Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Alice's Scrapbag: Grandpa's Banyan


Full Circle 78" x 78"

"Full Circle" is the official Moda kit for my latest Civil War era reproduction fabric Alice's Scrapbag.
Carrie from Miss Rosie's Quilts designed it. You can buy Full Circle as a pattern or a complete kit.

Carrie combined a few simple blocks that work well side-by-side.
She used every print in the repro collection.

I think I see some of "Grandpa's Banyan" in there.
It's a paisley in a grid set.

On the left above: The document print from Alice's original four- patch quilt that inspired the Moda collection.
On the right: A piece of the reproduction Grandpa's Banyan, plus a photo of a man dressed in his banyan or dressing gown.


Why did I name the paisley Grandpa's Banyan?

Amos Lawrence in a banyan, painting by Chester Harding,
Mid-1840s.
Collection: National Gallery of Art

Alice's Grandpa wasn't as rich as Amos Lawrence, nor did he own a fabric mill but the Pennsylvania farmer might have had a similar dressing gown or banyan.

Banyan made of wool woven in the style of Cashmere shawls

Banyan is an old-fashioned word for another old-fashioned word---
a dressing gown, our bathrobe.
But banyans were a little more formal
than a bathrobe. You received friends wearing
your banyan.

Or had your photo taken in one.
(How au courant is that hair????)

Here's a man's dressing gown in a cotton paisley print.
Paisley-style banyans were part of a mid-19th-century fashion for orientalism in the boudoir. Victorians loved the idea of eastern design from India, China and Japan in their private rooms.

A later, shorter variation was called a
smoking jacket.

Alice's original four-patch

Thus....
"Grandpa's Banyan"


The reproduction print comes in three period colorways.

Read more about a particular banyan here
https://aeveryday.omeka.net/exhibits/show/banyan/object

Ask your shop if they have any "Full Circle" kits or patterns in stock. Or do a web search for the four words
 Full Circle Alice's Scrapbag
to find a shop carrying the kit and pattern.

3 comments:

  1. Love the line! Picked up mine at Cyndi's (Busy Thimble) last week. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting info. and paisley designs. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, thanks for sharing,there are fantastic projects!

    ReplyDelete