War & Piecing 1812-2012

Hewson panel

from Andover Fabrics

You may not have realized this but 2012 is the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812.

The British burned the Capitol Building

 I've been focusing on the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War in 2011, but next year brings a big anniversary of an earlier war when the British invaded the young republic.

There's already one quilt challenge for this anniversary.

The Great Lakes Seaway Trail of  NY and PA invite quilters to make authentic War of 1812-era reproduction-style quilts for the not-for-profit byway travel organization’s 2012 quilt show and competition. They ask for is "cot to coffin" size and they are encouraging  authentic reproduction quilts of fabrics, including cotton, linen, silk, wool and linsey-woolsey; colors made with dyes available in that era; and patterns true to the 1812 . 

Click here for more information:
http://www.seawaytrail.com/quilting.html
And follow the blog about the contest.
http://1812quiltchallenge.blogspot.com/ 
See Moda's page at their Giving Back web address and then click on Great Lakes Seaway over on the right.
http://www.unitednotions.com/un_main.nsf/giving-back!OpenPage

Lucky for fans of early quilts there are several reproduction lines in the works. Moda and I have a collection of chintzes and dress-scale prints called Lately Arrived from London that will be in quilt shops in September.

The Little Molly from Lately Arrived from London

The look is 1780-1820

Andover is working with the Winterthur Museum to print reproductions of the famous John Hewson panel that is featured in several quilts dating to the era. See the featured panel with the vase at the top.

Hewson stripe from Andover

View more examples of the prints in that line at the Busy Thimble blog

http://busythimble.blogspot.com/

Margo Krager has reproductions of several European panels that were popular with Americans in the early 19th century. Her Reproduction Fabrics webstore is laser-printing some of the classics like the Trophy of Arms below. 

See more by clicking here

http://www.reproductionfabrics.com/lines.php?subcat=1020

The American Quilt Study Group is printing two reproductions as a fundraiser, a stripe and a floral. These will be real collector's items.

Click here to find out how to order

http://americanquiltstudygroup.org/supportfabric.asp 

And Rose Studios has a panel in a line called Manchester Glory.

Panels are hard to find. Early 19th century prints of any kind are hard to find. Let's hope these reproductions all sell so well that we'll start a fad for plum-colored chintzes and panels of fruit.

The Wellington Victory panel

from a quilt belonging to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London

See quilts with panels by clicking on these links to museum collections:

Two from the Winterthur Museum

http://content.winterthur.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/quilts&CISOPTR=380&CISOBOX=1&REC=5

http://content.winterthur.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/quilts&CISOPTR=401&CISOBOX=1&REC=16

And one from the International Quilt Study Center and Museum

2008.040.0060

http://cdn.firespring.com/images/5a675131-f9f2-46a6-97ad-4ed24d910d17.jpg

And check this blog post at the Great Lakes Seaway blog to see more links and period quilts

http://1812quiltchallenge.blogspot.com/2011/05/links-to-museum-quilts-from-1812-era.html