Atlanta History Center 4: Jane Allen Nesbitt's 1828 Chintz Quilt

Quilt dated 1828 and signed on the reverse

Jane Allen Nesbitt

Atlanta History Center

This is the earliest panel quilt in our files with a date

actually inscribed on it. The date surprised us at first. When Merikay 

began looking at chintz panel quilts they were often thought to have

been made twenty or thirty years earlier.

But now we think this date is quite typical for the style, if a little early.

The American fashion seems to have been at its peak in the 1830s.

Jane's quilt features a panel Merikay has numbered 14, a floral bouquet

tied with a blue ribbon

Notice the olive green leaf here in the panel, which reflects a print style quite popular in

England in the first quarter of the 19th century (the fabrics are earlier than the American quilts

made from them.)

Greens, yellow and browns picturing detailed tree leaves

The quiltmaker had many similar fabrics...

...a nice supply of  English chintzes related to what was called "drab style,"

dyed with quercitron that produced fast yellow, greens and browns.

See a post on quercitron here:

https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2015/07/stars-in-time-warp-27-quercitron-and.html

The scrap of a pillar print is inserted into the border. The colors

all blend quite well.

Beautiful narrow rolled binding

Pencil marks for the quilting remain.

And that's the end of our adventure in Atlanta.

Thanks to Tara Miller for most of the photos.