Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The Baby Quilt

A few months ago, Mike's mom was going through some boxes and found his old baby quilt and gave it to him. I'm not sure what relative of his made it, but when we got home I really took a close look at it and what I discovered was remarkable.
 One one side it's embroidered with cowboys, ponies, a windmill, rooster, and other boy designs and the binding is made with fabric that has old Christmas designs on it. The other side is embroidered with a pig, ducks in a pond, a little girl, calf, and girly designs and the border on that side is the same fabric as on the boy side only in pink. This makes me think that whoever made the quilt must've made it while Mike's mom was still pregnant with him so didn't know if she was having a boy or girl. I think this was a great idea!

It's a pretty heavy quilt too so I'm not sure what they have inside of it. Mike seems to think it's an old horsey quilt he had as a child, but again, with the pink on one side and blue on the other, I really believe this was made before he was born.

Now what truly amazed me, and maybe this is because I'm a sewist myself, is the detail in this simple quilt. And I use the term "simple" very loosely. You can tell by looking that this quilt was completely made by hand. Check out the detailing in this embroidery--it's PERFECT! Can you imagine how long it took? And was it done freehand or did they use some type of pattern?
 Another amazing thing is the quilting itself. The stitches are so small and perfect--I can't even sew that straight with a machine much less by hand!
The last detail is the binding. Can you see the very tiny hidden stitches? Wow.
So, the next time you see an old vintage quilt, take a good look at it. Notice the workmanship in the stitching and the way the quilt is made. Notice the tiny details. Then think of how long it took to make since most vintage quilts were stitched by hand. Now, aren't you amazed?