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I am a quilter living in Woodbridge, Suffolk who has made quilts since I was a teenager. I also ring bells! Both are great British traditions....I will try to feature some of my antique Welsh and Durham quilts, the quilts I make myself, my quilting activities and also some of my bellringing achievements. Plus as many photos as I can manage. NB: Double click on the photos to see greater detail, then use back button to return to the main page.













Sunday 26 February 2017

Yellow and Grey Green Strippy Quilt from Bedale with Wave Quilting

Strangely, I bought this quilt at the same time as the previously posted strip quilt. Again, the main point of interest is the wave quilting pattern.


This quilt is from Bedale, which is in North Yorkshire but just across the border from Cumbria. The wave pattern was traditional in Cumbria, the Isle of Man and Ireland.


The colours do not show up accurately in these photos; the colours are yellow and a light grey-green on one side, and a cream and light grey-green on the other. The fabric is cotton sateen.


These strip quilts were easy to sew together, with little waste of fabric, so were the utility quilts of the day. Much needed in a cold unheated house!


As I said in the last post, I have wondered how these waves were marked. In the last quilt, the peaks and troughs of the design coincided with the centre and edges of the strips. As you can see, this is not the case with this quilt.


The quilt has carefully been darned in a couple of spots to repair a tear in the fabric...



More careful darning, a lost skill in our age of cheap, disposable textiles and clothes.... The strips have been joined by a treadle sewing machine...


The edges are hand sewn.


To show both sides of this quilt...


This quilt has a calming effect and must have been a warm covering.


This quilt was brought into the Bedale Post Office (which also acts as an antique store) by a local family for sale. Interestingly, another quilt sold the day before mine was another quilt from the same family in the same colours  - however, that quilt had fairly elaborate North Country patterns.

In the next post, I will briefly compare the two wave strip quilts...

2 comments:

  1. Hi Pippa, I bought the other quilt! The sellers couldn't tell me much about the owners apart from that it was a old local family and it had come with other house clearance items including another (your) quilt.

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  2. Darning... a lost art.... and the socks that needed darning most don't seem to get holes in the heal the way they use to.

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