Twelve Quilts of Christmas – #8

Here is what the museum wrote about his quilt:

“Indiana farmwife Susan McCord, like other frugal housewives of the era, sewed her quilts from fabric she had on hand, mostly clothing scraps. McCord expertly pieced this top from small 1-1/4 inch hexagons arranged in concentric rings. A close look at the small-scale prints reveals an encyclopedia of inexpensive clothing fabrics popular during the late 19th century.”

McCord certainly loved small pieces and detailed work.  And her skill at both does not disappoint with this Hexagon Mosaic Quilt, a pattern also known by the name Honeycomb Quilt. 

An interesting point to note is that by the 1870’s there were thousands of woolen mills in the United States and hundreds of cotton mills.  This meant that fabric was much more readily available. At the same time the United States was celebrating it’s centennial.  Sue Reich records in her book, The Quilts of Yesteryear: 1000 Pieces And Counting, that there was an informal, nationwide competition to see who could make a quilt with the most pieces and the piecing feats were well recorded in the papers of the day with mentions of quilts made of 6,000 pieces, 8,000 pieces and more!  This “competition” continued right up to the 1900.  It is safe to say that frugality was a factor in McCord making her small pieced quilts, but I wonder if she was also caught up in this small piecing fever.  I have not counted how many hexagons in this quilt.  Anyone want to venture a guess?

This quilt seems like such a simple design, but in her hands, she creates a quilt with delightful visual movement and depth.

The only place “cheddar” orange that appears in the quilt is in the centre. That colour draws you past everything and draws you right in like a beacon.  Her use of value in multiple rounds, to create larger “rings” of hexagons, helps create texture and interest. 

In some of rounds of hexagons she clearly had to make substitutions of fabric or colour, but she did so in a way that doesn’t disrupts but instead lends support to the overall design of the quilt, reinforcing the rhythm.  

Some of the fabrics used have a prominent print, like in the 10^th round from the centre (the white moons on pink) and in the 13^th round where there is clearly some type of large scale blue print on white.  These printed fabric details add to the quilt’s interest, as do the plaids and solids that she used. 

Look at all the substitutions she made throughout round 26.  She was using what she had on hand and using it as masterfully as possible to contribute to composition as a whole.  This is a master at work.

These hexagons are a bit tempting?  What do you think?

Some other facts about this quilt:

Condition: very good, almost new

Fabrics: Plain cottons, novelty prints, florals 

Construction: Hand pieced 

Borders: Inner border (double pink fabric) 1.75 inches. Outer border (on sides only) 2 inches.  Also notice how on both the left and right sides she added a strip of hexagons as a type of border, breaking the pattern before adding the borders.  

Back: cotton muslin, plain/solid, handsewn, 4 pieces (36 in; 35 in; 5.75 in; 10.25 in)

Batting: thin, cotton batting

Thin Batting, hand quilted with white cotton thread at 10 stitches per inch using

Quilting: hand quilted, white thread, 5-7 stitches per inch, single parallel lines following overall hexagon design.

Binding: Top and bottom edges are turned in; on sides front fabric is turned to the back, binding is less than ½” on sides where it is turned to the back.

May I Ask A Favour:

The curation of this collection of antique quilts each year is my gift to you all. Please feel free to share this gift and send this post to your quilting friends far and wide. The more people joining us, the merrier.  And please join in the conversation in the comments. I would love to hear from you!