Here is a recent purchase, a cushion cover from Ammanford in Wales. This item features corded or "Italian" quilting, where stitched channels are stuffed with wool to make a raised pattern.
The cover is 21 x 21 inches and is of a rose or dusty bronze colour. The design shows a pot of flowers, and the whole is surrounded by a frill.
According to the Quilters Guild book "Quilt Treasures" corded quilting is of Middle Eastern origin and was very popular in the 17th century. There was a revival of corded quilting in the 1920's and 30's and a number of cushions were seen at the documentation days, including some made from kits. This pattern looks a bit more homegrown, featuring roses (perhaps from a template?) with some stems and foliage, atop a rather Welsh-looking fan.
On the back, you can see how the wool has been inserted in the channels of stitching between the "satin" and a backing cloth to form the ridges. I wonder if this is an artificial fibre - there were artifical silks and satins from this time...
Pots of flowers as a design have been a talking point - urns or pots of flowers were of course popular in applique - I'm thinking of Baltimore Album quilts...but were also a popular quilting pattern in the earlier, elaborate Welsh quilts. Jen Jones has several early quilts with urns of flowers and Susan L. has been looking at the quilting designs on the Starfish Quilt (owned by the Quilt Assocaiation in Llanidloes) which features pots of flowers. My quilting samples from Devon also include one which has a pot of flowers, seemingly part of the revival from the 20's and 30's.
The seller said that this cushion cover was over 100 years old, dating it to about 1910. The seller said that the maker was her father's aunt who had lived all her life in Ammanford. Both the maker and her mother were keen needlewomen (amateur). Under this cover she discovered more covers! but those were embroidered on crepe, not quilted. There are three or four other corded cushion covers in the sellers possession, with different designs but not all in good condition. I am trying to find out the name of the maker.
An interesting item, and the first I have of this type of quilting.
Some time ago, I blogged about these corded or Italian quilted pillow covers from Wales. I thought that these were made from patterns but wasn't sure.
I can now show an example of the type of patterns that were available after the war. The trend was to make small projects, and to use a pattern - which were readily available, and inexpensive. This little magazine is by Penelope, and contains designs which are very similar to the one on the cushion above. I have seen another book which contains different corded patterns, so evidently there were several pattern books available.
A picture of the clever seamstress of the day...
The owner of this booklet evidently took a class in quilting, as there is a sheet of class notes....I suppose that after the war, quilting had ceased to be a practical skill and had become a leisure activity; the object was to make a beautiful object for the house and picking out a pattern with clear instructions was vital, as skills had been forgotten by most women at this time.
