Sometimes I add a quilt to my collection, not realizing it has connections to other pieces I own, until I get home.
Besides quilts, I have numerous old publications related to needlework.
One favorite is Needlecraft Magazine. Not only do I enjoy the illustrations, I like the vintage needlework patterns.
This example is from June, 1928.
Subscriptions were fifty cents a year in the US, Canada was Sixty-five cents and other foreign countries cost seventy- five cents. To give you some perspective, a loaf of bread at the time in the US was ten cents.
This issue features a crib quilt on the cover.
The cover quilt is a quilt in my collection.
This is my quilt.
When I got home with this one I was looking through reference materials both on my shelves and online.
What a pleasant surprise to find this issue of the magazine!
My example was made from a kit. The instructions and kit were available in this June 1928 issue, as well as the lovely cover illustration.
My quilt was never used, or it shows no sign of it!
Advice was given in the instructions, "for a clever and unusual touch use textile paint on the details"
While I like some tinted linens I'm glad this maker only used hand quilting.
This is the Helen Grant illustration inside the magazine.
Note the pillow - my quilt did not have a matching pillow with it. Another thing to be on the watch for...
"And where pray could a baby's natural adorableness be seen to better advantage than among the soft puffs of a quilted crib ensemble?"
Very sweet.
I wonder how many kits were sold?
How many quilts were completed?
Do you have one? Seen one?
This is the full set of instructions. Click to enlarge.
Note the first column where the design includes, "balanced with a charming adaptation of the familiar "feather" design so much used by old time quilters"
This is the ad for the kit.
The quilt and pillow were sold separately.
The first item is the quilt, the second is the pillow.
The transfer could be purchased with or without the sateen. The sateen was available in pink or blue.
This is a back corner of my quilt.
The hand quilting was completed through the front, batting and the white fabric with the iron on transfer design. The backing and the quilted unit were then sewn sandwiching the ruffle. A few small tacks hold the back to the rest of the quilt.
I don't think this piece has ever been laundered. I cant be sure if the dark transfer lines would have been less noticeable or gone.
I have a few other satin type crib quilts.
This magazine pattern states, "Sateen is a wise material choice for a baby's quilted crib set: it looks nice...it quilts well, is soft - having body without bulk - and will launder easily"
The cover quilt example is a very soft and thin quilt. The fabric looking more like a crepe. Not a heavy satin like material of these other two examples.
The blue quilt does not have the same soft hand, rather it's thick and firm. It is reversible. The opposite side being pink.
It has pink applied binding, hand stitched down.
It is hand quilted in blue pearl cotton.
The third satin quilt I have is quilted in a flower pattern. This piece is all in pink.
Hand quilted with a pearl cotton type thread, with an applied binding. The binding is hand stitched down.
It too is a heavier quilt, fiber content unknown.
No sign of any transfer marks for the pattern.
No sign of a tag or maker.
Are they satin??
1894 - patent viscose rayon - it became known as artificial silk
1910 - Mfg. of artificial silk
1924 - the term rayon was first used
Last, and certainly not least, is a very special gift from a friend - a doll cradle.
Pink ribbon is woven through the wicker and tied in bows.
The doll quilt has velvet binding.
If you have one of these satin quilts I'd love to see it, send me a picture.
If you have information on these satin crib quilts I'd love to hear from you too! I'm always looking for updates on research and references.
UPDATE:
Thank you for all the information. Watch for continued updates, as more readers are sending photos.
Here are updates as of 9/29/2013:
Lynn (Quilts Vintage and Antique) found an ad for a McCalls baby quilt in their 1939 magazine, pattern 378.
Guess what I'm going to make with my own kaumagraph of the 1938 pattern?
I'm going to use real silk, not rayon. Probably silk batting too.
Amity Quilter generously shared a picture of her quilt. It has a blue reverse side.
hand quilted, freshly washed, it lost a bit of color in one spot. Possible signs of a previous tag.
Perhaps a cottage industry? Sold in department stores?
The quilt id her DH's, and was gifted to him and his mother in 1952.
References:
Peacock Boudior quilt is pictured in "Quilt the Fabric of Friendship - The York Quilt Documentation Project - Schiffer 2000.
pg 105 c.1920 84" x 67"
Mc Calls Pattern Kaumagraph No. 1586
Read about Kaumafraphs (wash out iron ons)
HERE. The company is still in business, specializing in tagless labels. The opposite of a wash out iron on.
Numerous McCalls kaumagraphs are listed on eBay and Etsy, including those for quilts.
