Can Anyone Date Fabric?
 

I was given a wonderful gift from a dear customer this week. She gave me 39 hand pieced blocks that are made of vintage fabric. They don't look much like any of the reproductions that I carry in my store, and I've yet to find any like them in any catalogs.
Is there any members who might be willing to date some fabric for me if I were to scan some of the blocks and attach them to this discussion?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Tammi Jo Wilson

Yes, post them - there is all kinds of wonderful knowledge out here!!!

These are four of the blocks
 

Thank you in advance for your help.
Tammi Jo
Friendship Star Quilt Co.

I believe your blocks/fabrics are mostly from the end of the 1880s-early 1900s, and here's why........

"Quilts from 1880-1910 were often dark overall. Because the predominant colors were black, dark blue, deep red, brown and claret, the quilts were usually quite subdued. Utility quilts were often patterned with simple geometrics, large scale blocks, and wide sashings. There was a temporary fad of collecting collecting fabrics for one-patch quilt designs in which no two fabrics were alike, today referred to as charm quilts.....Black grounds with white discharge (bleached out) prints were popular and were usually listed [in sales catalogs] as mourning prints. Cadet blue (a misty blue) was often printed in combination with black or white. It is a distinctive color for this period because it was not used before 1880. It was vat dyed and was therefore equally blue on both sides of the fabric. Ginghams, checks, houndstooth, plaids, and stripes reminiscent of ticking were offered in catalogs. Cotton prints of this time were notorious for being thin, like cheesecloth."
from DATING FABRICS: A COLOR GUIDE 1800-1960 by Eileen Jahnke Trestain 1998 American Quilter's Society

Jan in VA

If my single days were anything to go by it beats dating men!

So thankful for my husband...

If only quilts could talk!

They look like 1880's to me. I see mourning prints and indigoes. Nice gift!

Can anyone date fabric?? Not from what I have heard. It seems that fabric is very particular in who it dates. Rumor has it if the date isn't classy enough it gets unraveled!

You are a hoot!!

Jan in VA

This looks like a utilitarian quilt made from scraps of fabrics and pieces of fabrics from shirts worn in the 1940's to 1960s. It looks very similar to one my great-grandmother made during that time .... just a thought, I'm no expert in this field.

This was my thoughts also.

Recognizing I consider Jan in VA an outstanding contributor and resource to members of this board, I am pleased to say when I saw the blocks I thought 1890 primarily because they strongly reminded me of a quilt I used (and wore out, alas!) as a child. My quilt was probably done by great-grandmother BUT I do have a TATW top of hers that I quilted and some of the fabrics are similar. She appliqued "1906" in very center square of her fabrics.
P.S. As I recall, yes some of the fabric was very thin it faded while I had it on the frame, but it was hard to needle.
P.P.S. Some of your blocks look like later seersucker shirt/dress fabrics

I love the old fabrics but have never learned to "date" them. I do not recoginize them as being any of the 1940 feedsack prints that so many women used in that era. Jan in VA sounds pretty "right on" though. I think she is probably right.

I agree with late1800 to early 1900s. I own a quilt from that era with some of those similar fabrics.

I totally agree with MaryMo. I see several fabrics that the guys wore in this time frame.

Thank you for your thoughts, everyone. Now......what do you all think that they might be worth. I don't think that I would ever sell them. But am curious what you all think they would be worth if you were to buy them with the intent to do something special with them.