like a button in the corners? I used to have a book with a puff quilt that was made in this manner, wonder if that would be warmer and wonder if I still have the pattern. I do love this one, nice variety of blocks from that period.

Debbie

Anna said...

What a fascinating find! I had never heard of a potholder quilt...cool

Apple Avenue Quilts said...

Fascinating quilt. I would love to know how these are done. I can see that the bindings on the back are different, but they appear to be uniform in the front. Thanks for sharing these pictures.

Hilda said...

A lovely quilt with great variety in the blocks! "Quilt-as-you-go" has been around quite a while clearly...
Thanks for the fascinating post :)

regan said...

This is such a coincidence! I just returned an hour ago, from a lecture given by Pam Weeks in Lexington, MA about civil war quilts.....with many examples of the potholder quilts she has studied! It's so interesting to hear the stories, and how these wonderful quilts came to be.

Lynn said...

This quilt is much better in real life! Trust me I know. It lives at my house. Karen Dever dated it c1885, with earlier fabric.

DmeAshely said...

How are the pot holders conneceted??

DmeAshely said...

How are the pot holders conneceted??

Barbara Brackman said...

There are lots of online tutorials on how to use this method. Do a websearch for the words
quilt as you go. Most quilters whip-stitched the blocks together.

Also paste this address into your browser to see a post about another post-Civil-War quilt done in the same method:
http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2012/03/quilt-as-you-go.html

Unknown said...

I love finds like this. In fact I found a Pyrotechnics quilt that I think was done 1880-ish ?
Can I send you some pix for your thoughts ?

Dee in AR

Beth D said...

Lynn was generous enough to show it to me. It looked like the center blocks were older than the outer blocks. Maybe a time-span, started during Civil War, finished later. It was a real encyclopedia of techniques.