MAGAZINES | AMERICAN PATCHWORK & QUILTING

Historical Red-and-Green Quilts

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Written by Linzee Kull McCray

Whether you stitch a replica of an antique quilt or use it as inspiration for a new creation, re-creating an old quilt is a chance to soak up all the insights the textile has to offer. By intimately studying and re-creating a chosen quilt, participants in the American Quilt Study Group’s (AQSG) biennial quilt study learn about its history, construction techniques, and perhaps something of the person who made the original.

In 2008, quilters focused on red-and-green quilts, a color scheme popular from 1840 to 1860. New processes during that time period made red dyes much more stable than before, and the chance to work with true, bright reds—after years of brownish, madder reds—likely proved irresistible, according to study organizers Penny Tucker and Bobbi Finley. Here are 18 of this year's study quilts and their artist statements.

View a traveling exhibit of the new red-and-green quilts, or participate in a future quilt study yourself. Visit the AQSG Web site for more details.

More to check out:

Fabric-Free Quilts
Traditions Remembered
Quilting Design Gallery