Saturday, January 14, 2012

Chain of Squares Borders

Medallion dated 1804 by Mary Stites in Pennsylvania,
pictured in Nancy and Donald Roan's Lest I Shall Be Forgotten.

Mary's full-size quilt is elegant in its simplicty and proportions. The chain of squares in the final pieced border is a pattern often seen in early medallions. It's simple and bold without the detail seen in later medallions.

Cynthia Collier made a wall-size reproduction using a pattern in my book
America's Printed Fabrics 1770-1890


This medallion by Mary Eby dated 1803 is the earliest quilt documented by the Maryland project. See it in their book A Maryland Album by Gloria Seaman Allen and Nancy Gibson Tuckhorn.


Here's a vintage top from Penny McMorris's collection with the same kind of final pieced border pulling the compositon together. See Diane's interpretation of this quilt at Persnickety Quilts


A reproduction by Georgann Eglinski framing an antique Japanese textile with the final border of chained squares dark on one side, light on the other- a little more sophisticated variation.

Bobbi Finley & Carol Gilham Jones, a collaborative reproduction, 2006.
 Bobbi framed the panel with stars and did the zigzag. Carol did the border of squares and the outer stars. Notice that some of Carol's squares are plain squares and others are four-patches in that random way quilters used to compose.

Sylvia Jennings Galbraith
Medallion Doll Quilt, 2001

Click here to see more about this border in Martha Washington's Penn's Treaty Quilt:

Here are some links to antique quilts with chained square borders.

From the collection of Michigan State University:
http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=1E-3D-11

A stuffed-work quilt from the DAR Museum
http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=46-7A-136

A chintz quilt from the International Quilt Study Center and Museum # 2008.040.0182
http://cdn.firespring.com/images/236e86da-966e-4d13-9693-ea7cd6f768d9.jpg

From the D.A.R. Museum a Hewson quilt with a border that is actually a strip
http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=46-7A-2C

Of course, the border makes a great strip quilt too
Reproduction by Georgann Eglinski

1 comment:

allie aller said...

The Lately Arrived from London collection is just stunning.