Featured Vintage Folk Art Quilt ID

Vintage Folk Art Quilt / Wall Hanging ID
Hello folks, thank you for looking at my small quilt. I really know nothing about quilts except that this is a hand stitched appliqué quilt. I’m guessing that it from the 40’s?
This quilt is unusual and so I am wondering what the value may be. Also, there are two (major?) areas of damage on the front and one on the back. I realize for some antiques this may not matter, but in the case of this quilt, I’m afraid it may matter. Two of the photos that I uploaded are of damage - one being an ink? spot, the other being a hole. This quilt is made up of square panels with appliqué and embroidery. The edges do look machine stitched. No matter what the value, I will love it the same. But, it will make the difference between selling it and keeping it. Quilt “throw?” measures 46” X 54”. There is hand quilting throughout the piece. Labor of love, I am sure. Thank you again!

 

@Northern Lights Lodge, any suggestions??

 

My guess, as to age, is the late 1950s or early 1960s, only because it is very similar to applique curtains my grandmother made about that time.

 

Thank you!

 

@Northern Lights Lodge will know better than me but I'm going to have a stab at it.

Some of the fabrics make me think 1980s/90s and this reminds me of a store-bought folky-style applique quilt I bought during that time.
I must say that the hand quilting is absolutely atrocious (just as it was on my store-bought quilt). I wouldn't discount the possibility that it was a mass produced import item.
Value would be nominal/sentimental.
This is JMHO based on having done a lot of garment sewing over the years but I'm no expert when it comes to quilts.

 

Hi everyone,
I'm not a quilt expert...but; I think it is earlier than 80's and 90's... I'd guess more like 30's -40's. Truly made by an inexperienced quilter; perhaps even a child. The batting may hold a clue. Hold it up to the light and see what kind of imperfections you can see in the batting... seeds, lumps, bits and pieces? or, one fairly smooth, non-lumpy continuous piece of batting? If it is fairly uniform; it may be more modern. If it has seeds...and is lumpy.. then it may be older. The fabric designs look kind of like designs from flour sacks... depression era...

Just my 2 cents...
No, probably not of great value unless it has any provenance.
Cheerio, Leslie

 

Oh wow, GORGEOUS!!

 

The batting looked like poly fiberfill to me but I should have asked rather than made an assumption from a small photo. I'm glad you brought it up.
Looking forward to the answer!

 

It looks like the green stems of the flowers were created with machine zig-zag stitching. That would be one reason to create the cover in small squares, small enough to fit easily in a sewing machine. It might also be another clue as to date. While there were various attachments that could be used to make a zig-zag stitch, sewing machines capable of doing zig-zag with an internal cam were not common until the mid 1950s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zigzag_stitch

https://www.realorrepro.com/article/Separating-Traditional-and-Imported


Fig. 4


Fig. 5

Figs. 4-5 Many fine details on traditional American quilts are made with very small pieces of fabric like the vine in Fig. 5. Similar small details in the new quilts are made by zigzag or other bulk stitching, not fabric.

 

So don't want be negative here, but don't believe it can be avoided - while not unattractive from a distance, it really is poorly made, and may be a Chinese-made imitation of an album quilt, but don't believe it is, it's really even below the quality I'd expect, even with their child labor.

The batting does look like poly in the pic, and agree the stems/vines appear to be machine zig-zagged (a home zig-zag machine would be very uncommon until the mid 20th century), though that wouldn't really have anything to do with the construction, quilts were/are commonly stitched in squares, then assembled before quilting.

What's going on at the top in the pic of the back - is there a sleeve sewn on for a rod, or are my old eyes just failing me again?

Bothered by the tan leaves, that's typically a characteristic of late 19th-early 20th century fugitive green dyes that faded to shades of tan (which could explain the dark stitches), but doesn't really fit in with the other characteristics (though I've certainly used fabrics of varied ages together), and the white leaves are just weird - it's kind of odd overall and honestly don't know what to make of it...

~Cheryl

 

I have to agree... it is an oddity...
Leslie

 

Eh, those Ruby Lane 'Real or Repro' pages aren't always quite right, and certainly not comprehensive (the author couldn't find an example for the 'New' zig-zag, so she just edited the 'Old' pic and drew on threads?). The only imported copies of traditional American pattern quilts I've seen were Chinese, have seen pretty Indian quilts with traditional fabrics or velvet in simple patchwork patterns, can't recall seeing any quilts identified as from Haiti, but that doesn't really mean anything at all - Chinese quilts vary in quality, as illustrated by the Smithsonian quilts shown in the article. Note that the OP's quilt is bound, though as the author correctly says, the majority of imported quilts are not.

It's just an odd quilt, with anomalies (believe the crib or wall-hanging size is uncommon for a Chinese quilt), and while that zig-zag stitching bothers me, the combination with hand-stitched applique is weird, usually if they're using the zig-zag, the applique is done with it also (and not proud of it, but as a teenager in the '70s, with a brand new zig-zag machine, sold a lot of Sunbonnet Girl patchwork pillows at a crafts shop, the applique quickly done with zig-zag). The Chinese quilts I've seen with the applique hand-stitched, have typically used fabric for the stems and vines as well...


These two quilts are by the same Chinese manufacturer:

Zig-zagged: https://tinyurl.com/yyuhcu46



Hand-stitched: https://tinyurl.com/y5k3v3jj



~Cheryl

 

Yes, Poly Fiberfill.

 

Yes, sleeve sewn on for a rod.

 

Yes, smooth batting, no lumps or imperfections.

 

Shows how much I know about quilts, I thought it was finely done! Thanks for your comment!

 

I learned a bit about quilt stitch quality when researching an Amish quilt I bought at a local estate sale.
Highly prized and finely done quilts, such as true Amish quilts, often have up to ten/twelve even tiny stitches per inch. Using long quilting stitches, like on your example, is called "utility quilting" and is most often found on low-end mass-produced items or beginner projects. (The "quilting" is the long runs of plain stitches that hold all the layers together.)
The stitches on your example are long and very uneven. The applique stitches are also uneven.
I still believe this is a mass-produced decorative "wall quilt" from the 1990s at the earliest, though others may think differently. But there's still a possibility of it being a homemade item.
All that said, beauty is ultimately in the eye of the beholder. I most certainly have some low quality things that I prize but someone else would likely kick them to the curb!

 

Ughhh, 10-12 per inch - I was a skilled seamstress, but even at my best, even though my stitching was extremely even, when quilting, never really got beyond 8 per inch and was lucky to do that (fortunately crazy-quilting was my favorite - tons of embroidery, but no batting!)


Bluumz - my initial impression was the same as yours, and you are probably right, but with sincere apologies to VintageAlways, it is just so poorly made, in so many ways (not just the quilting), and has so many odd characteristics, that it doesn't seem like it is even good enough to come out of a Chinese factory. The rod-sleeve does make me think it was intended as a wall-hanging, the poly-fill and zig-zagging clearly point to nothing earlier than the '50s, and I'd think quite a bit later than that - maybe it is from someplace like Haiti, or perhaps intentionally crude, made by someone like those supposed 'artisans' making those dreadful tea-stained 'primitive' rag dolls, and other fabric pieces...

~Cheryl

 

Thank you. Could be a beginning country artisan. I don’t know. I am using it to keep warm.