Turkey Red Panel Quilt

I am very interested in Turkey red paisley fabrics - especially the printed panels that were sometimes used in quilt tops.

Here is one of the fabric panels that I salvaged from a throw that I bought on EBay for very little (the seller didn't think that they were vintage, as they were so colourful!)

Well, here is a Durham quilt that has also been made using preprinted red paisley panels. This quilt is rectangular and measures 78 x 96 inches. It is a rather worn quilt, as it was in regular use by the owners family until I bought it, having been in the family for many years. You can see that the centre is a printed panel, surrounded by more printed borders and plain turkey red fabric.

The quilting in the centre follows the lines of the printed panel - nothing new in what we do today, then...

The edges of the mitred corner has been top stitched using a sewing machine - it was probably easier to do it this way!

The quilting surrounding the central panel is cross hatching, then a twist, then a border design with a square enclosing a four petaled motif.

The reverse is a red paisley print.

The back is very colourful.

Notice that the mitre does not go directly into the corner!!

The quilt is worn and through one hole, you can see that the filling is cotton ( as is usual for north country quilts).

This quilt has had a lot of use in its days, and one end is particularly rubbed.

This quilt was bought from its owners, the Beveridge family who live at Mains Farm House in Ebchester near Consett, County Durham - two sisters who, to the delight of their husbands, were clearing their lofts after the children had flown the nest. The quilt probably dates from the 1900's but as the red fabrics were manufactured for some time it is difficult to tell.

First Purchase - Durham Strippy

Here is the first Durham quilt that I bought on Ebay - in 2006. I was disappointed when it arrived - although colourful, it seemed very scrappy. I had not yet learned to "read" the Ebay descriptions properly, and did not appreciate at that time how important scanning the photos carefully is.

But, luckily, this quilt has grown on me...

Most people think of quilts, especially patchwork and strippy quilts, as being made of scraps - recycled fabrics - however, the typical strippy was made of two lengths of fabric bought especially for the quilt, and not made up of scraps. The strippy format was a convenient one - the fabrics could be made into a cheerful quilt without much wastage. The quilt was simple to seam together on the sewing machine - and the strips meant that the quilting designs were easy to mark, within each strip.

This quilt is an exception to the rule, as it is made of various offcuts - some strips are pieced, and some strips are made up of several very narrow strips. There are a lot of selvages here! Of course, the paisley red strip is a stand out - but there is a floral panel, once very bright, now very faded and almost invisible, on both sides. The quilt would have been much more colourful originally.

The quilting pattern is a bit hard to see - it is an overall pattern (I guess the strips were too small to have the usual quilting patterns). The centre is a large flower-type pattern with very large flat iron type devices. The outer border has fans and a swag and bellows type border.

Here is the border pattern -and a good view of the paisley red with the peacocks ( a clue as to the Indian origin of the paisley pattern?) Can you see how the yellow strip is made from more than one fabric?

Another view of the front - on the left is the faded panel which once must have been very colourful. The yellow strip is made of several pieces of fabric as is the pink one.

While strippy quilts are thought of as utility or everyday quilts, of course in very poor households, they were often the "best" quilt.

Here is the back of the quilt - more subdued colours, but still with the narrow strips seen on the front, and a twin of the faded panel on the front.

The edge of the quilt - you can see that, as with many north country quilts, this has a machine finished edge. You can also see that the strips were sewn by machine.

This quilt has no provenance, but came from a dealer in Morpeth in Northumberland - it measures 84 x 60 inches. The wadding is cotton.

Paisley fabric panels

Here is the fabric that I am intending to use on the reverse of my Welsh quilt (two lots-enough for two quilts, then). It was bought as a "vintage paisley quilt or throw" and I paid just £20 for it. The dealer confessed that it was not very old (she thought possibly 70's but definately not victorian) and did I still want it? Well, I just love red paisley fabrics, of course I had to have it!! Besides, modern repro cloth would cost more than this...

The two sides of the throw were each made of four yard long red paisley fabric panels, sewn together, to make an interesting pattern. Each side is different. The throw itself had not been used but was very poorly put together. So I had no compunction in unpicking it to reuse the fabric. Also, I was able to inspect the construction and inspect the wadding.

The throw was very simply made - the three layers had been put together, wrong sides together, and then sewn around and turned inside out (the envelope method). This was then sewn around again. The sewn edge was folded in and top stitched to make a bound edge. But it was very rucked up and had not been carefully sewn. The inside was a length of white woolen cloth with a twill weave.


The more striking design - almost gaudy...with a central star and blue flowers...

A more sedate red paisley, I will use this fabric for the first quilt...central design has a flowershaped design and the paisley is more classical in appearance...

Jen Jones has a quilt museum in Lampeter's former Town Hall - which I very much look forward to seeing one day. This year's exhibition was of quilts made with paisley fabrics and also paisley shawls...two quilts looked similar to my fabrics and were made from the paisley panels, but in different designs, of course.

I sent a copy of the two photos to Hazel at Jen Jones to ask the age of the two quilts on display - here is her answer:

"We have two paisley panel quilts in this years exhibition - the one most like your fabric has provenance and came with other quilts from the same family (different generations).

"Bold paisley Panel quilt" made in 1880 by Ann Lewis of Whitland (prolific quilting area).

The other paisley quilt has been dated as 1890. Hazel"

Now, these fabrics were popular and were likely to have continued to be made for some time. But it appeaars that the fabric is older than the 1970's - and even if not older than the 70's is well in keeping for the era 1880/1890 that I most admire. However, my feeling is that the fabric is older - the sewing did look like a treadle sewing machine(hard to explain why, it just looks that way) and may be from the 20s or 30's. It is always difficult to find good backing fabric but in this case the paisley panels will really add to the appeal, and, make the quilt truely two sided. A lucky find.....