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The Applique Quilt

November 1915
Wilene Smith Legacy Project
New York City, New York, United States
"The Applique Quilt" is a three-page article in McCall's Magazine, November 1915. It discusses the applique technique illustrated with eight modern 1915 designs offered as McCall Pattern 10519.
The Applique Quilt
By JOSEPHINE HOW

COULD Grandmother and Great-Grandmother come back to view the guest-rooms of the present day, they would glow with modest pride, for on the floor they would see their beloved hand-woven and big, oval, braided rugs; rush-bottomed chairs and cretonne overcurtains would gladden their eyes; and the four-post mahogany bed would display the glory of just such an applique quilt as decked the "spare room" in ante-bellum days.

That not all of us can be the proud possessor of an antique four-poster need not prevent us from following the present vogue for the applique quilt; for brass bed and iron bed, oak and maple, birch and walnut, whether with high or low footboard, can be made to serve in the place of Grandmother's mahogany.

The difference between an applique quilt and the humble patchwork quilt is that the latter is made of small pieces or patches sewed together to form one large covering, and the whole quilted; while the former is made of small pieces and patches sewed on one large piece of material, or, which is much easier, on squares of material, which, after being thus appliqued, are sewed together to form one large bed-covering, and then quilted.

Any woman who can use a needle can add an applique quilt to her stock of treasures, by merely utilizing her odd moments.

AS a rule, the foundation material selected is longcloth, chambray, gingham, sateen, or other cotton material, although, of course, silk, satin, or velvet could be used.

For a cotton quilt, longcloth makes an excellent foundation or background for the applique, as it is durable, easy to work on, and inexpensive--the eighteen-cent quality being good enough. For the applique itself, chambray, which comes in charming soft colors, is very satisfactory, but sateen or any of the plain-colored ginghams could be used as well. There should be a three-inch border around the entire quilt, whether the latter is composed of squares sewed together or is in one piece, and this should be of the same material as the applique, and of a solid color. The lining may match it in color, or be plain white.

The first thing to do is to decide whether the quilt is to consist of squares sewed together, every alternate one having an applique design in color, or is to be one large piece of goods with a single large design appliqued in the center. This latter plan is the most difficult, because the quilt is so cumbersome to handle in one piece. I advise making the quilt of squares about eight inches in size, half to be plain, and half to be appliqued, the appliqueing to be done before the squares are sewed together. This makes each piece easy to handle. Some designs (Fig. 8) will overlap from one square to another, and where this is the case, of course two squares will be sewed together before appliqueing, then another added, and another, and so on as the design progresses.

The charm of a quilt lies in the design chosen and the colorings used. Today, geometrical designs, combined with conventionalized flowers, seem to be most popular, while in the days of four-posters the designs were far more ambitious--

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[Caption:] Poppy wreath design (Fig. 1 above), in green and red on a white ground; to the left (Fig. 2), a primrose pattern for a young girl's room; at the right (Fig. 3), a design on one piece of material quilted into squares; and, below (Fig. 4), design to be applied at the intersection of squares.

The Applique Quilt
By JOSEPHINE HOW

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sometimes being crude pictures of the events with which the different pieces of material were associated. One lovely old silk quilt of this type was composed entirely of pieces of material closely associated with the traditions of the family--one bit of silk in it being the fragment of a gown worn at a ball given for Lafayette, another a remnant from Grandmother's trousseau, the border itself a piece of ribbon that had formed the frills on the skirt of a gown worn at a ball given for the Prince of Wales. On these historic scraps, rude pictures, suggesting the event, were developed in applique--so that every inch of the quilt had its history.

In one family of which I know, Grandmother's chest held a wonderful quilt in a prim old-fashioned basket pattern (Fig. 7) in gorgeous colors, which came forth only when any of the children were sick; its appearance on the sick-room bed was a mark of such high honor and distinction that it took a keen-eyed mother to keep the family casualty list at normal. This is a quilt which is easily duplicated and is most effective. The white longcloth squares which form the background are stamped with the entire basket design, while the flowers, leaves, etc., are cut out by pattern from bright-hued chambray; each leaf or flower or other piece which goes to make up the basket is turned in all around its edge, and this edge basted flat, after which the piece is basted to its proper position on the design, neatly hemmed to the material with thread of its own color, and then the bastings pulled out. If the basket itself is appliqued in brown chambray, the flowers in blue, with the leaves in green, it will be very effective. Even red for the flowers is permissible, since gay colors are the essence of the applique quilt. The alternating squares may be pale yellow, or a brown to match the basket.

FOR a room with a yellow color scheme, a most attractive spread is of alternating yellow and white squares with over-lapping wreaths of green leaves, white flowers on the yellow squares, brown on the white, and the wreath itself worked in outline in olive green embroidery silk (Fig. 8).

For a dainty spread for a young girl's room which is done in pale blue, a good plan is to alternate a white square with a square in pale blue, using a stiff little primrose design (Fig. 2), green leaves and stems, blue blossoms on the white squares, and on the blue squares a single primrose in white. A tiny blue circle should be appliqued to the center of the white primrose with a pink French knot in its center; while the blue primroses should have a white circle appliqued and held in place by a French knot in blue.

A wreath of poppies and leaves (Fig. 1) may be done in green and red, with two lines embroidered in outline in white on each poppy, to suggest petal divisions. This makes a very gay-colored quilt, but the same design may be subdued by making the flowers in pink, blue, or yellow, and the alternating squares of this color.

A simple design has a four-petaled conventionalized flower at the joining of each four squares, one petal on each square (Fig. 4). These can be appliqued before the squares are sewed together, but when

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[Caption:] An all-over lattice-work design (Fig. 5), in green, pink roses and white centers; a water-lily design (Fig. 6), white on green, green on white; a basket design (Fig. 7), attractive for center of a pillow; and, below (Fig. 8), over-lapping wreaths which may harmonize with the color scheme of any room.

The Applique Quilt
By JOSEPHINE HOW

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this has been done, the flower is completed by a little white circle appliqued in its center and extending onto all four squares. With alternating squares of buff or tan and white, one flower could be in leaf green, without a center, the next in blue or pink or rose, with a white center.

Six-inch squares can be effectively used for a quilt in a water-lily design (Fig. 6); the lilies for half the squares being white on any color material one desires; for the other half, the squares being white with the lilies in the colors of the contrasting squares. A little embroidery is necessary in making this quilt--the stamens being done in satin-stitch and outlined in white on the colored water-lilies, in color on the white water-lilies.

A quilt which is made of one large piece of material can be quilted in squares with thread of the color to match the applique design (Fig. 3). Or a most effective lattice-work design in green chambray can be appliqued onto white chambray, pink roses, with white centers, occupying the center of each little square formed by the lattice design (Fig. 5).

FOR the bedroom of an elderly woman, purple or lavender on white is an effective combination. Pink on gray; Alice blue on buff; rose on cream; orange and brown on pale yellow; pink and blue on cream, are other good schemes in use.

The actual work of appliqueing a design may be done very quickly, since it is merely neat hemming. And its use need not be confined to bedspreads, for unbleached muslin or longcloth curtains or bedroom hangings can be made beautiful by the use of an applique border, while an applique pillow is a delight for the living room couch, bedroom, or den.

The woman who wants to give something of her own handwork at Christmas will find the old-fashioned applique designs suit themselves beautifully to centerpieces for the dining-room table for between meals, dresser-scarfs, table-runners, laundry-bags, baby's carriage-robes, and a hundred other articles.

Editor's Note.--Perforated patterns will be furnished for the applique quilt designs illustrated, at ten cents each. In ordering, ask for Pattern 10519 and state which design you wish. For instance, if you want the poppy-wreath pattern, illustrated as Fig. 1, say, "Send me Perforated Pattern 10519, Fig. 1, poppy wreath;" if you want the overlapping-wreath pattern shown in Fig. 8, say, "Send me Perforated Pattern 10519, Fig. 8, overlapping-wreath design." Address The McCall Company, 236 West 37th Street, New York City. These perforated patterns are not carried by our agencies.
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