A Strip Quilt in the Civil War

Repro quilt by Georgann Eglinksi

Someone asked if a strip quilt would be an appropriate Civil War reproduction quilt.

Georgann's quilt is an interpretation of a strip quilt from the collection of the Helen F. Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas. The inspiration was a delaine (wool blend) quilt with a stripe in the strips. She chose this piece to copy because she had a pretty close repro stripe. The reproduction is all cotton.

The original, from the Thayer collection, # 1928.947

The problem in looking at fashion for strip quilts is I have so few date-inscribed examples in my picture files. The style just doesn't have the signatures and dates you see in block quilts. Here are my two date-inscribed examples from 1830-1865.

1845, Sarah Jane Robertson, Virginia

Leah Minich, 1837

This tells us little or nothing about how popular strip quilts were in the 1830-1865 period.

Here's one dated 1864 in the collection of the

International Quilt Study Center & Museum.

But that big fat date in red embroidery

and the fact that it's such an outlier in the data

makes me wonder when that date was added

and when the quilt was actually made.

With the exception of the popular Wild Goose Chase

I don't even have many date-attributed examples to those 25 years.

This particular four patch in a strip set might be the

best evidence for doing a strip set as a Civil War repro. Kimberly Wulfert's

quilt has a piece of Civil War conversational print in

one of the four patches.

This one from Maine might be of wools---

mid-19th century

It does seem to be a setting style that was fading from fashion by 1860.

So maybe they weren't being made.

But if you were a re-enactor you might very well be making a utilitarian old fashioned quilt.

And if you were a soldier you might have a utilitarian old fashioned quilt.

And if you don't want to make one....

You can own this historically accurate reproduction quilt by Georgann Eglinski.
Several years ago we did a guild challenge to interpret antiques in the Spencer Museum collection and this small strip quilt was one of the most accurate.

On the back is a label:
"This is a small interpretation of an antique quilt in the Spencer Museum of Art Collection (no. 1928.947) donated by Sallie Casey Thayer. The original: 1850-1870. Reproduction by Georgann Eglinski, Lawrence, Kansas, 2006."

It's 31" or so square. Georgann machine quilted it in the ditch and added a simple curved design. It's beautifully sewn and thoughtfully put together. The squares in the strips are 2".

Buy it at my Etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/450115122/reproduction-museum-quilt-by-georgann?ref=shop_home_active_1

My dog Dottie for scale.

We are selling this quilt for a charity and the money will benefit a non-profit organization.

See the inspiration quilt in the Spencer Museum of Art Collection:

http://collection.spencerart.ku.edu/eMuseumPlus?service=direct/1/ResultListView/result.t1.collection_list.$TspTitleLink.link&sp=10&sp=Scollection&sp=SfieldValue&sp=0&sp=2&sp=3&sp=SdetailList&sp=0&sp=Sdetail&sp=0&sp=F&sp=T&sp=0