Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

This year the Triplett Sisters made the momentous decision to carry Dutch Heritage reproduction fabrics in our shop. There are extra challenges and expenses when carrying imported fabrics. However, Kay and I have always loved these fabrics from “first sight.” We appreciate the quality, the brilliant color, and the design which is true to 17th and 18th century fabrics in both scale and pattern. I have designed more quilts with these Dutch fabrics than I will ever be able to assemble. (Note: I will continue to try making all of them!) The Dutch have a long history of textile manufacture starting with wool and linen, with major textile production taking place in Leiden, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Delft, and Haarlem. In fact, the textile industry was so vibrant that linen merchants from other areas of Europe sent their...

No this is not a blog about the Hitchcock movie, “The Birds,” although that does provide another example of the use of birds in art. I jokingly say if the quilt has a bird on it, it is coming home with us. Whether the birds are pieced, applique or in the fabric design we are both drawn to birds. As I’m working on a quilt filled with birds, I was interested to think of Di Ford Hall’s design source. I started thinking about how many quilts I’ve made that have birds, either hand painted, part of the fabric or appliqued. (I haven’t pieced a bird in a quilt yet, although I have designed several paper pieced birds. That quilt is still in the design stage.) Even the earliest civilizations used birds in their art whether carved...

As I continue to work on my quilt, Birds of Di Ford Hall, I’m continuing to explore reproduction fabric. However, in the world of fabric production that definition (a textile that is copied or reproduced with the appearance of an earlier time) can be a little deceiving. Once mass production of fabric printing began instead of hand painted, reproduction fabric followed quickly behind. We don’t always consider that reproductions fabric started almost as soon as the industrial production of fabric began, instead we tend to consider reproduction fabric as fabric “currently” being produced that mimics a different era whether civil war, 1930’s etc. It is also important to note that the reproduction fabric is rarely an exact copy, but instead may have different colors, scale, location, or background. Noting these differences can help define the period...

Seasons are changing which always makes me think of new projects and adventures. As I plan my September to December calendar, I wonder what project or projects will I be creating in the coming months? Sometimes the projects are a surprise. I had no idea that the Guardians of the Nest Star Quilt I was creating would become a pattern until multiple people requested it. Thank you for your enthusiasm and requests! Those comments brightened my days and the results will be available September 5th. For some time, I’ve admired Di Ford Hall fabrics and wanted to make a tribute quilt. I explored her patterns which are lovely, but I’ve always had a difficult time creating someone else’s vision. Those quilts are to be admired, but they tend to focus on one fabric line and just...

As I write this, it was 100 years ago today August 18, 1920 that women got the right to vote in the US. The 19th Amendment was ratified by enough states, the three-fourths required. However, the push for women’s right to vote started about 100 years before the right to vote was passed. It wasn’t until the 1848 Women’s Right Convention in Seneca Falls that a coalition was formed. The Seneca Falls Convention also known as the first women’s rights convention advertised the event “to discuss social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman.” After worship on Sunday July 9th, 1848 Lucretia Coffin Mott (a well-known orator), Mary Ann M’Clintock, Martha Coffin Wright (Mott’s sister), Jane Hunt, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton met for tea and began discussions about the convention. The convention would be held...