Quilt, Printed Patchwork, Tumbling Block and Lace

Dateca. 1880

MediumPrinted cotton

DimensionsOH: 75 in. x OW: 72 in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2018.609.9

DescriptionThis is an almost square whole-cloth quilt of printed patchwork cotton in a faux tumbling block and lace pattern. The printed patchwork cotton features a variety of patterns in red, white, black, taupe, tan, dark brown, light brown, and gray. It is reversible, with the same print on both sides. The quilt is quilted in running stitches, 6 per inch, with white thread in parallel lines, stitched along the horizontal lines where the two sides of the tumbling blocks meet. Both the front and the back are made up of three panels. The front is brought to the back at the sides and the top and bottom are finished in a one-inch-wide rust-brown strip of folded fabric.
Label TextFrom a distance, it looks like this quilt is made of patchwork, with small pieces of fabric covered in different designs sewn together. The quilt is actually made of fabric meant to look like patchwork. The cloth resembles a kind of patchwork pattern called "tumbling blocks," as well as imitation lace. The faux patchwork fabric illustrates just how popular quilt making was in the 1880s.
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