Vintage quilt flimsies
 

The first two quilt flimsies came from my husband's family and were made by either his grandmother or great grandmother. The fabrics are fairly thin but all cotton. Both have been hand pieced. The third flimsy shown was one I purchased in an antique store many years ago. Some of it was hand pieced and some of it was sewn by machine.

My questions are... 1. Does anyone know about when the tops might have been made by the fabrics shown?
2. Is it better to leave the tops alone or to back them and quilt? They have been packed away wrapped in a terry towel in a chest of drawers for years.

Any help would be appreciated. Sorry for the overload of pictures.

Karen

[ATTACH=CONFIG]490229[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]490230[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]490231[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]490232[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]490233[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]490234[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]490235[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]490236[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]490237[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]490238[/ATTACH] Does anyone know what this pattern is?

WOW - what a treasure! I believe that there are a lot of 30's original prints in the second batch of fabrics. The first batch looks older and so does the last quilt top.

I don't know enough about fabrics to date them, but my personal opinion re finishing them, is to finish in the "spirit" of the era - they are nice and have history too!

This is just my personal opinion, but, to me if they are tops, they serve no one unless they are a quilt. If they were mine, I would either finish them myself or have them done. They are just so pretty. they will be much prettier finished. there will be other more learned quilters on here.

They all look like they have fabrics from the early 1920s on to the 40s except the last one, that looks to me it may be 1890s???? I agree with finishing them in the era of fabrics that are in the tops. Look for reproduction fabrics especially for the last one. That said, it is only my opinion and someone here may know more then me. :)

I agree that the fabrics are most likely feed sacks and from the 30's-40's...I really think you need to finish these lovely tops...that is what they were meant to be.

If you keep them packed away they may be eaten by moths or silverfish!

1st quilt is called Grandmother Flower Garden. The prints appear to be mostly 1920-30s.

2nd quilt is called Bow Tie. It appears to have fabrics from about 1910-1935.

3rd quilt would have been called Mosaic Block or Postage Stamp quilt in the 1930s. The name Around the World seems to have come later. But many of the fabrics appear to be shirtings from the 1880s-1910s. Perhaps they were set together later with the fine red strip, maybe in the 1930s, but this kind of striped fabric was also printed in the earlier time period.

They are wonderful finds and deserve your special attention. You might add a label with the information you know about them and how you chose to finish them.

Jan in VA

I agree. They were made to be used.

I would have them hand quilted -- by yourself or someone else. They are beautiful, and they need to be quilted in
the way they would have been when they were made.