Crinoline Ladies Quilt

Crinoline Ladies Quilt

This is a quilt I made back in 1982!

I call it Crinoline Ladies, but it is a pattern generally known as Colonial Ladies.  I found the pattern in a book and photocopied the templates.  It consists of six ladies dressed in crinoline dresses and bonnets, appliqued (by hand, using buttonhole stitch) with embroidered details.

Lady with Parasol

The fabrics used in the dresses all came from leftovers from my mother's sewing and scraps of batik contributed by an aunt (I took the project to work on while on a holiday in Sri Lanka and all the background fabrics were purchased while there.

Lady with Fan

Looking back, I should have appliqued the fan, I think.  It would have been more prominent.

Shepherdess 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I reversed the template so that the ladies could face each other on the quilt.  But each lady is made using the same template.

Lady with Book

Again, an appliqued book would have been better, now that I think of it, but I was following the pattern given in the book and they had embroidered these details.

Lady with Flowers

I have her facing a lady with an empty basket...

Lady with Basket

Wonder where she's going with her empty basket.  Maybe to collect some flowers from her friend?

The individual ladies are appliqued on a brownish/purplish background fabric and outline quilted.  The blocks were joined with strips of red fabric in between, and then the whole central panel bordered with flowered fabric with a narrower navy blue binding.  The back is of the same navy blue and actually, the binding is formed by the back being brought to the top and folded over.  My mother kindly machine stitched the panels together and attached the flowered fabric.  I hand stitched the binding, all around.  Then, to incorporate the flowered fabric into the panels, I appliqued little hears at each end of the red strips:

Hearts!

The close up of the heart shows how I did the applique - the outline of the template was traced on the right side of the fabric, the piece of fabric cut out roughly in the shape of the template and then, attached with a buttonhole stitch sewn on the outline, itself.  Once fully sewn, the rest of the fabric outside the outline was then snipped away as close to the sewing as possible (without cutting into the sewing).  Sharp embroidery scissors are a must for this type of applique.  It is not as tidy as turning the edge under and then sewing, but this is how I was taught to applique.  Each heart measures 1 1/2 inches across at the widest point and 2 inches from the top to the tip.  :)

And, of course, I can't lay a quilt on the sofa to take pictures without someone getting on it, can I?

"Nice Quilt, Mummy; Dancer likes"

"Nice, soft quilt!"

"Maybe this end is better?"

He is now, curled up on it, fast asleep!

"Zzzz"

I made this quilt because I liked the crinoline ladies design.  And it seemed like a fun project to do.  After I made it, however, my mother said to keep it for my daughter should I have one!  LOL.  I wasn't even married then and my daughter wasn't born for another 11 years after I finished making the quilt, but my mother wouldn't let me use the quilt!  So it was kept for a daughter!  Later, when my daughter was born, I made a pillowcase to coordinate:

Pillowcase

The back of the pillowcase is the same fabric as the dress.  All in shades of pink for a girl, of course!  We are using the quilt, but the pillowcase is being kept - should she have a daughter of her own!  LOL.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my quilt.  I sent a picture of it some time ago to a friend and she said I really had to do a blog post about it.  :)