Saturday, July 28, 2012

Historical Color: Updated Ideas

Orchids in purple, green and white with gold

The Saturday Morning Posts will begin on Saturday, September 1, 2012. You may want to think about collecting fabrics. See the side bar for historical reasons for the color suggestions.

Purple, green and white inspiration from nature:

Hydrangeas

Hydrangea close-up

Becky Brown is making sample blocks
 in a range of purples, greens and whites


She makes up a color swatch card that she takes with her
when she goes fabric shopping.



Inspired by last year's Infinite Variety exhibit by the American Folk Art Museum, Georgann Eglinski is going to make the blocks in red and white---she's using a plain white and a few textured reds.


The gold color used by American organizations recalls the importance of chrome orange and chrome yellow to 19th-century quilters.



Dealer Laura Fisher has two samplers in stock that make the most of what we call cheddar.
The one above with the gold sashing is dated 1864.



Here's one that looks to date from the early 20th century---the same time period we'll be focusing on.
This style of rather disorganized sampler is typical of quilts a century ago: different sized blocks set side-by-side.

Click on these links to see more of these samplers:
http://www.laurafisherquilts.com/shop/Quilts/p/RAHWAY-NEW-JERSEY-CIVIL-WAR-ALBUM-SAMPLER-ANTIQUE-QUILT-sku-10839.htm

http://www.laurafisherquilts.com/shop/Quilts/ANTIQUE-QUILTS/p/SAMPLER-ANTIQUE-QUILT-signed-ELMER-ANNIE-ROLLO--sku-10343.htm



Arts & Crafts graphics and style were often used as in the Christmas card above and the political poster below.




So William Morris reproduction prints would be appropriate. See what Sheila (The Quilting Gammy) did for her William Meets the Farmer's Wife sampler last year.
http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2012/03/morris-quilts.html


Another option is a combination of contemporary color in grays with Arts & Crafts prints. Grays and taupes work so well in today's decor.

The first few blocks will have more information about symbolic color so you'll have time to think about it after September 1st.

1911 Poster for the California Campaign
by Bertha Margaret Boye (1883-1930)
of San Francisco

22 comments:

  1. I have been building a stash of French General fabrics for a while and was hoping it might be right for this quilt. I have "Rouennieries", and "R.Deux," and have some of the new Chateaux Rouge, which has some gold added to the reds,greens and taupes ,Then again i could go with the William Morris again, I still have a lot left. Not being American i don't feel the need to be historically authentic but i do want it to feel right. Oh the decisions...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PS i just checked out the new Morris Apprentice line.... gorgeous, probably the best Morris collection yet

      Delete
  2. French General sounds great. The historical color schemes are just options. I bet the Australian suffragists had a color too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. And it wasn't hard to find out what those Australian colors were. England's Women's Freedom League used green, gold and white and Australians adopted this color scheme. See the side bar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An interesting read which prompted me to google some more... I just realised my (almost 100year old)home is painted in shades of green, purple and white maybe i should go pull my greens and purples and see what i have

      Delete
  4. September 1st is marked in my diary, I have some fabrics gathered together waiting for the day, just have to decide whether my planned purple, green, white, gold and gray scheme will play nicely together.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Can't wait for this :) So excited, thanks so much! I am using a gold and a dark purple with white for the background. Are you planning to have a button? I'd love to put one on my blog to promote the project and send my followers to this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kris---the button. I can't figure out the html linkage business---but I did stick a picture that's 125 pixels wide over on the right.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ok, I copied the pic and put a link under it :) There are several tutorials out there to make buttons but I haven't done it either, lol!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've been collecting 1930s repro fabrics and had been considering using them BUT... I have a stack of purple and green fabrics that just might do the trick!

    So excited to be starting another BOW... I've so missed the Civil War BOW!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have the code for a linked button on one's blog; however, Blogger won't allow me to post it here. Msg: Your HTML cannot be accepted: Attribute "TARGET" is not allowed in tag: A

    I'll be happy to share the code... just email me!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I cannot wait to get started, I have really missed those Saturday mornings. It's going to be another fun project to work on.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I will join in. Thanks for this new BOW. I'm going to think about colors the next week!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Really excited to be apart of another wonderful BOW, thanks Barbara!

    ReplyDelete
  13. thank you Barbara for the beautiful pics and for beginning a new BOW in september. I will join you and will be very happy to meet quilters from the world again like past year. I like very much the colors and will make tiny blocks (5cm) !
    I'm very excited, cann't wait until september !

    friendly from France

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I am impatient to begin this BOM. Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  16. I have missed the Saturday morning BOW a lot. I truly enjoyed getting up Saturday, grabbing a cup of coffee and checking out the Civil War BOW. It was like getting a delightful weekly present.

    My Civil War Quilt has finally gotten it to the quilter after laying around the house for over 5 months. :-)

    Enjoy this journey to newbies who have never followed along and to those of us who are going back.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I will be happy to make these BOM and the colors are pretty .
    Thank you .

    Fiendly from France

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi, I would like to know how many yard we need for the backgroung of block (sorry for my english) Céline From France

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh, I am inspired! So happy that I stumbled on your new Block of the Week. I enjoyed your Civil War Sampler immensely, even though mine is not finished since I am still looking for the perfect applique eagle and shield block for the center. I happen to have a fat quarter collection with purples and greens, accented with orange and a little blue, that would be lovely for these blocks. As a bonus, it coordinates well with the chrome yellow Kona solid in my stash, so my quilt will be set up with that sashing. I am excited!

    ReplyDelete