McClintocks Quilts - sales book

I was pleased to find this little book, which was used by retail stores to sell down quilts made by McLintocks of Barnsley, made in their Utilitas factory. McLintocks, together with Booth and Fox of London, dominated supplies of high quality quilts and quilted clothing. The company was founded in the 1850's, making undergarments and bedding in the 1860's, mainly for the British middle class. Quilted petticoats fell out of fashion, but the company survived for decades, as manufacturers of down quilts. The Utilitas factory closed in 1977, and has been refurbished as an office block by the local council.

This book illustrates the quilts (what we would call eiderdowns).....you could buy a brand new quilt.....or you could have old down quilts recovered...most interesting to me are the samples of fabric. It is informative to see these, to be better able to describe the fabrics used in my antique quilts...

You could choose the design of the eiderdown you wanted....plain or fancy...

...And choose the fabric you wanted for your bedroom...these are the least expensive fabrics, paisley cambric, what we would call paisley cotton. I think that this sample book dates from after WWII, but before decimalisation in 1973.  1960's? Not  much fabric left here, the samples have been cut so that customers could have slivers as samples to take home to consider...I have a throw in these fabrics...the cloth cost 8 shillings 11 p, or 51 p per yard. To recover a quilt cost about £5, a new quilt would cost about £10. 

This is printed cotton sateen which cost 9'6 per yard...

Plain taffeta at 6'6 per yard...

Plain crepe at 8'/3 per yard...

Plain satin at 8'6 per yard...

Satin beaute at 14'6 per yard....

Crepe brocade at 10'6 per yard..

Printed satin at 12' per yard..

And rayon brocade at 8'9 per yard. Evidently very popular!

I will have to study these fabrics.....

Small Quilt plus cushion cover

Here is a small cot quilt that I bought recently. It is made of a silky artificial fibre in a gold colour. I like these cot quilts - they usually have been used a fair bit, and the small size demands a fairly simple pattern.

In this quilt, there are fans at each corner, and a daisy in the centre. These were very popular patterns, as they were showy and covered the fabric well without close quilting. The background is a straight set grid.

The quilting is neatly done....

This brown colour seems to have been popular after the war.....I would guess that it took a while for a range of fabrics to reappear on the shelves....

Also thrown in with the above was a cushion cover in Italian, or corded, quilting. This design shows a flower basket. These patterns were commercial transfers. I have a number of cushion covers in this technique, and all seem to be in this brown colour, so it must have been the "in" colour at that time.

Welsh Cot Quilt - Hywel

Here is a lovely little Welsh cot quilt. It is obviously well used, I suppose this is part of the charm of these small quilts.... It has also shrunk a bit, as it has undoubtedly been washed repeatedly...

The little quilt is treated as a wholecloth, with a grid enclosing spirals and four petalled flowers.

One side is white and the other side pink. This quilt measures 29.5 inches by 22 inches, and was found in Carmarthen.

In the centre of the quilt, the baby's name...Hywel.... Made by mother or grandmother? Hywel is a masculine Welsh name, and the anglisized version ( not often found in Wales) is Howell.

The edges are neatly hand sewn. This quilt is filled with wool and has a lot of bearding...

I dug out other crib cot photos - this one is also welsh and is patchwork, also very worn... 

Here is a north country one, and quilted with border patterns and having a frill... 

Another North country crib quilt, with an all over design with daisies....

I am trying to mark some quilting over Easter. I have a small piece of purple glazed cotton which I will use to mark a cot quilt. I want to try out the smallish traditional frame that I bought at Gregynog...it is ex Angela Brocklebank......I will also try to start marking a larger quilt for which I have been drafting patterns. 

The purple cloth requires light markings, so I'll be using my remaining Karismacolor chalk pencils....they are difficult to source now. For the larger quilt, I will use a very light mechanical pencil, which has worked well for me in the past on light coloured fabrics.

My Hawaiian quilt is finished and has been bound, the sleeve applied and been de-furred. It is to go off to Malvern soon. I have been asked to return the hand applique cup with the quilt. I will try to take a photo of this quilt before I send it off.

I bought a copy of the May British Quilting and Patchwork magazine and noticed that this blog has been mentioned on their Wandering the Web page. I'll try to publish posts on some quilts that have stayed in draft for a while!

Singapore 3

We came back to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur - "the haze" was apparent - the hot weather had caused fires to burn, making the road smokey at times. For our last day, a trip to Little India, the Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands....

Little India was more colourful and exotic than Chinatown in Singapore - lots of interesting foods, clothing, spices and a wet market....

This was a traders house, which has been restored and also repainted in vivid colours...

The market was interesting .....it was very hot and humid, so a drink was needed....we decided to give durian a try. This fruit is love or hate, as it has a very strong (bad) smell. A milkshake was OK, although it did have a strange aftertaste. The lady that sold it was very curious to know what we thought of it....

A few textiles were in evidence, but not many - mostly clothes of all sorts...

Then it was off to the Harbourfront to meet Sophie, who had taken the afternoon off work - these are the gardens behind the Marina Bay Sands - the large tree-like structures are meant to have vines growing up them - and there is a cafe on top of one of them. The two domes have biomes for plants in them....

This dome had different arid land plants plus a display of roses (which didn't look very happy)...

I liked the other dome better - it had an artificial mountain plus waterfall, which recreated a mist rainforest. Mist jets came on at one point, which was very amusing.....

Here is the lobby of the MSB hotel, it is very grand, but also a bit impersonal...

Then up to the 57th floor and the sky bar...the famous infinity pool was very crowded....you can see that the atmosphere is decidedly hazey...waiters clearly very practiced at taking photos.

Another photo of Sophie, Mike and myself...

A view of the Singapore harbour...

And a building which is supposed to be modelled on a lotus...

Then off for dinner at a Chinese Dim Sum restaurant.....everything made under very careful conditions, with exactly the right amount of filling, the resquisite number of pleats, etc.... By this time it was evening, so back to the flat, where we got our luggage and caught a taxi to the airport. A smooth flight back to London, with the only hold up, a delay of an hour due to fog over London. The car started - then it was back to Suffolk - work - and reality.

Kuala Lumpur 1

While we were visiting Sophie in Singapore, we took the chance to visit Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur for two days. There are very comfortable busses that leave from the Harbourfront in Singapore for KL, near to the area we were staying. Doing a bit of internet research, I was able to discover where the bus set you down, and book a room in the hotel next door. It proved a very good choice, near to the town centre and with a view of the Petronas towers from the balcony.

View from the hotel room balcony....can you see the Petronas Towers there?

The next morning, we took a taxi to Merdeka Square, in the older part of town. Malaysia was of course a British colony for many years, and these buildings were built in an Indian style by an British architect. 

There is also a tourist information centre there - these children were on a class trip and asked to have their photo taken. 

An old mosque near to the main square...the Masjid Jamek.

We had lunch in a food court near to the craft market - very popular with office workers. We just chose things that looked good - there was a very hot sauce called Sambal that could be added as a condiment... 

After lunch, we walked to Little India, where there were lots of clothes and fabrics for sale....a colourful stall selling saris and other clothing. 

Despite the heat, we were able to walk to the Menara Tower, which has a viewing platform with a 360 degree view of KL... 

Mike, with the Petronas Towers in the background. 

Trip Adviser was very useful - it recommended this restaurant across from our hotel - very popular with locals, open air and with tasty food and drinks - and all at a very reasonable price. 

The Petronas Towers at night - we were surprised to find that, on closing, the fountains behind the towers had a short son et lumiere show....dancing fountains and coloured lights.... 

Of course, while we were there, jet MH370 went missing ....this was a large frame to which people could write messages and attach them...very sad.....

We later caught the bus back to Singapore....