Green Floral Welsh Wholecloth Quilt

This is a typical Welsh wholecloth - plain pink on one side and a handsome green floral on the other side. It was purchased in North Wales at auction so no history.


The quilt, which dates from the 1900's, measures 70 x 79 inches. The floral side is a bit whiskered and the pink side, though in better condition, is faded in places. Otherwise in good condition, with wool wadding inside

The central medallion has beech leaves surrounded by a twist.

The reverse and the floral side. Patterns seen include a four leaf pattern and lined squares.

The pink side of the quilt. You can see a three leaf design has been used to frame the central medallion.

Detail of the stitching - in the centre of this photo you can see where one line of stitching has come loose.

The edge of the quilt with its hand sewn edge. Can you see how the quilter had to adapt the size of the quilting motif to fit the space? Definitely getting smaller and smaller....

A typical Welsh wholecloth with an attractive print fabric and some nice stitching.

Brown and Pink Paisley Welsh Wholecloth Quilt

Here is a Welsh wholecloth in paisley fabrics. One side is mostly browns, while the other is a matching fabric in pinks.

The whole of the quilt has been quilted with a fan pattern - of course with this pattern (it being directional), you know that the quilt was loaded into the frame at one end (here on the bottom side of the photo) and the quilting proceeded towards the back of the quilt (on the top of this photo). Thus the sides of this photo were the sides of the quilt as it was in the frame.

This quilt was sold as a modern and non vintage item - however when it arrived it was apparent that it was an antique quilt. The fabric has a lovely softness and sheen that modern fabrics cannot reproduce.

Brown versus pink sides of the quilt.

The quilter did not have enough of the brown fabric and had to eke it out with some of the pink paisley fabric along one side.

I bought this quilt for only £15 - I felt guilty once I found out that it was an old quilt and offered to pay the seller more. She emailed back that she had bought it at a boot sale or charity shop for £7 and as it was her first EBay sale, she was satisfied with the amount. I steered her towards some web sites showing a variety of Welsh quilts so that she knew what to look out for in the Swansea area in the future!

This quilt measures 72 x 72 inches and is filled with wool wadding. It is from the Swansea area.

Welsh Quilt with Art Deco Fabric

Here is a Welsh quilt in Art Deco fabric - the background is a bronze/salmon colour and it is covered with lively roses and sprays of flowers.

It never ceases to amaze me that each Welsh quilt can be quilted in such an individual style - no two seem to be the same. This quilt is no exception - the quilt is covered with spirals with a chevron border, unlike any of my other quilts. And, the corners have large "Baptist fans".

A closer look at the colourful fabric, which is the same on both sides.You can also see the chevron or zigzag pattern on the border. This quilt dates from the 1920's or 30's and measures 75 by 72 inches. It is a very heavy quilt (it weighs nearly 3.5 kg) and probably has an old woolen blanket inside - perfect for chilly winter nights.

The surface is covered with spirals densely quilted. A good example of what happens when some areas are quilted and other areas are not - the unquilted areas puff up a bit. And can you see that the maker has not bothered to match up the motifs on the lengths of fabric? This is the usual case - Welsh quilters were very frugal and could not afford to buy the extra cloth that would have been required to match up the motifs. This is sometimes not so obvious with smaller patterns but can be very obvious when fabrics with the largest patterns are used in a quilt.

The corners are neatly finished by hand in the usual Welsh style.
Here you can see the fan or elbow quilting in the corner.

This is the top side of the quilt as it went in the frame and seems well done. You can see that the spirals are not marked but just freehand sewn in the frame.

But the reverse or underside has some very odd stitching - perhaps it was made very quickly or by an inexperienced quilter?

Another view of the stitching on the underside of the quilt.

No provenance on this quilt. Other colourways of this fabric have ben seen in other quilts.

Welsh Quilt with Yellow and Striped Fabrics

Here is a Welsh quilt with yellow fabric on the top and a striped fabric on the reverse. This quilt measures 68 x 92 inches and is therefor a rectangular and not square quilt. The quilter thus had some modifications to make to the quilting design to ensure that it was longer in one direction than the other.

The wholecloth side is a pale lemon colour. The centre has hearts and a flower while the sideborders have leaves and a corner device. There is a diamond infill around the outside.

Along the longer side is this pair of leaves with a heart in the centre. Hearts were a popular motif but the story goes that they were used on wedding quilts. It is hard to tell if this was so, now.

Notice how the quilter has place extra hearts on two sides to make the design longer.

And the shorter side has just a single leaf! You can see the corner device which is a branch with six spirals. Very attractive and lively.

The central area with its flower and four hearts, with infill cross hatching to complete. All the motifs are double outlined, giving a single raised band - a characteristic of Welsh quilts.

The reverse of the quilt in a striped fabric. Can you see that the maker has run out of fabric and pieced the last strip, and not been able to match up the stripes? Welsh quilters were very frugal - this quilter had no more fabric to use.

The whole of the reverse.

Lovely leaves and spirals seen on the reverse of the quilt. Nicely stitched, probably made by a professional quilter. quite a heavy quilt, with a carded wool filling.

The edge of the quilt - a hand sewn edge as is usual with Welsh quilts.

No provenance on this quilt - it was bought for £6o at the Newark textiles fair - failed to sell in a shop for £125 - I bought it for £25 on Ebay. I guess no one liked the muted colours. Once again it was sold as a Durham quilt, but I think everyone can see that this is a Welsh, not a Durham, quilt.

Red Print Welsh quilt

Here is a pretty wholecloth Welsh quilt in a red print fabric with roses. Both sides of the quilt are made in the same fabric - the colour is not a bright red, but a pinky red as a background, with floral sprays in yellow blue and pink. The quilting is good but not elaborate and the quilt dates from about 1900. No provenance but the quilt probably comes from South Wales.

The size is 83 x 93 inches, and the filling is carded wool. No fading to the quilt so it has been lightly used if at all.

The stitching is not very visible but does follow the traditional Welsh format of central medallion and borders. Here, you can see the central medallion - a pitwheel device (spoked circle).

The quilting is mostly crosshatching with some spirals.

Here, you can see a four lobed flower design...

Another view of the neat stitching. These quilts were ususally made by professional quilters.

The edges are neatly finished off by hand in the Welsh manner.

Pink and Yellow Welsh Quilt

Here is a nice cotton sateen Welsh quilt in yellow/light gold and pale pink. In this case, the quilt was stitched from the yellow side. Looking at the stitches of the quilting, the yellow side is flatter and the stitches neater although very small and widely spaced. The pink side was the lower side in the frame as the stitches are a bit more irregular and the fabric is more puffy on this side. However the thread used is pink, so perhaps the pink side was meant to be the best side ? - or perhaps, pink thread was just what thread the quilter had to hand.



This quilt measures 80 x 86 inches and has wool wadding inside. This is a very heavy quilt. It is in very good condition with no signs of wear. It dates to the 1900's and probably comes from South Wales although there is no provenance.


Lots of spirals on this quilt - you can see that the centre medallion is a very large spiral surrounded by a star device with more spirals infilling the areas. Also seen are welsh hearts which are usually taken to mean a wedding quilt - I wonder if this is true in this case?





There is a border of triangles with spirals and then an outer border of diamond crosshatching.

Another view of the heart and outer borders.

The yellow or light gold side of the quilt....

Fans with a spiral infill in corners of the central field.....

Comparison of back and front - the edges are neatly hand stitched in the Welsh manner.The quilt was probably made by a professional quilter. A lovely wholecloth quilt.

Welsh Orange and Green Quilt - very stained....

Here is a quilt which looks much better now than when I bought it!

It had been bought at an auction and was very grubby - as if it had been left in a shed or loft. Not only was it dirty but it had water stains too - there was a large "tide mark" at one end of the quilt. There were also fades where the quilt had been folded and left in the sunlight. It also looked as if it had been dragged along the floor as there was a lot of grime. But, it was nicely stitched and a good example of a better "country" quilt.

This quilt was bought at an auction in LLanwardra village hall; the sale was from three separate house clearances and was run by an estate agent. The dealer (Jane) had wanted a particular pink tapestry blanket but in order to get that blanket, had to buy the whole box of quilts and blankets, of which this was one.


A close up of the neat stitching, in effective chevrons which are often seen on Welsh quilts.

A simple fan is seen in the corners...the centre medallion is a rectangle with diamond infill, surrounded by a twist.

The size is 82 x 70 inches and this is what most people would have had on their beds....

The stitching is very nice considering that there is a blanket inside as wadding....

As the quilt had not cost me very much, I decided to have a go at cleaning it. Water does not suit many quilts, but I reckoned that this one was sturdy enough to subject it to washing - and, the dirt would have harmed the quilt over time if left alone.

First I tested it for colour fastness, then washed it in cool water in the bathtub. The first two tub fulls (where I used a bit of mild detergent, Synthrapol) came up very dark brown - I also used some home-made mild soap in some areas - then rinsed three times. I was getting tired of washing the quilt at this point - so although the water wasn't perfectly clear I took it down to the washing machine in a basket and spun it dry, first at low speed and then at higher speed. It was then put over a padded clothes horse in the spare room (oh, sorry, quilt storage area). It looked a lot cleaner and the worst of the tide mark had gone. A small area had opened up on one side - you could see that there was a woollen blanket inside.

The quilt now looks 100% better than when it arrived - I like the individuality of these quilts and only wish I knew more about it.

Welsh Green and Pink Quilt with Frill

Here is a pink and green Welsh quilt which is in good condition, apart from some fading to the green side. The size is 76 x 66 inches, not including the frill. The quilt was bought from a lady in Hertfordshire as a Durham quilt. It had been bought as such from a dealer at an antique fair. She did not know anything more about the quilt. When I told her that it was in fact a Welsh quilt she was cross - she knew that Welsh quilts generally fetch more than Durham quilts - simply because there are fewer about, as Wales had a much smaller population than the North Country.

The patterns are typically Welsh. (As always, click on the photo to get a close up view, the patterns will become clearer then). You can see that the central medallion is of four beech leaves with two scrolls around this. The filling stitch is a scale pattern. Also seen are bees wings? paisley pears? I'm not sure what to call these propellor shapes - but they are fun.

You can see that there is a nice contrast between the light and dark sides. The frill is of two fabrics so that it matches each side.

The pink is the "right " side and the green is the "wrong" side. How to tell? The thread is pink and on a wholecloth quilt the thread usually matches the top side. Also, the top stitches are more regular and the fabric smoother, whereas the underside stitching is slightly more irregular, stitches somewhat smaller and the quilting more sculptural or puffy - sometimes the quilting designs are not as clear on the underside.

There are attractive fans and also a border with spirals.

This quilt is nicely worked and has a good density of stitching. The wadding is of carded wool. Altogether a good, typical Welsh quilt.

Durham Quilt quilted in Wales

Here is a stamped "Durham" quilt that I believe to have been finished in Wales - there are a number of clues....the pattern is a handsome but simplified north country design. The size is 83 by 82 inches and the date is 1920 or 30's.

The centre of the quilt has flatirons, ferns and roses with diamond infill.

The corner treatment is a flower plus simple feather motifs.Elegant but all fairly large scale.

Here is a photo of the reverse - this old gold and pink was a popular combination (the so-called custard and rhubarb!) The reverse is a brocade type cloth and you can see that the stitches are rather coarse.

You can still see the blue pencil markings - the quilt has been used and washed but the markings must have been robust as there are still many traces of these markings.

This is a close up of the reverse, you can see that the design created by the threads carried over the surface is a thistle in this case - a handsome fabric.

The clues that this quilt was made in Wales from a north country top:

1) The quilt came from a seller in Llanelli - it belonged to the seller's aunt (Lillian) who lived there - the seller assumed that it was Welsh: it was probably bought very inexpensively at an auction or house clearance, which she liked to attend. The seller did not think Lillian had any connections with Durham or the north country area.

2) the wadding is a very thick blanket which is very likely a Welsh wool blanket - this accounts for the coarse stitching: the wadding is too thick to achieve finer stitches.

3) The edge treatment is typically Welsh and is neatly hand sewn.

Mavis Fitzrandolph in Traditional Quilting,states on page 43 of quilt stamper Mrs Peart of Allendale ...."in 1952 she was charging five shillings for marking a quilt top....and she had orders from many parts of England and even from parts of Wales... "

Although there is no direct proof of this, I believe that this is one of the later North country tops that was sent to Wales and was completed by a Welsh quilter, using techniques that were familiar to her, and which were different to those techniques that would have been used by quilters in other parts of the UK.