I haven’t decided how I’m going to do this embroidery — redwork would be very cute, but crayon with embroidery would be nice, as well. What I would really like to do is multi-colored embroidery with some appliqued details using vintage fabric.

I am so pleased to finally get these cleaned up to share, and I hope my stitchy friends like them as much as I do.

When planning how you’re going to put a block together, you want to avoid any sharp curves or inside corners. On this block, I will sew together two basic units (AB and DEFF) and then combine them to make the three colored units you see below. This way I am always sewing a gentle curve when attaching these units to the center C piece. The sewing order will be blue (AB), pink (AB-DEFF) and then green (DEFF-AB-DEFF).

Sew AB (blue unit – make 6)

Sew DEFF (make 6)

Join AB to DEFF (pink unit – make 2)

In hand piecing, you never sew through more than 2 layers.  You get right up against the seam, make a back stitch, pass the needle through the seam, make another back stitch right next to the seam, and then continue sewing.  This is a nice perk to hand piecing — since the seams are never sewn down, they can be pressed in any direction and you don’t have to make a decision about this until the block is completed.

Sew 2 DEFFs to AB (green unit – make 2)

Now, it’s time to put the circle together.  Sew the six units above to the middle C piece, starting with the two blues, then the pinks, and finally the greens.

Finally, join the four corner pieces and stitch them to the circle.

There are several problems with this block that make me unhappy.  First, I meant to attach the 4 corner pieces so the grain in the middle C piece was vertical.  Second, although the points match pretty well, the center circle is not perfectly round (in my opinion, this is the worst problem).  Third, the design is not perfectly aligned vertically.  I hope to do better on the next block.

The pattern sold in the catalog was 19″ — I would probably make it smaller so I wouldn’t have to worry about finding enough vintage scraps for that big petal piece, but I left the resolution fairly high so you could make it any size.  Adjust the size of the block, and print it out (you can do this in sections if your block is too large).  Next, lay your template plastic over the pattern and draw around each piece, adding a seam allowance.

As I was lying here thinking up how to write the hand piecing directions, it dawned on me that I should piece a block myself and take a series of photos. I’ll try to do that this weekend.

I count this as one of my best vintage purchases. It came with a $10 lot of quilting ephemera and was a complete surprise. Here is the introduction to the catalog.

PATCHWORK DESIGNS

The following minature diagrams can give but a faint idea of the beauty of these patterns, being here reduced to so small a size the details are imperfectly brought out.  The diagrams, which go with the patterns are printed on heavy cardboard, about ten times the size of the minatures in this book, and are artistically colored, so as to give some idea how the finished blocks would look; being also suggestive of effective colors to use in making up the blocks; tho of course, the combination of colors can be varied indefinitely.  Each design is put up in a numbered envelope and consists of colored cardboard diagram and complete pattern for cutting and piecing the design.

Do not cut this book.  Order patterns by numbers only.  Positively no patterns exchanged.

PRICES.  Pattern with colored cards:  10¢ each; 3 for 25¢; 7 for 50¢; 15 for $1.00,  Color cards without patterns 4¢ each; 25 for 75¢.  Prices under quilt block designs are for finished calico blocks.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND STAMPS.  Send P.O. money orders or silver well wrapped.

Can you imagine….you could buy a completely finished calico block.  I wonder who was sewing these blocks.

This is the beauty of using the template method to mark and cut your pieces — no special instructions needed — just a basic knowledge of geometry and you can draft any of the designs in this pamphlet.  I hope some of you will try this method, and to encourage you, I will begin drafting some of the patterns myself and posting them here.  If anyone has a particular pattern they would like to see, just leave a comment with the pattern number (you can check the name of the pattern on page 2), and I will try my best to include it — once I get out of this bed!

Click on the gallery thumbnail to see the full view.

The original is a large design (15″ x 20″) and it would probably be a hassle getting the design onto fabric because of the size and all the cross-stitch x’s. A lightened, reversed copy (along with the directions) is also available under my downloads, just in case you want to try it.

This top is both hand and machine sewn, and I don’t know what it is about these very old machine sewn tops — the quilters used unbelievably tiny stitches that are just horrible to remove. I wonder if the stitch length was not adjustable on those early machines, or maybe it was standard practice to sew with 26 stitches in an inch (I am not kidding — I counted them).

I love all the shirtings in this quilt, and most of the prints are a good scale for a miniature quilt. Maybe I could make a Jacob’s Ladder doll quilt, and then I’d feel less guilty about taking it apart.

Once again I used a piece of cotton flannel for the batting which I’ve decided works very well for doll quilts. The back is a thin vintage muslin from Belfast Mills, and the binding is an antique double-pink. Usually I have to use some new fabric in my quilts (even doll quilts), but this time everything you can see is very old. I really like that.

Cross Variation Doll Quilt
machine pieced, hand quilted
Martha Dellasega Gray, 2010
20″ x 20″

The quilting is diagonal in the blocks and border, with a little heart and leaf motif in the white triangles. The prints in the top and the binding are all vintage 1930’s fabrics in Barbara’s favorite colors — the back is a new tiny blue printed check and the batting is a piece of flannel sheeting.

Sawtooth Doll Quilt
Machine pieced, hand quilted
Martha Dellasega Gray, 2010
16″ x 20″

This Sawtooth pattern is from Gwen Marton’s Twenty Little Triangle Quilts (out of print, but still available from other sellers on Amazon). The prints are vintage 30s in Barbara’s favorite colors, and the top measures 16″ x 20″. This week I’ll do the hand quilting, and then it will be on its way to New York.

Update: I just finished tea-dying the top which toned down the white — it looks much better now. I’ll post another photo after it’s quilted.

The circles were hand pieced and then appliqued onto the background fabric. This is a challenging pattern to make in this size, as you can probably tell from my wonky blocks. I started hand quilting this top, but after I was about two-thirds finished, I freaked out and decided I didn’t like it. It has been lying in a box until yesterday when I took it out and ripped out all of the quilting. I’m going to do the same quilting design, but this time I’m going to use tape instead of trying to draw pencil lines (thanks Kathie for the idea). The top is 17″ square.

A few of the original designs are going to be swapped out for some from another vintage “follow-the-colors” coloring book.  I asked my daughter, Emily, to select the designs since the quilt was her idea. The other book is generally not as cute, but a few of the drawings are really good.
 
In the evenings, I am trading off between hand quilting the doll quilt and embroidering these blocks — this way I hope to prevent the carpal tunnel symptoms which seem to be exacerbated by the motion of hand quilting.