Quilt for March

  

This month’s quilt is a rather luxurious one and a departure from my usual taste in reproduction fabrics. It is a small quilt, made up of the Cumberland line of late 19^th century reproduction fabrics designed by Fons & Porter for Benartex, Inc. One of the dolls gets to have it on his bed for a month or so in the early summer, probably because of all of that fabulous yellow in it. 

The fabrics have quite a gloss and sheen to them although this is not apparent from the two photographs of the quilt. 

I have, therefore, included another one that is just of some of the materials so as to better show off their richness and elegance. I was, in fact, a little overwhelmed by that richness and elegance, and could not come up with a satisfactory design for a large quilt that I felt would do the Cumberland line justice so I made a small one instead.

The quilt measures 22” square, and is entirely hand pieced and hand quilted.

Lady’s Knitted Hood – Finished!

If I was living in 1886, I could use this hood as my weather is still rather wintery.  The hood, knit in four pieces, and then decorated with a ribbon and bow, is denser and warmer than it looks.

The pattern for the Lady’s Knitted Hood is from Weldon’s Practical Knitter, Number 1, First Series (1886). It is also published in Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 1, Interweave Press, 1999.

The details of the hood’s construction can be found on my blog at http://historyknits.blogspot.com/2013/06/ladys-knitted-hood-in-progress_16.html

The finished hood measures approximately 30” from the front of the edge of the border to the bottom edge of  “the curtain” of the hood.  There are twenty-two repeats of the No.26 - Wheat-Ear Pattern edging from Weldon’s Practical Knitter, Sixth Series – Edgings (1887) which is also published in Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 2, Interweave Press, 2000. It would have lain nicely over a style of intricately dressed hair at and down the back of the head. Again, see my first blog entry for this project for an image of the hairstyles of this era.

The pattern suggests that the hood may be lined or not but, in that era, I would have lined it so the knitting would not catch on my hair, and for added warmth. The ribbon is “run…in to confine the hood comfortably in shape,” and the bow is placed “on the back of the curtain.”

My thanks to my friend, S, for modelling the hood.