Appliqued Border for Hospital Sketches

Quilt by Nancy Brougher and Elizabeth Brown,

Washington, Pennsylvania, 1861.

Michigan Project and the Quilt Index.

Many mid-century applique quilts are framed with vine borders. Nancy and Elizabeth used half of the wreath flower in the border. They used the smaller leaf and created a special green shape to

hold the half flower. A little bias strip for stems and a lot of bias for the vine. Voila!

Here's Janet Olmstead's Block #1,

quite a pretty thing.

We could do the same with the pieces for our Block #1, the Periwinkle Wreath.

You'll need the pattern pieces for templates.

Rearrange them to make a flower like Nancy & Elizabeth did.

Our flower is based on 5 not 8 so you may want to rearrange more.

Or just use this floral bud.

A simpler border design below

(with more leaves)

Another quilt dated 1861, this one a sampler of 16 blocks,

attributed to Fulton County, Pennsylvania.

In the Dillow Collection at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum

#2008.040.0136

The quiltmaker took a simple leaf from the block on the lower row.

Here's a diagram for a 9" finished border. You could use any leaf

or floral or combination. 

My guess is you'd need 11 yards of bias for the vine (2 yards of fabric)

Maybe 210 leaves, which you could get 

See Lynette Anderson's tutorial on cutting bias. She uses a tool to iron the bias edges.

https://lynetteandersondesigns.typepad.com/lynette_anderson_designs/2012/08/my-entry-3.html

And BDieges uses another:

https://bdieges.com/making-vines-and-stems/

Close looking at applique vine borders reveals the methods.

Pick a flower or two plus a leaf or two from the blocks.

Re-combine for a vine border.

Two simple leaves, large and small

plus a floral like the Periwinkle from Block #1

Quilt from Jefferson County, Ohio

James Collection, IQSCM #2006.043.0023

She cut her red and green floral from the block pattern.

Dots are a little bigger plus a grape leaf and a red slice of leaf.

Block #4 Cockscombs & Currants by Marty Webster

If you loved making dots

You may want to wait a few months and see what other parts are included in the blocks.

You are on your own with the vine. You need a circle template of some kind.

An old 33 vinyl record makes a 12" arc

From MESDA's collection

The cockscomb like Block #2 reduced for the border.

Angles instead of curves for the vine.

Minimalism.