Vintage Quilt

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a car boot sale in the next village to increase my stash of fabric.

I did very well.

There were a lot of booters there on such a lovely morning, including a lady called Melanie and her husband.

Melanie had a bag and a box full of her mother`s unfinished patchwork quilt. 

My crafting creativity was on red alert.

As I looked at the other things for sale at her stall, I was umming and ahhing about whether to buy it or not.

Well I am so glad I did.

It cost me £10 for the lot.

There were 17 completed flowers and many many hexagons cut and ready to sew.

Some were lined with paper and there were also many paper hexagons cut out.

There was a huge pile of the same vintage fabric to cut out even more.

I surmised from the pictures on the paper shapes that it was around about the 70`s 

when this quilt was started.

After a quick e-mail to my cousin, Joanne who is a quilting expert, she gave me some good advice.

(Her blog is on the right hand side "Lorne Hill Quilts")

The only hex patchwork I have ever done has been sewn by hand so I was quite surprised, on closer inspection, to find that this one had been sewn on a machine and it looked quite good, adding to the effect.

I decided to continue with the machine sewing, mainly due to the daunting prospect of doing it by hand and also to complete it in the way in which it was started.

My first thoughts were about the overall design using the hexagons I had and how big it was going to be.

In the end I decided to surround each flower with a cream border. I did have to find some silky fabric of my own as I needed quite a lot.

When you look closely at the flower motifs you can see how cleverly the fabric has been chosen and cut.

 

Joanne`s tip about catching the hexagons together at the corners was a blessing, as this held the whole thing in one piece in order to machine using a zig zag stitich.

I built it up in rows.....4, 3, 4, 3, 4.

Interestingly, I would never have chosen to use shiny fabric with cottons but it works so well and gives a rich overall look.

 

I found that I couldn`t put this project down and have worked on it every tea-break, lunchtime and evening for 2 weeks and 2 days.

Some people have questioned me about completing a project begun by someone else, but I find it deeply satisfying to take over and complete something that has so obviously been planned carefully, worked on for quite some time and shows a high level of creativity.

At the latest boot fair I found a pale green, slightly faded pair of pale green curtains (£2)

After washing and pressing, I used them for an edging and finally put on a bias strip.

I completed it this week....Hooray!!

As a footnote.....I was so pleased when Melanie was at the boot fair again last Sunday and I was able to tell her how I was getting on and show her some photos of the project so far. She was thrilled. We exchanged addresses and phone numbers and I will be contacting her soon because I have made her a round cushion using one of her mother`s flower motifs. I shall also be taking the quilt along to show her.

Melanie`s mum passed away which is why the quilt was available for me to discover. 

Thank you to her for a most interesting and challenging project which I have thoroughly enjoyed.