Cockermouth Frame Quilt

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Maker:
Unknown
Date:
1890 - 1900

This frame quilt is made from different coloured cottons, and contains a four star central motif in red which is followed out in red diagonal squares that form a large X over the surface of the quilt.

Frame quilts have been a popular style in British quilting for centuries. They require a great deal of drafting skills to accurately work out how the pieces and frames will fit together. Closer inspection of surviving frame quilts reveals that repeat patterns are not always complete or shapes have been cut short in order to fit that frame onto the previous one. Frame quilts allow the maker to construct the individual strips first before putting the whole quilt together, and in the later years of the 19th century they lent themselves to construction by sewing machine rather than more time consuming hand stitching.

218cm x 234cm

Cockermouth Frame Quilt