Quilt patterns from the 1800's
 

I was wondering if anyone might know of popular quilt patterns from the "Wild West" days. My cousin in Germany is creating his own saloon in an old barn on his property and I was thinking of making him a throw quilt to hang over a chair or something from the wild west saloon era. Anyone know of the common quilt block patterns that would have been used around that time? Thanks.

I doubt there were quilts in the Old Saloons! :)

However, you can never go wrong with Log Cabin Quilts!

narrow the time frame down. To my knowledge distinct patterns did not emerge or become identified until into the second quarter of 1800's

Hahaha I know there weren't any IN the saloons. But I just want to make something from the era. :) Thanks for the Log Cabin suggestion.

I was thinking 1870's/1880's perhaps. When they were in full swing

Yu might check books by Barbara Brackman. Several years ago she published a book of just pictures of patterns and their origin and date first published.
There is also a book with title something like "Quilts from the 1800's to 1930" or so. It might give you chronology of dates of patterns.

Please excuse the question. What or when was the slave trade with th quilt blocks telling slaves what to do.?

That would be the Underground Railroad. There are books with the quilt blocks from that era. Eleanor Burns has a very good one.

For the Wild West, these books are all about quilts of that time:

Ho for California! Pioneer Women and their quilts by Jean Ray Laury

The Quilt that Walked to Golden, Women and their quilts in the mountain west by Sandra Dallas

Great question Dottymo!

Thank you Holice and Bellaboo. I will look into your suggestions!

Another book, Quilts of The Oregon Trail....Examples of early quilts would be nine patch, Ohio star, crazy quilts in silks or woolens, log cabins,churn dash... these are just a few. Stay away from whites, or tea dye them when finished... concentrate on old blues, maroons, a watermelon pink and certain greens. Research old fabric in B Brackman's books. Prints were available in two colors and more colors in imported chintz fabrics. The multIcolors of the 30's and to date were not made in early America because of manufacturing constraints.

My personal opnion is to not try to be too authentic buT maybe do the cowboy boot in colorful modern fabrics, or There is a cowboy on bucking bronco applique pattern that would be darling done w fusibles, try it with various small print ground with black cowboy as if in silhouette. I have the pattern somewhere but I bet you could google it and download it free. Or, find a color book and trace something.Make it a fun project. Antoher idea would be vatious branding logos in black with checks or bandana print fabrics. Sounds like an exciting project. BTW, I grew up 19 miles west of Dodge City, KS. Dad homesteaded a farm there.

I believe a few of us will be surprised at the wealth of quilting blocks used in the early 1800s.
Check out some of these images for many ideas.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...mg.95n35xbDik4

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...mg.9ZdN4Ixmv00

Jan in VA

Well...the quilts may not have been IN the saloon...but I'll bet they were 'upstairs', if you catch my drift...LOL

Hi Phoppe, I just did a quick search on Yahoo and came up with several blocks from the 1870's. I then did a search on google and came up with more. If you search you can see the images and make a choice that way. Drunkard's Path seems appropriate. Tumbling blocks and many more also came up. I searched quilt patterns from the 1870s. Good luck. :):):)

Jan in VA - thanks to the links for pictures of beautiful quilts!

If the quilt is going to be decor then I would suggest a crazy quilt with lots of embroidery as this would be both authentic and lush.

I was thinking the same thing dray965!! Hahaha

Drunkards Path would be fun for a saloon!

I'm not very good at embroidery yet but that does sound neat!

My guess is that a crazy quilt pattern would fit the bill. IN THE OLDEN DAYS, quilts utilized scraps------------whatever shape or size or fabric content was handy. And being more of a rough and tumble sort of place, the fine work of a more patterned quilt might be kept for the bedroom.

One advantage of a crazy quilt, you could use old slacks, suit jackets, vests, dress & work shirts. Lean toward the darker colors--------dark brown, blood red, forest green, dark slate blue, grays, some lights, but more darker stuff. Maybe quilt it with a variegated thread using all those colors.

AND IMO! for a quilt for your purpose, it would not need to be "quilting cotton" only.

Good idea GrannieAnnie!

How about Delectable Mountains

Those are cool but too skilled for this beginner.

If you go to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln website: http://www.quiltstudy.org/# you can view their collection and see quilts made in the 1800's. My avatar is a recreation of an 1830 quilt in their collection with only minor modification.

This story has proved time, time, time and again to be a myth. There is no hard evidence even among highly respected African-American Quilt Historians that quilts were ever used to guide escaping slaves to freedom.
Even blocks supposedly used in the code were not "created" until well after the Civil War - even into the 1930's - example Double Wedding Ring and Sunbonnet Sue.

There was some discussion today on the Quilt History List about the Log Cabin design. The report is that it was used in the mid 1800"s with a quilt being show dated 1860 with another from just before the Civil War.
I chuckled over the suggestion of doing a Crazy Patch and pictured the quilt made with elegent satins, lace, velvet.
Considering what is rumored to take place in the rooms above the saloon, this might be very appropriate......lol
I believe quilts of this period and especially those taken by families traveling in wagon trains would have been very simple and used for warmth rather than fancy so primitive looking would be appropriate - log cabin, squares etc.

I love this board I get so much information here thanks to all who participate this was great info

i hadn't thought of using old suits for a crazy quilt. I like this idea!

Most likely they made a crazy quilt with lots of different pieces of different types of fabrics such as cottons, silks, and velvet. They were sewn by hand and had no particular pattern. Try the link below. This is a great idea for the saloon.

http://www.caron-net.com/classes/cla.../clasmay1.html

Yesterday on The Quilt Show newest show, Ricky Tim's had. Great quilt he made from cowboy boots and a Wild West panel. Worth a look as it was quite cute. Any of the old patterns like a churn dash, barn door or stars have always been popular. Civil war type patterns would also be in the time period you are looking for. Look at Bonnie Blue or Red Crinoline is their new name and they have great patterns from Civil War era.

late 1850 -1860's was the time of escaping slaves but I have also heard that quilts being used to guide escaping slaves to safety was an "urban myth". We quilters would love it to be true, but it is not.

Civil war quilt diary. has pics of blocks and stories to go with them

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collec...ct/nmah_556337

http://www.redcrinolinequilts.com/

Although stories claim quilts were used for the Underground Railroad, research has proven this to not be true. I taught it incorrectly for years before researching it and finding out it's a mistake. Great folk tale, but there is absolutely no proof of its existence.

The push westward started in earnest after gold was found in California in the mid 1800s. By that time there were fabric mills on the east coast producing a lot of cotton fabric in a wide range of colors. Since the American Civil War was in the earlier part of this era, that would allow you to use any of the reproduction fabrics and patterns from that time, and they would be quite authentic. If we are to believe old movie westerns, a lot of saloons had sleeping rooms upstairs for all the cowboys and sheriff's posses passing through, so it wouldn't be out of the question for a quilt to find its way downstairs on a chilly morning.

You can read a bit about the history of the Turkey red dyes that were available by this time here: http://hartcottagequilts.com/his3.htm , and that page also has pictures of period fabrics.

Here's a site that has pictures of quilts from the Shelbourne Museum, which might give some inspiration: http://pioneervalleygirl.wordpress.c...a-more-quilts/ There is a picture of a quilt from the 1880's to 90's that has scrappy strings, which seems as if it would be more typical of the ones that travelled westward than the less sturdy and more precious decorative quilts from the East Coast, such as the Baltimore Album patterns, since the well-established folks were less likely to pack up a wagon and leave their homes. Still, probably the decision to bring something out west with them would have been an individual choice, and a pretty quilt inherited from Grandma would not have been left behind. So you'd have a very broad range of possibilities. The last of the lower 48 states were added to the union by 1912, so really anything before that period would be possible.

The American wild west saloon in Germany is quite a concept! One wonders what kind of myths there are in Germany about the American west in the 19th century. Probably as many as there are here. A quilt might be authentic in style of the time or not and then contribute to the mix of ideas. Or it could just be a fun item with Western design fabric prints.

Sharon Newman wrote an interesting book on how to replicate vintage quilts.

Hope you find your answer. Sorry I couldn't help