Arnold's Attic Woven Plaids and Stripes

My Arnold's Attic collection for Moda includes woven plaids and stripes inspired by the subdued greens, blues and red-browns in the print line.

 

This photo of the fat quarter bundle is a little too intense.

See the swatches above for a truer blue.

We see woven pattern in quilts going back to the 18th century.

The hexagon above dates to about 1840. 

Plaids, stripes and checks were extremely popular in the years 1880-1920, the years when the fabric in Arnold's Attic was collected by his relatives. The bowtie top is from my collection, about 1910. Blacks, red and indigo blue were the fashion.

In America's Printed Fabrics I wrote about woven plaids and stripes and their popularity with quiltmakers after the Civil War.

"After the War, the ruined South had few assets besides future cotton crops. Realizing that the traditional system of trading raw material for manufactured cloth could never guarantee prosperity, a few Southern entrepreneurs decided to build mills to clean, spin, weave and color the cotton. Among the most successful was Edwin Holt and his family.

Holt established an empire in 1837 with his first mill in the area near Chapel Hill, now Alamance County, North Carolina. After Appomatox, Holt was determined to rebuild a Southern economy based on industry and capitalism rather than agriculture and slavery.

Southern mill owners did not print the finer figured calicoes that required skilled printers, but focused on plaids and checks dyed in the yarn stage, then woven into pattern. The Southern plaids and checks, which became known as Alamance plaids, were the standard stuff of everyday clothing and household textiles in the South through the end of the century. Scraps of the Southern plaids wound up in many quilts and numerous quilts survive with backings of Alamance plaid.

A Log Cabin with a back of Alamance plaid.

The plaids were often flannelled or combed,

giving a soft feel for quilt backs and a warmer surface for clothing.

March 8, 1870
“Cotton spinning has been paying very well this year….and I expect making money fast on checks….there is more money in checks than anything else and no end to the demand.”

Letter from Thomas Holt

Detail of a Log Cabin dated 1914

Log cabin quilts were often made in plaids, Among my favorites are those with plaids and stripes cut on the bias, which works pretty well since the block is built on a fabric foundation.

I'm planning a log cabin cut from the Arnold's Attics plaids. I've digitally recolored antique examples for inspiration.

 

I'll be putting some of the plaids on the bias.

But I won't try to revive the fashion for men's suits.

October 4, 1886

Charlotte, North Carolina
“I one day saw a country merchant from Gaston, North Carolina higgling with a Charlotte dealer over a piece of Yankee plaids at 7 cents per yard. In a few minutes I saw the president of the McAden mill clad in a full suit of his own beautiful goods far superior to the other at 6 1/4 cents per yard.”

See more about Alamance County plaids by clicking here:
http://www.textileheritagemuseum.org/Textiles%20and%20Alamance%20County.htm

And check Rosie the Fabric Shopper's blog for her review of Arnold's Attic plaids:
http://fabricshopperonline.com/arnolds-attic/