Introducing Love Entwined: 1790 Marriage Coverlet

Well, I think it's time to announce that Love Entwined is my next Free BOM!

Love Entwined: 1790 Marriage Coverlet

Taken from 'Patchwork' by  Averil Colby. Published 1956.

Each new BOM is an opportunity for me to accomplish a quilt from my quilting To Do List. I talk about this ‘list’ a lot, it drives me to trying new things and styles all the time. Although I think I already have a personal style of quilting design (we all do), I’m still growing as a quilt designer and I won’t be satisfied until I have completed ‘The List’.

 

Just the other day, a new member in my Yahoo BOM Group commented in the sign –up section that she wanted to create 100 quilts before she died. I read that comment and nodded enthusiastically, it’s such a great idea to constantly be striving towards something and I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one motivated by a personally set finish line!

The two BOMs I am releasing the next few weeks are quite different. Rose, Cherry & Lily is an applique quilt with a pieced centre and is unapologetically romantic. I’m already in love with it and it looks like I’ll be making two from the very start, one for each DD.

But the focus today is on the first BOM which will be released this month, and that BOM is Love Entwined: 1790 Marriage Coverlet.

It's a historic quilt. It will be my first (and likely, last) historic. This is a big change for me as I am ordinarily focused with sharing my own original designs only and have never made an 'interpretation' quilt. Or a historic quilt specifically. But this quilt lured me in. It has a special place in my heart as it’s one of the first quilts I saw that made me realise I’d have to add ‘historic quilt’ to my Quilting To Do List and the idea to finally make it has been working away at me for over 10 years...

This is an enlargement from the only photograph I have been able to find of this quilt.

It’s a very special quilt, full of mystery and intrigue as far as I’m concerned. The only known photo of it is from an Averil Colby book “Patchwork’ printed in 1956. The photo is not great quality and it’s in grey scale. This should have deterred me from attempting to re-create it, but it hasn’t! I think I must live by the motto: an adventure isn’t complete unless it’s challenging as well!

This quilt has been a true labour of love. First, the work. I have a lot of quilting experience and even I grossly underestimated the time required to draft up, as accurately as feasible, this quilt. Then, with all my hard preliminary work out of the way, I thought I'd go ahead and try to create it in EQ7.  I did. Then disaster struck. I encountered a 'polygon error'. My quilt was gone. Just like that. GONE. I took a week out to recover from the lost work, I was frustrated and unsure if I would persist. I'd already invested so much time and taken time out of my life to create this pattern: was it better to cut my losses or try again?

I decided to persist or I knew I'd regret having nothing to show for my hard work.

Spending so much time alone with a design makes you think a lot about it's original work up. I’ve never seen this quilt in real life or in colour. I have searched for it, but it’s been very hard to track down – if it still exists. I really hope that somewhere, it does. Of course, a real issue with it is that it has no name to reference, and is simply referred to as: ‘a fine marriage coverlet’ and is dated 1790, placing it in the Georgian era, England.

What is the allure of this quilt? I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s not 'perfect'. There are some design flaws which made re-creating the pattern difficult; I had to make choices when several options were available, which I will point out in the pattern specifically as the monthly blocks are released. And yet, I persisted. In fact, the more time I spent with this quilt, the more purposeful the design appeared to be and the more keen I was to do it justice and revive it in some way.

 

I have spent months and hundreds of hours painstakingly tracing, as accurately as possible, the original quilt. Working from a grey scale photograph is difficult and there were points where I had to create options when they literally couldn’t be seen.

This quilt is not a ‘re-manufacture’of the original, it could never be that.

It’s my interpretation of the original, through my own eyes. Of course, every quilter infuses every quilt they make with a certain style or character, you see this when you look at the same quilt pattern made by different quilters, and it’s the same here. Some aspects of my own style have crept in, it’s unavoidable. But this is most definitely a historic quilt, which I have interpreted and re-created in order to be made and enjoyed for it's historic value and beauty.

As a quilter I have noticed details, such as broderie perse cutouts, which I am assuming but can't be completely sure of, and stitches inbetween shapes and other flourishes. I've been drawing things my own way, keeping as close as possible to what can be seen. The rest I have had to imagine and improvise, keeping in theme with the style elements dominant in the design.

The longer I spent on this quilt, the more attached I have become to it's design and it's designer. Details I looked over initially have come to have an important place in the scheme of the quilt. Take for example the bow border around the quilt; I never really loved these and assumed (years ago) that I would change them to something else if I ever made this quilt.

But after spending so long entrenched in the design elements, changing anything became impossible. Although I make each quilt to satisfy something in myself ( and although I enjoy sharing what I do with you, my fellow BOM Group quilters), this historic quilt is more than a satisfaction to me.

It’s homage to the unknown woman who made it. So I found that when I reached the bow border, I couldn’t change it – I didn’t have the heart to.

Here I am with a mock up of the pattern. I'm afraid you can't see much, but I can tell you, this quilt grows on you and I am more keen on it today than I was when I started.

Love Entwined: 1790 Marriage Coverlet is an intense applique quilt project: it’s not for the faint hearted and I don't recommend it for beginners.

As I mentioned, this will be a one in a lifetime quilt for me and I want anyone considering making this BOM to really be aware of the dedication involved to seeing it through to completion. This BOM will run for 18 months (more details later in the week) and is definitely one of those quilts that simply can’t be rushed.

For those of you who know this is just too much for you, don’t worry, the next free BOM Rose, Cherry & Lily is up next and is decidedly easier… there’ll be something for everyone, BOM wise, this year.

So this is a brief introduction to Love Entwined: 1790 Marriage Coverlet, my first historic quilt. I'm excited about releasing it and like always, this BOM will be free for the first month of each block release.

Of course, I can’t possibly cover everything about
Love Entwined: 1790 Marriage Coverlet in this one post so in the next few days I’ll be looking into the all-important era, colour and fabric issues before releasing the first block…

Would you like to make this quilt? I have created Love Entwined: 1790 Marriage Coverlet to be released as a free, 18 month historic BOM. Everyone is welcome to make it, including groups. The pattern will be available for free (limited to the block each month)download via the Esther Aliu Yahoo BOM Group only, after launching. Membership is, and always will be, free. Why not join us today?

Call To All Quilters!

I would like to call on all quilters, especially in the UK where this quilt was made, to look into your guild archives and groups and associations and find this beautiful, historic quilt. It must be somewhere. It's last reference is it's owner ( Mrs. Erith of Dedham) who granted permission for it to be included in the book 'Patchwork. It's important enough to have been featured in Averil Colby's book - so we know it has significance, but where is it?

Have you seen this quilt? Please let me know anything you know and hopefully we can solve this mystery. Feel free to add a comment or email me directly contact@estheraliu.com