"Comfy" Quilts

I have two "Comfy" quilts - this is the very-much-used one. These quilts came in a great variety of colours, but this diamond shape was the standard variety. You still see a lot of these about - they were factory-made quilts and they did supplant the hand sewn quilts although they were not cheap to buy.

Jan Rae's article will give a lot of detailed information on these quilts. Her talk was fascinating but unfortunately I did not take notes. Comfy quilts were made by the British Quilting Company in Holt Holme Mill, Waterfoot, Rawtenstall, Rossendale. The company was difficult to track down, it was no longer registered with Companies House - but cleverly, Jan was able to check the registered logo and discover the company details that way. She was then able to access local records and archives. Also, through day exhibits in two local libraries, Jan was able to meet former employees. The company was a relatively large and prosperous company in its heyday, but the company closed in 1970 after sales fell off.

The two sides of the quilt are reversed plain and print fabric - that is because the diamond shape was cut out from the (already quilted) quilt sandwich and the shape turned over. Then the cut edges were covered with a tape and the edges sewn down. The quilting was always done in a zigzag pattern by a special quilting machine imported from America.

Here is my better "Comfy" quilt - it is unused, but it is a wholecloth type in a green print - no diamond shape here.

And here is the fabric Comfy label. Sometimes there is a paper label as well. Most of the quilts have long since lost their labels. Quite a few people grew up sleeping under one of these quilts!