mhansen6

What a wonderful project. Your family will treasure your efforts.

JCquilts

It is Weathervane, by Ruby McKim.

I Herd Ewe

Thank you JCQuilts! I delightedly pulled out my copy of 101 Patchwork Patterns by Ruby McKim (the very first quilt book I ever bought!) and there it is. I thought this was going to give me the earliest possible date for this quilt as well since she first published this book in 1931 but Weathervane is not among her original patterns. She names it as an old pattern, "This patchwork pattern is called the Weathervane, and dates back to a time when great-grandmother used that commodity to "calc'late a change," instead of listening to a scientific forecast on the radio. But her pattern, the weathervane, is one of the loveliest of our old time quilt designs." Thank you for telling me the name of the patch and a source of the pattern!

Happy Treadler

I believe Harry from laptophoops.com carries that book. At least he did about 3 weeks ago when I got mine!

I Herd Ewe

Thanks! I found the book in the best location of all! A quilter friend's home! We are getting together next month to see what we can learn with it. It will be a fun excuse to get together.

wanda lou

You are very lucky . I love the blue dove,
Please keep us posted i find this very interesting.

Jenni M

It's just like reading a good book. I love the stories and can imagine the place these quilts have been and fhe people they loved! Thank you for allowing us to be part of your adventure.

JCquilts

Yes, many many quilt patterns pre date the first published patterns.. I looked for it in the Ladies Art Company catalog, which is one of the first companies to publish and didnt find it there, I was very surprised. There is one similar, but the construction is different. So perhaps Ruby McKim gave us new construction techinques for an old pattern.

any way, my guess for the date of your quilt, without seeing it in person is between 1890 and 1925. Im guessing around 1920. My reasons are this.. first the black and white shirtings were made in the last quarter of the 19th century. The style as we move into the 1st quarter of the 20th century was to use the softer pallet with the bright red as the only stark or bright color in the quilt, making it almost seem out of place. If you get the book recommended, you can read about this style in there. However, you also need to check on the red as it looks like a turkey red, but turkey red didnt bleed like the red in your quilt. During WWI there was a scarcity of color fast red indicating that your red might be from that time.

Just some things to think about in your research.

Singer

I have a 3 flower garden quilts my mother made, 1 is double bed size and 2 are twin bed size. She pieced them by hand and had them hand quilted by a group of ladies in Kentucky probably in the 1940's. At that time you paid extra if one person quilted and less if a group quilted. I am still using them although one of the twin size is showing wear.

I Herd Ewe

This is interesting and I looked closer at the quilt to see what I could learn. First, all the reds look the same color from a distance but there are at least 3 different red fabrics in the quilt. Second, I believe at least one of the fabrics was used elsewhere before it made its way into this quilt--a couple of the red patches have a random seam across them. Third, only one of the red fabrics ran. That fabric is still looks like new bright. One of the fabrics is much more faded on some patches than others but did not run. That fabric is the one I found seams in. It also matches a picture I found on-line of how turkey red fades.

The quilt must be no older than its newest fabric (unless a few of those red pieces are patches from a later date and I don't know how you would tell that). Would it be easier to date the black and white print fabric? What about the yellow fabric of the backing? It appears they had enough yardage to make the entire back with minimal seams as one would expect it they purchased the fabric specifically to back this quilt. If it was purchased for this quilt the color choice is surprising though as the only yellow showing on the front is the binding which is the back turned to the front. There are also those blue strips on the front that go with nothing else. Maybe some that looks white now was originally a print that went with those but has faded completely to white? Is that even possible?