Of all the old quilt pieces you can find on ebay or in thrift stores, Double Wedding Ring arcs and pieces seem to be the most abundant. It was a very popular pattern in the 30’s and 40’s and, because it is challenging to piece, many quilters seem to have ended up with unfinished DWRs.
Because I have lots more vintage pieces than I need for my DWR quilt, I was looking for another pattern that would accommodate the particular shape of my pieces. Contemporary and factory-made DWR quilts usually have fewer squarish pieces in the arc — older quilts generally have thicker arcs with narrower pieces (like mine).
The pattern I settled on is Ferris Wheel — from an old Aunt Martha’s booklet entitled “Quilt Designs — Old Favorites and New” (the pattern is scanned below). As I’ve said before, I love these old books which just contain templates and minimal instructions. I had to reduce the pattern to 85% of the original to fit my pieces, but it’s still going to be a nice-sized quilt. I think I am going to quilt spokes in the middle of the block, but I never make a decision about the quilting design until the top is done.
Update: The Ferris Wheel Quilt top is finished — you can see it here.
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Such a beautiful design…and gorgeous fabrics you’re using. 🙂
I just love looking at the individual fabrics and imagining what they would look like as yardage, or a garment! Really beautifu design, too!
How amazing – I bought some unfinished arcs at Houston last year and have now started piecing them into DWR blocks. I had to redraw the block in EQ and make a new template for the arc as the original piece was very wonky. They are coming together very nicely. New technology meets old!
Wow! That quilt is going to be FANTASTIC! It amazes me how you take someone else’s WIP and transform it into a new project – I just don’t have that kind of vision.
I absolutely love this block and the quilt is going to be beautiful
I have a lot of 30’s and this quilt would be fun to make too!
thanks for sharing it with us.
you always have such inspirational things on your blog
thank you for that.
Kathie
What a great way to use DWR pieces! Even though I love double wedding ring quilts, I would probably never make one myself.
Love the fabric, too. What Jan said!
This is going to be one stunning quilt! so many tiny pieces… amazing!!
Thanks for sharing your information. This is very pretty and probably can be done in a circle with the octagon pattern that is used in grandma’s garden. Interesting!!
I am looking for a hexagon quilt pattern that has rows of hexagon blocks (which sorta look like pieced wedding rings). The pattern must be put together with rings finished on 5 sides and joined together until the end of the row and a full hexagon ring is added. The second row that fits between row 1 and 3 must be made of a block B that is a hexagon block with less pieced sides. I can not find the pattern and would like to track it down….I’m sure it is a
historical pattern. Would you have any idea where this pattern can be found?
Would love to hear from you. deja37jeb@yahoo.com