This year I am celebrating Welsh quilts! They have been referred to as immensely compelling and intoxicating and I can only concur. When I look at them my heart aches with delight. I adore the ingenuity and spontaneity. It’s the stitching, the wonderful quilting patterns on Welsh quilts that gets to me. Every. Single. Time.
If I had a favourite genre of quilts, they are it. Welsh Quilts are for me the epitome of what I call “Quilting with Abandon”. Welsh quilters boldly manifested their distinctive designs with fearless exuberance, not feeling bound to fastidious, precisely drafted, and exacting executions in their work. Instead they embraced their own individuality and let it shine in quilts that reflected their character through their stitches.
The refreshing quilting designs on Welsh quilts defy being bound by the piecing or patchwork patterning of the quilt. Instead the quilters considered the quilt as a whole, translating the frame or medallion quilt design concept (do you see a trend here with last year … wink!) to wholecloth quilting, and with great effect. This frame style of quilting has a central motif of interest, often a circle, surrounded by a series of borders that combine a mix of smaller motifs (and sometimes not so small!) and various fill designs. On Welsh quilts you will find roses, spirals, circles, hearts, beech leaves, Welsh pears (or paisleys), “church windows”, tulips, and fans. (Feathers weren’t often used and are more common in North Country quilting, in the Durham region of England). Each quilter had their own take on these traditional designs creating great variety and subtle differences. How they employed this reservoir of motifs is what sets Welsh quilts apart. The frequent use of double rows of quilting define and emphasize the imaginative designs of the quilter, and the loft of the wool that was commonly used for batting deepens the lines of those designs creating delicious texture in the process and powerful visual impact.
While this is the one genre of quilt that I would travel miles to see an example of (I have!), talk for hours about (truly don’t get me started), dream about and sigh over, I am truthfully but an inexperienced newcomer to Welsh quilts even after all these years. I am hugely indebted to those whose deep fondness for and extensive knowledge of Welsh quilting has enriched my own experience of these stitched marvels and in particular:
Jen Jones, quilt collector, curator and quilt dealer, for her enormous enthusiasm and affection for this art form. An American transplanted to the UK many, many years ago, she came upon some Welsh quilts shortly after moving there and began collecting and preserving what were at the time neglected, discarded and not very highly prized treasures of Welsh quilting heritage. In addition to her books on the Welsh quilts, we are also so fortunate to have had Jen’s vision and dedication, aided by her late husband Roger Clive-Powell a conservation architect who over saw the restoration of the old Town Hall (and took such an active interest in it all), in the founding and creation of the Welsh Quilt Centre in Lampeter, Wales. For the last 12 years, the venue has celebrated Welsh quilting through a series of exhibitions. In Jen’s own words from her book Welsh Quilts: “Those quilts that have survived (sadly many have not) come into our own times as living emissaries of another age. They evoke the dexterity, imagination, and creativeness of people who somehow managed to produce such remarkable visual art from such humble and limited resources. What began for me as a salvage operation has evolved into a way of life.” Her enthusiasm for Welsh quilts is contagious! You can find out more about Jen’s books on Welsh quilts here and her other books and exhibition catalogues here. Her museum, in Lampeter, Wales, where she exhibits her quilts, is a must stop for anyone who loves quilts and is travelling in the UK. And you must stop by the café beside the museum, at the very least for some Welsh cakes and tea. Trust me, you won’t be sorry.
Hazel Newman, for knowing that I have a particular fondness for the really quirky Welsh quilts, and for her warm welcome every time I see her or speak with her.
Mary Jenkins & Clare Claridge for their wonderful research and book “Making Welsh Quilts” that inspires us to give a go at it ourselves.
Elen Philips, at St. Fagan’s Natural Museum of History, for so generously sharing her time and knowledge with me, and showing me some truly stunning quilts from the museum’s collection.
And finally, thank you to all of you, for your patience this year with the delayed start as I wrestled some technical gremlins. I was worried it was going to have to turn into the Twelve Quilts of 2022, but I think it is all good now! Fingers crossed.
I have but touched on a fraction of what this wonderful genre of quilts has to offer. The variety of materials used overtime: cottons and silks, Welsh flannel, and bold prints celebrated in their entirety, be they paisley shawls or art deco flowers, adds a twist to each evolution Welsh quilts. There is so much more for you to discover. In the meantime, I hope you will dive into this year’s Twelve Quilts of Christmas and enjoy all the subtle differences of these spectacular Welsh quilts.
Welsh Quilt, Wales UK, c. 1900, Dimensions approximately 68” x 81”, Maker unknown, Collection unknown. (If you happen to know the current whereabouts of this quilt, please let me know)
Be still my heart!
This quilt so wonderfully exemplifies the strong design and visual impact of Welsh quilts. Note the bold centre medallion of leaves joined to mirror the hearts in the outer border, but not so literally as to bore the viewer. Those hearts! Those leaves! Those spirals! Don’t forget the importance of those roses in the overall balance of the design.
They have used double lines of stitching for emphasis when needed and balanced it the whole design by using single lines of stitching for other motifs. And do you see the “extra” border of fans to fill out the design.
Quilts, such as this one, often have one plain solid side that showed off the quilting and was displayed that side up for special occasions, while the reverse was a print that hid the dirt or marks of daily use.
Some say that hearts on quilts represented marriage, There may be truth in that. I just know it stole my heart the first time I saw it!
And here we find ourselves. The final day of this antique medallion quilt extravaganza. It has been such a joy and pleasure to share these quilts with you. I hope you have enjoyed them and found a few moments distraction from all that is going on around us.
I am grateful to the Smithsonian for such full curatorial notes for this quilt. How fortunate we are to know so much about the maker and so much about the quilt. You will want to follow the link above to have a read and to get a closer look at the magnificent quilting. She was a fine needlewoman.
This quilt is exquisite in its execution. It is nearly perfect in its attention to exacting placement and repetition of details, save the leaves on the flowers and one saucy flower stem. She used the same red and yellow fabric throughout but substituted 3 different greens. I don’t mind that, do you?
It seemed fitting to celebrate this quilt as the last one in this year’s lineup. It just feels incredibly festive.
Thank you so much for spending some time here with me and going on this quilty romp through some splendid medallion quilts.
I wish you and yours all the very best of the holiday season.
Central Medallin, Berryton, Kansas, c. 1915-1935, 59” x 66.5”. Maker: Edward McKeen Faust. Last known to be held in private collection.
One of the many tomes that I have referenced over the years is The Quilt Digest, a series of five publications from the 1980’s with fascinating and informative articles. This quilt was noted in one of the articles and it is only fitting that I quote the author, Barbara Brackman, from it, because, simply, I cannot match her words.
“Nevertheless, it is satisfying to come upon a quilt which breaks these rules. The quilt which flouts convention can be enjoyed on many levels. We can be charmed by its outrageous disregard of precedent; we can marvel at its striking, intuitive design qualities; we can admire the perseverance of the maker who completed the project despite design problems or limited craftsmanship.
Although some of the unusual quilts here display limited craftsmanship, they cannot be summarily dismissed as merely ‘bad quilts.’ The artistic instincts of the markers transcend the poverty of materials and sewing abilities. Uninhibited by traditions of either fine art or folk art, and possessing an intuitive creativity, these artists show us new ways to look at fabric, format, and quilt design.” *
*Michael M. Kile, editor, The Quilt Digest (San Francisco,The Quilt Digest Press, 1985, p. 70-75.
The biographical entry about this quilt notes that Mr. Faust’s wife died in 1903 leaving him to raise 3 children ages 3, 5 and 6. He did all the cooking, cleaning, canning, laundering and sewing as he raised his children.
I look at this quilt and marvel. It is indeed one such quilt that should not have been dismissed when it was made, in the 1980’s nor now. Defiant, innovative, bold. And it disregards convention as much today as it did when he made it. That mix of prints in those two borders … those dots … those thin solid fabric, circular borders … those corners.
You may remember the phrase I coined and have talked about in the past to describe this type of quilting … “quilting with abandon.” This is a fine example of just that!
Let me first share curator Stacy C. Hollander’s label notes from the American Folk Art Museum exhibition “QUILTS: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum” when this quilt was displayed at in 2010.
“Wool, probably from military uniforms, with embroidery thread, rickrack, and velvet binding; inlaid, layered-appliqué, hand-embroidered.
This textile belongs to a group of bedcovers that are also known as military quilts or, sometimes, Crimean quilts. Most of the known examples were found in Great Britain, where they were traditionally made from wool fabric used in the production of military uniforms. During the second half of the nineteenth century, soldiers were encouraged to take up sewing as a useful alternative to the less salubrious pursuits of drinking and gambling. Sewing was also used as a form of therapy for soldiers injured in conflict and recuperating in hospitals.”
It is not surprise then, knowing the background of this quilt, that the notion of military precision comes to mind when I look at the skillful execution of this design. Aside from the amazing discipline to so masterfully put this quilt together, the maker also had an extraordinary eye for composition. This genre of soldier’s quilts reminds me of inlaid marquetry work, popular during the same period.
This quilt sparkles with energy, due in part to the placement of value, and to the motifs that have been used. The maker created wonderful relationships between the various elements. The large motifs in the fourth border are almost identically mirrored if the quilt was folded from lower left corner to upper right. In the second border, the small circle motifs are mirrored somewhat on the diagonal opposite, working across or down the border. And the simple choice to make the first row of half diamonds white, on the inside of the first border, creates a delicate sawtooth border that stands out because of the value choices in the next four rows, and allows that element to easily relate to the diamond border around the outer edge of the inner circle motif.
The diamonds in the third border share a similar situation to quilt #4 from this year. A shortage of green fabric has left the right side of that border bereft of this colour. Visually this does allow the eye to wander a little more easily off the composition, a respite from the complexity of the design, but the overall composition quickly draws you right back in.
Visually for me the first, second and third borders almost read as one, as my eye jumps between the centre area of interest and the fourth border of larger circle motifs.
Where do your eyes travel to with this quilt? What do you see that contributes to the stunning success of this quilt?
My eyes are first drawn to the quilting in this one. They worked out the quilting design very successfully, enlarging the quilting motif to fill the centre area of interest of the quilt, and then squishing and morphing the geometric designs so that they resolve neatly at the edges. It’s another great example of “more than one way into a castle,” but I think the quilt police might need some smelling salts.
The colours are only slightly muted with age. The use of the mustard gold colour in the wide outer border seems to intensify the brilliance of the blue. The red is the “shocker” here and is definitely a needed element that makes the quilt visually successful. Again, it is the lesson of “take it away and the quilt would miss it.” The same stands true for the pale yellows, the very pale beige and the green. They just all work together so beautifully.
There are sweet examples of piecing within some of the “solid” blocks, to get the block to finish the right size to fit into the quilt. The use of the tiniest bit of print in first and second borders, and just a titch in the third border is a fascinating detail.
There is an interplay between borders that is worthy of noting. The sharing of the browns in the third and fourth borders is unifying element. Notice the two-sided asymmetry of the fourth border? If we have tended to think of medallion quilts as being square and symmetrical, we definitely being proven wrong.
The fifth border at the bottom which shares colour elements with fourth border and with the final gold outer border achieves two goals. It first tricks the eye into reading that the bottom final border is the same width as the upper border and lends the appearance that the pieced composition is centred vertically. It also anchors the border to the lower outer border, while at the same time unifying it to the central pieced composition, creating this tension of balance in the overall composition of the quilt. Sophisticated application of some wonderful ideas.
It goes without saying that the visual appeal of this is intensified by the handpiecing and the lack of everything being squared up.
A quiltmaker, fabric designer, teacher, and speaker, Mary Elizabeth is also co-author of two best-selling books, “Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts” and “Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts“. She has been a featured guest on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. And her work has been shown at international quilt shows and featured in many international quilting publications.
Mary Elizabeth believes in “Quilting With Abandon”, stretching traditional boundaries and creating quilts with a subtle salute to the past. She is enthusiastic about our quilting heritage and the lessons to be learned from the antique quilts she studies and collects. Her recent work examines the interpretation of traditional quilt designs through “gestured appliquéd lines” and the quilting stitch.
