Vintage French quilt

Subject: Vintage French quilt Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:29 pm

Here is my utterly lovely new vintage quilt, bought from French eBay. It's already nicknamed "Rhubarb & Custard" from the deep soft muted colours. The fabric is soft old heavy cotton, and the batting is probably cotton. It's probably from between the World Wars, we think, but don't know. It's entirely hand-stitched and has, as the vendor's description translated "some damage, but nothing too wicked"!
(It cost me £19, far less than in British eBay - and another 19 for postage - still cheaper than British eBay!)

Now... how do I put in pictures...

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/lnsbones/?action=view&current=quiltinsunweb.jpg

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:31 pm

Hmmm.... don't know what happened to the picture there - but the other picture anyway - sorry if you have to trek across to look at them, rather than them being included in the post...

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/lnsbones/?action=view&current=quiltrhubarbcustardweb.jpg

The pattern is so un-staid that everyone smiles when they see it! And the colours go with the faded wallpaper perfectly... I think our house invented "shabby chic" especially the 'shabby' part!

laura

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Mon Mar 19, 2007 6:00 pm

That is a beautiful color! It does make you feel like smiling. I love the quilted pattern! Very pretty.

Karla

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:04 pm

The colours are wonderful on your quilt and at a bargain price too.

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Wed Aug 08, 2007 6:19 am

Mmmm... I love solid fabric quilts. I love patchwork ones, too, but the solid color ones show off the quilting patterns. Very nice.

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Wed Aug 08, 2007 7:15 am

Thanks Rosie - yes, I'm with you... patchwork quilts are lovely and I can see the skill that goes into them, but this wholecloth one has something extra-lovely about it!

Mind you, my great-grandmother used to make Durham quilts, so maybe it's a family tendency... ;-)

As it's summer, I've got the quilt sunny-side-up - in winter it goes warm red side up!

And all these months on, it is STILL making me smile when I see the carefree curlicues of its pattern!
Not to mention I make my bed every single day because otherwise I don't get to see the lovely pattern...

laura

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Sat Aug 11, 2007 3:53 pm

That is really pretty! I love that rhubarb color. What a great find. It's so much fun when you get a real treasure for a bargain.

What are Durham quilts?

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:27 pm

Sylvie, Durham quilts were 'invented' in the very early 20th century to help bring extra income to families of coal-miners in the county of Durham in the north-east of England. The cloth is one huge piece and is usually plain although a few have patterned, eg paisley or floral. Usually the two sides are different colours. The pattern comes from the incredibly complex stitching, very fine multiple lines. They are incredibly lovely and I shudder to think how many hours it must take to make one!

My grandmother could remember her mother's huge quilting-frame and playing under it as a tiny child. I've only seen Durham quilts in books because we don't have any of her work because it all had to be sold to buy food and fuel for her, her collier husband and their seven children, the surviving one of whom still lives in the little brick house that my great-grandparents moved into in 1901!

It must have been terribly hard; we all love playing at the pretty end of vintage housekeeping but the reality, when you look hard, was not pretty - she had to keep her house spotless in a town filled with coal-dust (contemporary accounts mention outside windowsills and doorsteps needing to be washed down TWICE each DAY), all the laundry by hand for nine people, keep the kids out of trouble, all the cooking and housecleaning and on top of that spend time producing some of the most tiny detailed exquisite needlework you can imagine, without modern lighting or spectacles and having to keep the ever-present coal-dust off the quilt too...

Aren't we lucky?! ;-)

laura

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:33 pm

http://www.collectionsaustralia.net/nqr/result.php?ID=1050&restype=t

This Australian website shows a good example - it looks lovely until you see the size - 2m by 2.2m, about 6-7 foot by 7 to 8 foot, double bed size. Then you realise just how many tiny tiny stitches there are, all in exactly the right place...!

You can click on the picture for a bigger version. Some quilts have a centrepiece and a border; this one is more randomly designed.

Here's another
http://www.collectionsaustralia.net/nqr/result.php?ID=1092&restype=t

laura

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:19 am

Beautiful quilts! So, what's the difference between French and Durham quilts? What you described for Durham quilts is what I thought was the French quilt description.

Thanks for the web sites. Nice.

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Mon Aug 13, 2007 5:46 am

I suppose they are the same type! The "Durham quilt" is a very specific sort of quilt, like an Alsatian dog is a very specific sort of quilt - the French quilt is just a quilt from France!

The technique is the same - outer cloth, padding, backing or undercloth, all held together by stitches going right through all thicknesses in a decorative pattern - but the Durham quilts have traditional designs of pattern and are covered with such dense rows of stitching that they are almost stiff and rigid to handle, hardly any fabric left that is not covered with lines and lines of stitches. That must be the main difference, I suppose, the designs and the density.

But they are all lovely, aren't they? I had hardly known of their existence until I was off work one summer with knee trouble and limped round to the public library one day and thought "oh, what were those quilts my great-grandmother was supposed to make?" and started looking up the history and just fell in love!!!

One day i'd like to make one... but until then I'm happy under my carefree French curlicues!

laura

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:07 pm

Those are so pretty. I can't imagine how long it must have taken to make just one.

We are pretty lucky to be able to have modern conveniences and vintage to pull from. I don't know how the women got so much done in a day. I am a very sad let down of my ancestors, I'm sure. :p

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Mon Aug 13, 2007 2:05 pm

Thanks Laura for the explanation. There's just enough difference between the quilts to be important. I wouldn't have known about them without your help and having the privilege to be on this wonderful forum!

Sylvie, I'm a sad let down to my ancestors, too. But, there's still time - today, we can accomplish much more than we did yesterday, or last Monday, anyway.

Subject: Re: Vintage French quilt Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:26 pm

What a pretty quilt.