The Cottage Orné Quilt

The Cottage Orné Quilt
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Sunday 5 December 2010

Yes, this is a Welsh Quilt!

The popular perception of a Welsh Quilt is one that is graphic in style with simple shapes and usually made of plain or slightly patterned woollen fabrics - something like the quilts in the header of this blog.  However, this is only part of the story as many Welsh quilts were also made of fabrics generally available throughout 19th century Britain.  Something like this quilt which looks like a typical British medallion, not very well planned at that -


I first saw it in a display of British quilts at the Tokyo Dome a few years ago and as I don't do large quilts I was attracted to it because of its size, which is that of a large crib quilt.  The only reason I know it's Welsh is because it has a recorded provenance - it was made in Aberystwyth in the mid 19th century and belonged to a family who owned a draper's shop in the town. 

Here is another medallion made of printed fabric -


This picture has been taken from a book so it is not the best quality, but if you want to zoom and and see more detail try the V&A Search the Collections website -
-http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O128357/bed-cover/

This quilt was in this year's Quilt Exhibition when we had a chance to see it at last.  However, even without the meagre provenance it has, there would have been no doubt that it was a Welsh quilt because of the wonderful Welsh quilting patterns that sing out its nationality.






3 comments:

Sue said...

I really like the Welsh medallions. Jen Jones had a couple of lovely ones in her exhibition last year and happy to see stitcher's emulate them in todays lovely reproduction fabrics.

Karmen said...

Lovely little Welsh quilts! Karmen

Jan said...

Oh, I love them both & wouldn't have pegged the blue and brown for a Welsh quilt.