Years ago Marilyn Woodin, an Iowa quilt dealer, posted a picture of a
beautiful but well-worn chintz quilt in her collection.
The center panel has a blue ribbon tying a bouquet of varied flowers.
Untrimmed panel #14
The oval panel is framed by a narrow floral ring with flowers in the corners. This version
from a quilt seems to be a demi-chintz of limited colors.
Colonial Williamsburg has an uncut panel in full chintz coloring.
The most distinctive characteristic is the blue ribbon tying the stems.
The quilts are re-oriented here to place the ribbons at the bottom.
Tree of Life Cut-out Chintz Quilt, initialed G.M.R. Attributed to Maine.
American Folk Art Museum collection.
This is an odd quilt. Curators found both 20th-century and 19th-century fabrics in it. Someone had enough yardage of panel #14 and two other panels to cut strips in half to make a scalloped border.
Made in the 19th with added 20th-century repairs?
Most likely: Made in the 20th century of old fabric.
The top half of the panel on the left side.
Cut-out chintz medallion, dated 1828, Jane Allen Nesbitt
Atlanta History Center
The Atlanta History Center has in its collection the earliest date-inscribed
American quilt with a multi-colored imported European panel in the database.
Panel 14 is in the center with it's floral border trimmed.
The date "Sept 16, 1828" is cross-stitched.
Cut-out chintz quilt attributed to Eleanora Roche, Baltimore, Maryland.
Documented in the Maryland project and pictured in their book
A Maryland Album, page 55.
Again, a trimmed Panel 14 is the central focus. A ring of 12 repeats of Panel 17 shows the relative size difference between large and small panels.
Small panel #17
Lincolnton, North Carolina
A fifth cut-out chintz quilt was recorded in the North Carolina project.
This quilt was donated to the North Carolina Museum of History in 1928.
See a post this week on my Civil War Quilts blog about this quilt from the Ramseur family.
Panel 14 and its parts have been reconstructed to make a larger central medallion.
Medallion quilt by Miriam Woodside Ross, Fawn Township, York County, Pennsylvania
Recorded by the York County project and pictured in their book
Quilts: The Fabric of Friendship
The last quilt with panel 14 is quite different in style. Although Miriam Woodside Ross used an untrimmed panel for her center, she framed it with borders of piecework and chintz. The difference in style may be explained by its Pennsylvania origins. Fawn Township is in the southern part of York County right on the Maryland border. A combination of Southern panel and Northern quilt sensibilities?
What Can We Learn From Panel 14?
When Merikay wrote "Printed Panels for Chintz Quilts" for Uncoverings 2013 she counted 185 quilts in the database with 20 having inscribed dates. The earliest quilt with a large panel in the American sample is the 1828 Nesbitt quilt with panel #14 in the center. The earliest British dated quilt has a date of 1810.
The British Elizabeth Capes quilt from the Poos Collection
with two different panels (#14 in the center) is dated 1810.
As the panel fabrics are generally attributed to about 1815 in England we see a more than ten year lag in their use in the U.S. We also see Panel #14 used in two quilt styles. The Ross quilt from Pennsylvania incorporating piece work borders is more like the British style shown in the Capes quilt.
The more common panel style we see in the U.S. is one in which floral motifs are appliqued to a white background. American cut-out chintz or Broderie Perse quilts are less likely to include any pieced patchwork. Americans didn't often include conventional applique done in template fashion from calicoes and solids.
