Prairie Point - An Archive of a Feeling

After the exciting cultural and historical connections made through investigations on my previous quilts, this fun orange quilt seems a little 'light' in historical significance.  I was expecting big things from this quilt because the details of the binding, patterns and colours are so exciting.

Instead, I think this quilt is an excellent example of quilting as an archive of feeling.  If quilts could talk, this one would tell tales of fall fair bunting, the wind blowing through your hair as you twirl faster and faster on the swing ride...the joy, the freedom, and the feeling of being a kid eating watermelon at a summer picnic.  

This is what I have discovered:

 

Background: 

This quilt was purchased at the Mennonite Central Committee Thrift Shop - (side note - the MCC Thrift Shop is a great place to look for quilts).  I am not an orange person and find the quilt somewhat garish, but I just love that this quilt makes me think of country fairs and summer picnics!

From the colours and vintage fabric patterns, I would estimate that the quilt was made in the 1970's.

Stitching:

Hand Stitched.

Pattern:

The quilt is a simple checkerboard pattern using quadrilateral trapezoid shapes.  In quilting this is referred to as a 'Tumbler' quilt pattern.  The 'Tumbler' quilt pattern was very popular in the mid 1800's, and then again in the 1930's. This pattern was also commonly called a 'beggar quilt' - the 'beggar' term applied because this pattern was often made of donated fabric scraps.  It could also be called a 'charm quilt', as it is an ideal pattern for creating scrap quilt or memory quilt using meaningful fabrics.  There are seam lines on some of the patterned fabric blocks in my quilt, so I would assume that these fabrics have been repurposed.

If we think about life in the mid 1800's, when this quilt first gained popularity, we are in the era of the pioneers settling North America.  Hard working families with next to nothing, eking out a living - think Laura Ingalls' Little House on the Prairie.  Quilts were a necessity.  Young girls were taught to quilt while sitting by the fire every day from the age of three, and could piece together an entire quilt top by the age of five years old.  This is a far cry from the cut and paste our children can do at the age of five today!

Edge of Quilt:

This quilt has a very exciting 'bound' edge condition which resembles fabric bunting at a country fair.  This edge condition is referred to as a 'Prairie Point Binding'.  The design consists of many squares folded into triangles, and sewn in a strip along the quilt edge.  As fun as the end result is, I will NOT be doing this to my own quilt, as the process seems unnecessarily complicated for my very first quilt - gotta learn to run before I can walk!

Basic Building Block of Prairie Points, Craftsy

Unfortunately, I could not find historical information about this technique in any online resources or quilt books, so it is unclear how long this embellishment technique has been in use for.  

For a visual on how to produce this quilt edge, check out this Prairie Points Binding tutorial.

Now head over to my Product Page to see how I am making my quilt edge for my own personal quilt archive. The striped fabric is looking very vibrant in the photos - hopefully it wont be too crazy once it's complete!