Civil War Reunion

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War Moda and I have a new reproduction collection called Civil War Reunion. The precuts packages ---Jelly Rolls and Charm Packs are in the shops now and the yardage should be shipped in February.

I named it Civil War Reunion because I wanted to focus on the way the War is remembered and how this country reconciled North and South, an effort that began the day the war ended.

A program honoring Confederate veterans about 1910

The photographs are from the Library of Congress.

Union Veterans Parade

The prints are named for veterans' groups and the women's associations who shaped the way we remember the War 150 years later. These groups established Decoration Day in May to honor the Union and Confederate soldiers who gave their lives in the war. (We now call it Memorial Day.)

Decoration Day or Memorial Day at the end of May

asked Americans to decorate the soldiers' graves.

Women's groups established "Old Soldier's Homes" and memorial sculptures in public squares. The Women's Relief Corps stitched quilts and needlework to raise funds for cemeteries and aid for widows and orphans.

The Blue and the Gray at a Reunion in Gettysburg

Late in the century "Blue & Gray Reunions" brought beribboned veterans from both armies together in enormous encampments that gradually dwindled until the last old soldiers died in the 1950s.

Prints in the Civil War Reunion collection range from mid-century to the 1890s.

I'll be posting patterns and information over the next few weeks. And do check my Civil War Quilts Blog for a weekly pattern that would be perfect for these prints.