QUILTS & FABRIC: PAST & PRESENT


Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Dahlov Ipcar's Calico Jungle




The topic lately seems to be my favorite children's book illustrators. I found a file on Dahlov Ipcar whose 1965 book The Calico Jungle is one of the greats. Still in print, The Calico Jungle tells a simple story of a boy, his imagination and a quilt his mother makes him.

Ipcar's inspiration was a quilt she made in the 1940s for her son.

Dahlov Ipcar in 1944

What sets the book apart is the illustrations, which are very 1960s.

The book explores, as Ipcar has said,
"The endless possibilities of patterns."

Georgann Eglinski was inspired by
Ipcar's ideas for a quilt for her first grandchild.

Georgann Eglinski
Calico Jungle
2001


Dahlov Ipcar is still working. See pillows and rugs from her designs.
Check out these links:


7 comments:

  1. Indeed at 90 plus years old Dahlov is still working and we are so fortunate here in our little town of Georgetown to get to see her often. This quilt was the only one she ever made. The best compliment I have ever received was when after, seeing my quilts, Dahlov called ME an artist!

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  2. Thank you for this marvelous introduction to Dahlov Ipcar. Her mother Marguerite Zorach was also a very fine fauvist artist and textile designer.

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  3. Thanks for sharing this book. I did not know about it. I love the illustrations and the quilt that was inspired by the book.

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  4. Thank you so much Barbara, I just ordered three copies of it from Amazon. My daughter is expecting her first baby in April and my son and his wife and my daughter and her husband are each adopting children from Ethiopia so the books will be perfect.

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  5. I love old children's books, and i have a few that my grandmother gave me. One is a book she won for a spelling bee in the 1800's so books I treasure. I am in the thinking stage, I have some fun fabric and I want to design a quilt around it, for my soon to be grandson and hopefully matching curtains and bedding.

    Debbie

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  6. Thank you so much for the walk down memory lane. We loved Ipcar's illustrations as children!!!

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  7. Dahlov Ipcar's art work is amazing. I have always admired her paintings, I just bought an alphabet book she did for a new baby, I'll have to get The Calico Jungle for her as well...Karin

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