16th Century German Quilt from the V&A – ready to start!

I found a mention to a 16th century German quilt in an SCA whitepaper someone did on the Tristan Quilts, which themselves are 14th century Italian. Figuring that was an area not particularly well represented at Faire or within the German groups that I’m aware of (okay, so that’s just 2), I was intrigued. Looking at the bibliography, I found out the quilt I was interested in was briefly described in another book. Finally I tracked down that the quilt was currently housed with the V&A. I had never actually seen a picture of it, just the original author’s hand-drawn example of one element within the quilt. The V&A responded and while they didn’t have any images of the quilt for me, they could pull it out of storage and take pictures for me (for a pretty penny, let me tell you!). They sent me 2 hi-res jpg images and a mailed me a glossy print (all things I ordered, but still I got them in excellent time). Seeing the whole quilt, oh yes, this was something even I could do.

While I’m tempted to post a miniature of the image they sent me, I have a feeling that might not be koshure so I’ll not do that, but I can post my mock-up and talk about how I’m changing the design and why. Below is the mockup of what I intend to do. The finished size will be 108 inches by 108 inches, but the part that is quilted will be 90 inches by 90 inches — big enough for a queen size bed. I was very surprised to see that on the original quilt, all edges were generously fringed, so I figure that’s a good thing to do to the 18 inch difference in sizes there.

The original quilt appeared to be long and thin, like it was made for a twin bed. It is 6 octogons wide by 10 tall. I have absolutely no idea as to the finished size, so I have no idea what sort of scale the octogons actually are. I’m choosing to make them 10 inches in size. It was amusing to note that the design is laid out starting in the upper left corner and repeated across and down — regardless of how complete or incomplete the octogon is on the end. Like laying tile without knowing exactly how much space you have or how many tiles you’ll need. Both the right hand side and all across the bottom, the octogons are shaved by as much as 25%, while the left hand edge has every octogon beginning perfectly in place and neatly aligned with the edge. Since the one I’m doing is larger than 6 wide, I figured that I’d at least make the thing looked like I planned ahead somewhat, otherwise it will bother the crap out of me. I did mention that this quilt looked like a home-spun project, and not the product of professional quilters of the era? This sort of lack of planning is exatly what I’m talking about with this impression.

Tangent warning!

Here’s an example of my noticing stuff without realizing it until it falls out of my mouth. I was talking to Miles about quilting in general. In modern America, when someone says they are making a quilt, listeners tend to automatically picture a patchwork quilt. Historically speaking, patchwork quilts first appear in the late 1600s and early 1700s, and slowly make their way into popularity. All quilts predating this erea are NOT pieced — appliqued whole cloth and whole cloth sure, but I have not seen a single patchwork version. Not that I’m the ultimate authority on the subject, mind you, but from the quilt historians I’ve eavesdropped on I learned this much. Anyhoo, I’m yaking away to a glassy-eyed Miles and I find myself saying “pieced quilts originated with religious groups who were objecting to what they saw as ostentatious – through the use of black-only clothing, no buttons, no adornment of any kind, and a strong emphasis on reusing everything until it evaporated into dust. A pieced quilt, using obvious scraps and rags, was their way of saying ‘see how humble I am? I openly use scraps for my bedding.’ Until this group, scraps and rags may have been used as the batting or backing, but it was never used as the face because doing so was a huge ‘pauper’ sign and if you could afford a quilt, it was not trendy to make it say ‘pauper’.” Of course, in the ensuing centuries patchwork quilts have become an artform unto themselves, but it was sort of amusing to hear myself say something I never really thought about. No idea if it’s accurate or not, so please no verbally flaying me with righteous indignation, but it fits all the information that I have about the subject and it sounds very much like something the religious reactionaries of the day would do.

Back on course.

This is the template for the octogons. The outer octogon and the inner star are going to be corded — where a channel is stitched and then a cord or fat yarn is worked through the created channel between the 2 layers of cloth. The little flowery things are edged, but left otherwise plain. In the center of the inner star will be some sort of critter. I’ve identified a lot of stag-looking things, some possible lions, and lots of blobs, so I think I’m pretty safe to pick a range of animal motifs from woodcuts and other sources. All those diamonds are also corded and also feature another critter. Based on what I can see of these critters, they are about on par with the drawing a kindergartner might produce. Not high quality artwork here. I can do that! heh. But all the critters are lightly stuffed with wool. Generally, trapunto is stuffed into sharp relief, but in this case there will be just enough to have people give it a second look because they originally thought it was flat. Everything else inside the design not a flower, channel or critter will be stipled with squiggly lines that keep all the layers of cloth in place.

The original quilt is apparantly 3 layers of linen. No batting, just material sewn together. I’m not going to purchase 9 yards of $30 a yard 108″ selvage linen to make the interior layer and the back, but I will get just 3 yards to use as the face. I’m thinking that I’m perfectly fine with seamed middle layer and backing, since that’s sooooo much cheaper.

And that is the project plan. Not all of this will hand done by ANY stretch of the imagination, but I can pretend a connection with my mother’s lineage. My grandmother gave me a quilt her mother made for her wedding, and she’s apparently on giving me several more quilts made by her grandmother and great-grandmother. Wow! My mom never much quilted, and I never did much either. Just the little baby one as a test run, and now … this.

I am insane. Certifiable…

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