Allendale "Cutter"

Here is an Allendale quilt which has seen better days! This quilt came from a house clearance in the Hexham area of Northumberland. It is pale yellow on one side and cream on the other. The stitching is good; however, the top and bottom sides have been trimmed. The size of the quilt is now is 60 x 80 inches. This quilt was sold as a "cutter"and I knew that it had been trimmed but I was intrigued...but I should have realised from these measurements that quite a bit had been trimmed away.when the quilt arrived, I was surprised to find that about 6 - 8" had been trimmed from two sides and the borders and all the corner treatment was missing! As I did not pay much, it did not matter....but it would have been nice to see more of the quilting pattern...

Here is the centre of the quilt with its rose centre, straight ferns and feathers - very similar to the white Allendale in good condition that I showed you earlier. This quilt has been expertly and professionally marked.It looks to be by the same hand as the worn blue quilt and new white quilt. I just wish we could group these quilts stylistically and link them to known names!!

Another view of the very attractive centre...nicely stitched...

What's left of the border - a swag with a rose over the joins - and a corner device of a circle with three feathers and scrolling...

Two colours, pale yellow and a cream cotton sateen - well worn and very soft now.....

This is the last of the Allendale stamped quilts that I have to show you - you can see that some are expertly marked, others are slightly less accomplished although still much better than a home marked quilt.

Goose Wing Border

When I looked again at the last post with the navy Allendale from Ayr, I realised that I had not posted a clear photo of the goose wing border - so here is another photo.

You can see that the goose wings do make a lovely, sinuous border. The central vein makes a nice distinct curved line. There is floral infill below, and a proud feather motif above.

I will have another stamped quilt tomorrow, this time from the Teesdale area.

Light Blue Allendale Quilt

In spring 2009, I bought an old North Country quilt that was in very poor condition. The quilt had been purchased at Tyneside Market after a house clearance - the quilt was very faded and grubby although not smelly or damp. It was as if it had been left in a shed or loft for a long time. It had stains and some paint on it, and an area where the wadding had entirely disappeared.

The centre of the quilt

My first action was to wash the quilt in a tub with some Synthrapol detergent, and clean tepid water. Several tubfuls of dirty water later, the quilt was much cleaner and could be carefully spun and then dried. Although it was still rather stained, one could see that it was very nicely quilted. Over the years, the quilt had faded to a pale blue, but by looking in the seams one could see that it had once been a mid blue colour. The quilting patterns were very attractive and it was apparent that the designs had bee professionally "stamped" or drawn out, although no markings remained after years of use and washing.

I found a very similar quilt illustrated in the Beamish Museum's book Quilts and Coverlets, which had been stamped in 1910. The patterns on my quilt were not identical, but as quilt designs were largely drawn freehand, few are exactly the same.

I decided to trace the quilt patterns onto polythene sheeting using a permanent marker. The design was roughly rectangular with swags, roses, feathers, ferns, spirals and elaborate pomegranate-type designs, The centre treatment was especially pleasing. The pierced ferns are very characteristic of Allendale quilts, as are the border swags.

The corner treatment - note the swags with roses at the junctions and also in the corner. In the centre of the corner is a fleur de lys design with much freehand scrolling. Note the hand-drawn feathers underneath the swags - very characteristic of Allendale quilts. The background grid is neatly drawn , 3/4 inch squares on point; again this was difficult for most home quilters to do but was carefully and neatly done by the apprentices in the Allendale workshops.

I later decided to make a new quilt - more in the next post!

Good News

Good news - my quilt history article has been accepted for the summer issue of The Quilter. Also, I have been promised exhibition space at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC this August to display my new and old quilts - all I have to do is sit by the two quilts for four days and talk to quilters - how difficult is that??

I bought an old "cutter" quilt for £30 last spring - very tatty and dirty - the first action was to give it a wash. It was still very faded and stained, but the quilting was very fine - it was obvious that it was a "stamped" (marked) Allendale quilt. I used my polythene sheeting and Sharpie marker to trace the quilting designs. I also found a very similar, almost identical quilt in the Beamish book, Quilts and Coverlets, which had a date of 1900.

I decided to recreate the quilt with a new top - whereas the old quilt was a very faded blue, I used a pink polished cotton for the new top. I used a very fine mechanical pencil and my light table to mark the quilting patterns; the finished top was 80 x 100 inches. I did have to rearrange the elements slightly: after 110 years the old quilt was no longer truly rectangular!!

The new quilt is now finished and as you can see contrasts well with the old quilt. I am hoping to promote the Quilt Study Group and quilt history in general. Next project -to sew a Welsh quilt, using vintage red paisley fabric for the backing and carded welsh wool for the wadding. I am also working on a red and white Hawaiian quilt which will be entered into the FOQ - but more of that later.