Quilted patchwork bed cover or coverlet of printed cotton and linen, England, 1801

Quilted patchwork bed cover or coverlet of printed cotton and linen.

The central section is formed from 32 triangles, surrounded by a frame of printed cotton, and then is a further border of triangles. There are 21 different, small repeating, printed cottons used in the patchwork showing a predominance of madder printed pink patterns. The border has a design of oak leaves in pink and brown on a figured ground. The quilted design is worked in running stitch white cotton (similar to work found on wholecloth and embroidered bed covers of the 18th century) and a central square surrounded by four borders of zig-zag lines and circles are filled with flower-heads and infills of diamonds. It is wadded with lamb's wool and has a reverse of hand-woven white linen.

Detailed description of the printed cottons:

1. outer border: block printed in madder colours on white; spring of one brown, one red and pink leaf on ground of tiny crowheed shapes.
2. inner border: block printed in madder colours on white; one stylised rosette repeated in stripes of pink and dark brown.
3. block printed in madder colours with added blue: small flower sprig in pink, white and blue with meander-lattice of smaller flowers in pink and blue on a dark purple-brown ground.
4. block printed in madder colours on a white ground; with stripes of diagonal lines in brown alternating with narrow stripes of pink and brown shapes grouped in threes.
5. block printed in madder colours on white; stripes of lozenges shapes in pink, white and brown separated by squiggles on a brown ground.
6. block printed in madder lilac and pale brown on a white ground, stems with blotchy leaves on a mossy trail ground.
7. block printed in madder pink, lilac and dark brown with added blue; strips of 'ribbon' alternating with crosses in circles.
8. block printed in madder pink and brown on white, stripes of white chain on pink ground with narrow stripes of tiny brown rosettes.
9. block or roller printed, think leafy stems meander in yellow alternating with a stripe in two shades of china blue, on a white ground.
10. block-printed in madder pink and red on a dark plum ground, repeating small motif in staggered rows.
11. block or roller-printed - tiny motif in china blue on white ground.
12. block printed, continuous and interrupted stripes in red on white.
13. block or roller-printed, small rectangles with irregular sides in red, forming a chequer pattern on the white ground.
14. block printed in madder lilac an brown-black; narrow dark stripes containing white lozenges, wide stripes of lilac on white lattice.
15. block printed in red on white; irregular splodges, very small
16. block printed in madder pink, lilac to dark brown, narrow stripes with pin-dot opposed meanders
17. block printed in madder colours - a 'honey-comb' leaf in dark brown on a splodged lilac on white ground.
18. Floral trials, 1770s-80s style with red flowers on thin stems, added blue leaves on a reserved white ground with blotch fillings in purple.
19. pin dot ground with flowers reserved in white and larger spaces for 'chintz' flowers in madder red with added blue and yellow. Divided into stripes by twists of pink and blue ribbon.
20. plum-coloured stripes with imitation 'chine' flowers in pink, white and blue alternating with small pin-dot meander on wide white stripe.
21. white pin-dot and narrow stripe patterns on a red ground.

The centre of the bed cover, within the inner border, is made up of four windmills of the same sequence of cottons: 7, 11, 19, 9, 7, 11, 17, 13.

Given by Miss R. E. Chick

Given to the V&A in 1971 by Miss R. E. Chick [R.P. 71/2916].
The donor came from Caterham, Surrey. According to her family history, it was worked by the donor's great grandmother.

The quilt is inscribed with the date 1801. The earliest cotton used dates to the 1770s.

In 'piecing' or 'patchwork', pieces of fabric are sewn together to produce a decorative design. The most enduring method in Britain is done by hand, and is known as piecing over paper. The pattern is first drawn onto paper and then accurately cut. Pieces of fabric are tacked round each of the shapes, and then joined together from the back using overstitch. Geometric shapes produce some of the most striking examples, such as this design now known as 'windmills'. The simple pattern of right-angled triangles suggests the gentle rotation of sails in the wind, which led to its name.

The textiles used here are similar (but not identical) to a highly complex patchwork coverlet showing a sundial (T.102-1938), created just a few years earlier in 1797. Both display the fashion for small prints in the late eighteenth century. From the late eighteenth century the British cotton industry developed into one of the most successful in the world. Woven silks had been the dominant fabric used for quilts and coverlets in the eighteenth century. They retained their appeal with the aristocracy, but by the early years of the nineteenth century printed cottons became the preferred choice as the market was flooded with a new range of furnishing and dress fabrics. Tailors and dressmakers capitalised on consumer demand by offering fragments, cuttings and ready-cut patches for use in patchwork and quilting.

T.417-1971