Every Early Repro Collection Needs...

Every Early Reproduction Collection Needs... a white ground chintz.

The document print is at the top,

 the reproduction from Lately Arrived from London at the bottom.

Chintzes, large scale cotton florals originally printed in India were a fashion rage from the 17th through the early 19th centuries.

Nineteenth-century white ground chintzes often survive

as Broderie Perse designs in American applique quilts.

Annie Righton Smith, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

 Gift of Patricia Smith Melton 1998.149.19

Cut-out chintz or Broderie Perse quilt from an online auction.

Notice the free form stars scattered around the images cut from white ground chintz.

White-ground chintz border

Reproduction quilt top by Roseanne Smith

Roseanne's quilting this top now.

These splashy prints were popular for interior decorating but also for men's and women's clothing.

The Netherlands was one of the few European countries that permitted free trade in chintzes. Many bold articles of clothing survive there. Above two baby jackets (jakje in Dutch); below two baby caps, the top example a dark ground chintz, the bottom a white ground chintz.

Chintz was fashionable for womens' gowns and men's banyans (lounging robes).

Banyan from Tasha Tudor's collection

Click here and scroll down to see King George IV's white-ground chintz banyan

http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/study/history-art-design/dress-collective/listing-of-dress-collections/the-royal-pavilion,-brighton-museum-and-art-gallery-dress-collection

Read more about the history of chintz

At this blog post MoreWeJAdore:

http://www.morewejadore.com/2011/06/you-say-chintz-like-its-bad-thing.html 

And this one from TheDreamstress

http://thedreamstress.com/2010/06/calico-muslin-gauze-a-history-of-fabric-terminology-part-2/

And a reenactor site:

http://www.firstulster.org/Pages/3_1_2_cotton_essay.html

See more chintz dresses at the Victoria and Albert Museum
http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/40428-popup.html 

And the Kyoto Costume Institute
http://www.kci.or.jp/archives/digital_archives/detail_56_e.html

And see another post by me about chintz with lotsa links.
http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2009/09/chintz-george-iv.html

Click here to find out how to order a white-ground reproduction from the American Quilt Study Group

http://americanquiltstudygroup.org/supportfabric.asp 

And you'd better buy yardage from my Lately Arrived from London collection---yardage in shops soon.

http://www.unitednotions.com/fcc_lately_arrived_from_london.pdf 

 

Judy Severson's Broderie Perse

Judy Severson, Blue Garland, 92" x 92"

Judy Severson, Blue Rose, hand stuffed by Judy, hand quilted by Toni Fisher, 78" x 78"

Judy Severson has revived the art of cut-out-chintz applique with her book Flowers in Applique and through her teaching. Chintz applique, also called Broderie Perse, was the earliest applique style. Quiltmakers snipped blossoms out of chintz-scale prints and arranged them on a new background.

I took these detail shots of a block-style chintz applique Judy displayed at last fall's American Quilt Study Group conference.

This detail shows you that Judy, like the early applique artists, doesn't cut around every detail. For this piece she had a wonderful combination---a chintz on a fancy figured background and the same fancy ground as separate yardage. She could cut rather loosely and make it all blend in.

Judy's teaching at The Elly Sienkiewicz Appliqué Academy from February 11 to the 14th. Click here to read more about her and the other teachers:

http://www.ellysienkiewicz.com/teachers.htm 

Judy is also well known for her embossed quilt cards See more about them by clicking here:
http://www.printstore.com/severson.html

Flowers A-Bloom, hand stuffed by Judy, hand quilted by Toni Fisher, 81" x 81"

To see some antique quilts using this technique go to the website of the International Quilt Study Center and Museum by clicking here:

http://www.quiltstudy.org/discover/search.html

On this search page scroll down to Advanced Search and find the menu item Style/Type. Pull down the menu bar there and click on Cut-out chintz(Broderie Perse). You'll find over 30 examples.

Chintz & George IV

George as Prince Regent, about 1810 by Sir Thomas Lawrence

Commemorative print from the era of England's King George IV (GR IIII) (1820-1830)

I've been reading Regency history about the era when King George IV of England was Prince of Wales and then Prince Regent while his father was ill. It's a time of great technological advances in printing cottons, which is how I got started reading about it, but now I am a enthralled with the impressive scale of naughtiness among the aristocracy---gambling, debt, ridiculous spending, promiscuity, etc.

Chintz reproduction from William Booth

The Prince Regent set the tone. He was quite a conspicuous consumer. To see one of his quilted chintz banyans (a sort of bath robe) in the collection of the Royal Pavilion Museum click here:
http://www.virtualmuseum.info/collections/themes/costume_gallery/html/history.html

See a waistcoat with a similar print at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/all/waistcoat/objectview_enlarge.aspx?page=8&sort=0&sortdir=asc&keyword=cotton&fp=6&dd1=0&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=0&OID=80013460&vT=1
To read more about fashionable cotton prints of the time click here:
http://www.demodecouture.com/cotton/

And here are sites where you can buy reproductions of the late 18th century chintzes---prices on a scale with Regency-era extravagance though.
http://www.wmboothdraper.com/Cotton_Prints/Cotton_Prints_Index.htm
http://www.dutchquilts.com/chintz_fabric.html
http://www.texrepro.com/drygoods/34

You can download a lovely catalog featuring some chintz from the Titi Halle/Cora Ginsburg website
http://www.coraginsburg.com/catalogues/2004/costume_textiles_cat2004.pdf