QUILTS & FABRIC: PAST & PRESENT


Thursday, January 21, 2010

Stripes in Civil War Homefront

Every Civil War reproduction collection needs a stripe or two.


Detail of the tintype I use in my banner shows a neat striped dress and tie from the 1860s.


Stripes large and small were popular throughout the 19th century for clothing. The sisters above were probably photographed in the 1870s. The woman below wears the silhouette of the 1860s. Extra stripes were added with appliqued ribbon.






Border prints were a popular style of stripe.
And if you didn't have stripes you could make them yourself.


She must have heard that vertical stripes were figure flattering---but not in this case.


Prussian blue stripe were particularly popular for clothing and quilts right before the Civil War. This striped basket in a striped set is from a quilt dated 1858.



I have two stripes in my Civil War Homefront collection for Moda. The smaller one above is named Pumpkin Seed Button and the larger stripe below is Hickory Hoops.





Deb Rowden made the most of a package of precut Layer Cakes and the Hickory Hoop stripe in dark blue (Ironclad Navy). Her inspiration was a quilt from the Rocky Mountain Quilts website. Click here to see the antique. http://www.rockymountainquilts.com/files/antiquequilt_q8120.php
Spend some time looking at Betsey Telford-Goodwin's quilts. It's a great website for inspiration---and shopping.

7 comments:

  1. I love stripes! The homemade striped dress is hilarious!

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  2. I always love reading your blog. I have a question. A friend said that she thought borders on quilts were more modern. I've never thought about this. When did quilts begin to have borders as we know them now?

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  3. Love the stripes and the history of their use. Wonderful remake of the antique quilt. I do love that site and one of these days I will have to visit there, when I am in the area.

    Debbie

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  4. I still love stripes. It must have be so wonderful when cotton fabric became affordable and so wondrously printed. If only they had soap other than lye soap. Did they wash cotton dresses like everything else, by boiling and using lye soap. No wonder there are very few cotton dresses remaining from that time.

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  5. What a beautiful quilt in beautiful colors! Greeting from the Netherlands by Berna

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  6. Your Hickory Hoops fabric is fabulous. I am at what seems like the endless task of hand quilting my Bird of Paradise quilt but I can't wait to gather more fabric and make something new.

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  7. I love the look of antique quilts, and am collecting a lot of the reproduction fabrics. However I've used up the indigo. Are you making more? How about the cadet blue? Love those and need them. As well as good reds for log cabin centers.

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