A Welsh Strippy

This quilt was sold as a Durham strippy. But one look at the poor photos was enough to know that this was a Welsh strippy. How to tell the difference?

According to Dorothy Osler, British Quilts, Welsh strippies generally have wider strips than North Country strippies. In both, the strips are pieced by machine. Durham strippies have border designs quilted along the strips, whilst in Welsh strippies the strip quilting format was rare. Here the quilting disregards the strip piecing and the standard bordered layout with central and corner motifs with one or more borders is followed. Welsh quilts have broad even strips in contrasting colours, with odd numbers of strips.

Strip quilts were made in great numbers during the years 1869-1930 and seem to have been the “everyday” quilts. Fizrandolph indicated high proportions of strippies being made. Few survive, so it seems that they were more used and therefore more liable to destruction. Wholecloth quilts were the more valued “best” quilts, were more likely to be preserved and thus more survive. See also The Classic Strippy Quilt – D. Osler Quilt Studies Volume 1(1999).

This quilt has beautiful quilting and must have been “for best” as it seems little used. The strips are 9” wide, and there are an odd number which are reversible – i.e. the other side has the opposite colour. Strip quilts were easily put together by machine. Here a plain white cotton sateen is paired with a pink blue and green flowered print. The wadding is carded wool. The date is hard to guess as the fabric is not distinctive – it could date from the 1890’s. The quilting patterns are especially nice on this quilt – the central medallion is of lined hearts. In the corners there is a nice tulip motif and also a flower within a circle. Also seen are circles drawn from coins (too small for pennies – farthings?), spirals, and a lovely church window border. All closely quilted.

This quilt was on display at the summer 2008 Minerva exhibition of antique Welsh quilts in Llanidloes, along with my red and blue flannel quilt. Also, at the Quilters Haven exhibition over Easter 2008.

This quilt has no provenance but the seller did come from Carmarthen.

“In Wales, quilting was a cottage industry and quilts were made to be sold, quilters seldom signed them. Provenance is therefore a rarity. It was not false modesty that prevented the quilters from signing their work. Conceiving what they did as a utilitarian service, it would not have occurred to them to claim credit for their accomplishments. (Jen Jones)

Red and Green Strippy

Here is another early purchase. It is a red and green strippy quilt. Strippies were the utility quilts of the North, and with a few exceptions, they were well used and therefore are generally fairly tatty. This one is no exception, but does serve as a good example of your average quilt. Strippy quilts were popular. They looked cheerful and were easy to put together with purpose bought fabric. Once in the frame, they were easy to mark as the strips could be marked with border patterns along the strips whilst in the frame.





A general photo. The stripes are meant to run up and down the bed, not across. Utility patterns here are cross hatching. waves and a braid.

Of course, we would not use green and red in a quilt as the colours are now strongly associated with Christmas! However, the holiday was not commericalised then as it is now and the colours did not have the same connotation then.

You can see that there are usually an uneven number of strips. The quilt is backed with a plain white fabric. The strips in this North Country strippy are narrower than those seen in Welsh strippies.

The fabric used here is cotton poplin. It is a densely woven cotton that is hard wearing and was liked by quilters.

This one is fairly well worn along the edges - and it has been bound at some point. British quilts usually did not have bindings, except, as here, as a repair.

The size of this quilt is 74 x 92 inches.

No provenance with this quilt, although it came from the Drighlington area of West Yorkshire, near Bradford. It was an early purchase and did not cost much - but it did teach me to look at the photos carefully - the description said it was in great condition - and its not! Its rather worn. But that is to be expected with this type of quilt - a warm bedcover that was part of growing up in many households in the north country.

First Purchase - Durham Strippy

Here is the first Durham quilt that I bought on Ebay - in 2006. I was disappointed when it arrived - although colourful, it seemed very scrappy. I had not yet learned to "read" the Ebay descriptions properly, and did not appreciate at that time how important scanning the photos carefully is.

But, luckily, this quilt has grown on me...

Most people think of quilts, especially patchwork and strippy quilts, as being made of scraps - recycled fabrics - however, the typical strippy was made of two lengths of fabric bought especially for the quilt, and not made up of scraps. The strippy format was a convenient one - the fabrics could be made into a cheerful quilt without much wastage. The quilt was simple to seam together on the sewing machine - and the strips meant that the quilting designs were easy to mark, within each strip.

This quilt is an exception to the rule, as it is made of various offcuts - some strips are pieced, and some strips are made up of several very narrow strips. There are a lot of selvages here! Of course, the paisley red strip is a stand out - but there is a floral panel, once very bright, now very faded and almost invisible, on both sides. The quilt would have been much more colourful originally.

The quilting pattern is a bit hard to see - it is an overall pattern (I guess the strips were too small to have the usual quilting patterns). The centre is a large flower-type pattern with very large flat iron type devices. The outer border has fans and a swag and bellows type border.

Here is the border pattern -and a good view of the paisley red with the peacocks ( a clue as to the Indian origin of the paisley pattern?) Can you see how the yellow strip is made from more than one fabric?

Another view of the front - on the left is the faded panel which once must have been very colourful. The yellow strip is made of several pieces of fabric as is the pink one.

While strippy quilts are thought of as utility or everyday quilts, of course in very poor households, they were often the "best" quilt.

Here is the back of the quilt - more subdued colours, but still with the narrow strips seen on the front, and a twin of the faded panel on the front.

The edge of the quilt - you can see that, as with many north country quilts, this has a machine finished edge. You can also see that the strips were sewn by machine.

This quilt has no provenance, but came from a dealer in Morpeth in Northumberland - it measures 84 x 60 inches. The wadding is cotton.