Old Quilts

I learned to appreciate and collect old
quilts from my mother (
Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson), who was born and raised in East Tennessee. She was
taught to quilt by my Great Grandmother (Ellen Bolli Van Gilder). I still have the
“Grandmother’s Flower Garden” pattern baby quilt my mother sewed as a child.

When my children outgrew asking for cartoon character bedding (we had dinosaurs,
Little Mermaid, Pokemon, and Harry Potter sets, among others), I started putting pieced
patchwork quilts on their beds. I have found eBay
an excellent source for quilts but I have also purchased quilts from antique dealers and
direct from the women who created them. Since I use the quilts on beds, I almost always
buy quilts which are in solid condition, machine pieced, and less than 100 years old.

Quilts which are “collectible” are often unused, because much of their value is based
on their being “like new”. I prefer to use old quilts, enjoying the
softness of the fabric after many washings. Quilt expert
Shelly Zegart provides the
following “Condition Listings” for the quilts she sells to banks, hospitals, airports, universities and private collectors:

• Mint: Quilt is unwashed, like new condition. No stains, holes, color fading, or wear. No restorations or repairs. All seams and stitching intact. No batting shift noted.
• Excellent: Quilt has never been washed. May have minimal fading or staining. No holes or tears. All stitching and seams are intact. May have some batting shift.
• Good: Quilt may have been washed. May have some fading, staining, or discoloration. May have some age appropriate wear to fabric or binding. May have been repaired or restored. May have some loose stitching or open seams. May have a batting shift.
• Fair: Quilt has been washed. May have fading, wear, and or staining. May have a small tear or hole. May have loose stitching or open seams. Batting may be shifted or exposed.
• Poor: Obvious wear, staining, and or fading noted. May have tears, holes, or fraying. Loose stitching and or open seams may be present.

When I look at a quilt, the basic elements I consider are:

• Color and design: overall pattern, consistency, quilting vs. piecing as parts of pattern
• Quality of work: hand vs. machine, stitches per inch, pattern execution
• Fabric and batting content: cotton, wool, synthetic fabrics and thread
• Condition: stains, holes, fraying, patches, smell, fading, fragility
• History and provenance of that particular quilt
• Price

My favorite quilt patterns are log cabin (because it can be executed so many ways)
and broken star. Below are photos of some of my quilts:

Embroidered and quilted

Quilting and embroidery detail

Bear claw pattern

Bear claw quilting detail

Tagged border

Quilting detail

Flying geese pattern

Flying geese detail

Log cabin pattern

Log cabin detail

Log cabin pattern

Log cabin detail

Amish log cabin pattern

Log cabin detail

Windmill pattern

Pinwheel pattern

Wedding ring pattern

Amish broken star pattern

Broken star pattern

Sunbonnet Sue pattern

Sunbonnet Sue detail

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson