Rare 1812 era quilts

Quilts from the War of 1812 / Regency period are very rare finds indeed but we have located a few more quilts in various museum collections.    We hope these images will inspire you in the design of your quilt for our 1812 Quilt Challenge at the Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor next March. 

The following quilts are from the collections of the Michigan State University Museum:

Photo by KEVA



Whitework Quilt
Circa 1810
86" x 88"
 

A whitework quilt with stuffed trapunto details, provenance unknown. The back is probably homespun.  Incredible quilting!



Chintz counterpane

Circa 1820   New York State provenance     
120" x 108"
This counterpane is made of five panels of fabric, each 24" wide. The four-poster flap is 32" long.  The fabric is printed in a repeating floral print, within the window pane checks.  Mostly brown with green and white. The fabric is still very shiny.  The counterpane has a narrow hem all the way around.



Closeup detail of the fabric





Photo by Fumio Ichikawa



Bars  circa 1800

Provenance unknown   
73" x 89"

This bar quilt made from English chintz is one of the earliest quilts in the Michigan State University Museum collection. These fabrics, manufactured for home furnishings, have all the indicators of early block-printing techniques; poor registration, overlapping dyes, and pin registration marks.  The large fabric pieces showcase floral, bird, and fruit designs.  The quilt is tacked, not quilted.