Early Toile Antique Strippy Flying Geese Quilts

One of my very favorite quilts is this strippy flying geese. A wonderful bird print - English toile from the late 1700s. Printed by the Talwin and Foster Co. at Bromley Hall. The quilt is about 1830s.

It features ducks and a peacock and other birds too.

Note the simple chevron quilting. In this time period, the focus was on the expensive imported fabrics, not the quilting.

The bird toile is pieced in long strips with pieced flying geese in between.

And here is more of it with a yardstick for scale and measuring the repeat of the toile (36 inches). 

Antique Bird Toile Quilt - Modern Makeover

My early antique strippy Flying Geese quilt with alternating stripes of mallard drake and hen fabric that was printed in the 1790s by Talwin & Foster in Banister Hall in England.

And here's more of the antique quilt.

I was invited to participate in Sue Wildemuth's Eagle Quilts By the Decades Quilt project and I picked the 1830s and used the antique quilt above as my inspiration. I substituted an eagle pillar print for the ducks and made pairs of flying geese. Birds all around!!

Birds of a Feather Fly Together
24" x 24"  2011
Sandra Starley

The antique inspiration and the modern makeover getting acquainted before the eagle flew away to Sue's collection.

It was an honor to be commissioned to create this quilt and to be featured in the book and even on the cover. The book is available on amazon.

Here's a detail of the quilt and the eagle pillar print.

antique bird toile 200 years old or more

This toile was printed from about 1780 to 1820. See Art of the Needle, Quilts from the Shelburne Museum, page 30-31 for their 'Pheasant and Mandarin Duck Motif' whole cloth quilt dated 1810 made from the same toile. You can really see the toile as the whole quilt is shown and a full page detail photo. It is also shown in Montgomery's English Fabrics and Eaton's update. But, if anyone has more information on this fabric, please let me know or if they have any in a quilt.

Here it is in my very antique quilt. Strippy Flying Geese/Bird Toile Quilt 72 w X 85 h. English blue/white cotton copperplate printed toile with 36 inch high repeat. To show scale, the first picture showing the pair of ducks is an 8.5 X 11 scan.
It was hard to see any detail from auction photo so it was quite wonderful to visit with my new feathered friends when they flew in. I have to wonder if the quiltmaker had a sense of humor pairing flying geese strips with the bird toile? The toile is in good/very good condition but the flying geese are suffering from the usual early brown mordant damage. Backing is cotton, dark blue/white small scale woven check.

Detail of my Flying Geese Quilt featuring a drake and hen between the geese... duck duck goose 
Ha Ha- quilty humor is not a new thing.

Antique Princess Princes Feather Quilt

2 blocks from my antique princess or prince's feather quilt with oak reel center and basket borders. Starley antique quilt collection.

*History lesson - the alternate feathers were originally green and a strong Christmas green. But the dye was a two step (yellow and blue). Or perhaps the maker used one of the new synthetic dyes that turned out to be unreliable, unstable, and fugitive!

Treasures from the Newark Museum- Hexagons

One of the wonderful benefits of attending the Annual seminar of the American Quilt Study Group is getting special access to amazing quilt treasures. We saw many at the Newark NJ Museum. Here is one of my favorites. Small scale, fussy cut, hexagons more than 200 years old! Scroll down to end of post to see the display card and read about this wonderful textile.

Day 6 (37) Duck Duck Goose

So enjoy sharing my antique quilts. Having a great time at Quilt St. George.

 Detail of my Flying Geese Quilt featuring a drake and hen between the geese... duck duck goose 

The toile is from 1796 and printed by Talwin & Foster in England.

Flying Geese Copperplate Toile Quilt

Strippy Flying Geese/Bird Toile Quilt 72 w X 85 h. English blue/white cotton copperplate printed toile with 36 inch high repeat. To show scale, the first picture showing the pair of ducks is an 8.5 X 11 scan.
It was hard to see any detail from auction photo so it was quite wonderful to visit with my new feathered friends when they flew in. I have to wonder if the quiltmaker had a sense of humor pairing flying geese strips with the bird toile? The toile is in good/very good condition but the flying geese are suffering from the usual early brown mordant damage. Backing is cotton, dark blue/white small scale woven check.

This toile was printed from about 1780 to 1820. See Art of the Needle, Quilts from the Shelburne Museum, page 30-31 for their 'Pheasant and Mandarin Duck Motif' whole cloth quilt dated 1810 made from the same toile. You can really see the toile as the whole quilt is shown and a full page detail photo. If anyone has more information on this fabric, please let me know.