We've been working on making blocks for the Dear Jane quilt in my Facebook group. I've been trying to post a little bit about the background of the quilt each Friday. Last week we focused on color schemes and I mentioned that Jane Stickle did not use colors at random when she made her quilt. When you see the quilt in person you're immediately struck by the fact that it is so well preserved and the fabrics are so vibrant. It's actually pretty colorful considering it's over 160 years old!
If you
look at the photo of the original quilt, you might notice that the blocks are
laid out in colored rows in what is called a Trip Around the World (TATW)
motif. It’s a way of arranging your blocks made from specific colors so that
they radiate outward from the center almost in a diamond pattern. Can you see
it? I'm not a quilt historian so I don't know how popular this was when Jane
was making her quilt. I do know they were especially popular later in the
nineteenth century. But it seems Jane was always ahead of her time.
I used a blue block for my center instead of green because I love blue more than green
and wasn’t even thinking about using the same colors as Jane did. When I did
learn about the rows of colors it sounded cool but I had already made more than
a few blocks. I wish I had followed her colors a little more closely. I got as far as the yellow blocks and quit after arranging the
pink blocks for my TATW. I did do the green corners and the pink corner kites
(triangles). One of my corner blocks (A-13, far right, top) was made in pink before I decided
to attempt the four green corners so I switched it up with the block next to it
in Row A which I had already made in green. I decided to live with the mistake instead
of remaking both blocks. I knew someone with an eagle eye would notice someday that the top row was out of order so I am 'fessing up now! Improvise, improvise.
If you're sewing along in my group, remember that this is your quilt and you can make it any way you like. I’m only giving this information for those who might want to reproduce Jane's quilt closely. It's fun to think about how organized she was, playing around with her fabrics.
1 comment:
I see the color arrangement now, how interesting.
With the help of your Facebook page I have put my notebook together, organized squares, and I was just get to work.
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