Medallions: History of Style

The Triplett Sisters’ love medallion quilts, particularly those that use chintz “panels” for the center. So, imagine our excitement when the American Quilt Study Group decided to make medallions the subject of the next quilt study. Yippee! That means that fifty members of the organization will be making medallion quilts. That means a traveling exhibit of medallion quilts will hit the road to spark the creativity of quilters across the nation with these medallion quilts inspired by historical quilts.

Immediately after the announcement last fall, ideas began to emerge. Museums and private collections were searched for the best medallion quilt. Which one quilt would inspire a quilter so much that the quilter either wanted to reproduce the antique quilt or create a new quilt based on the antique quilt.

Medallion panels were made using fabric created for decorating purposes, which meant the fabric was more expensive than the basic calico. Consequently, reproduction of the medallion is complicated with the many colors included. However, because we love medallions so much; we reproduce medallion fabric, create our own medallions, and hunt down vintage reproduction medallions.

To celebrate this exciting quilt study of medallions, we’ve decided to offer a reproduction medallion at a special price of only $5. To create your own medallion quilt, simply follow this link. (Be sure to check out all the medallions! You’ll notice we have all the medallions featured in the antique quilts in the blog.) We’d love to see your medallion quilt, whichever one you choose, so please email us a photo when you get the quilt done.