Welsh Quilting Designs
Hearts, Swirls, Leaves, Welsh Pear (Paisley Pear), Scissors, Crosshatching, Echo Quilting etc...
My Love of Welsh Quilts focuses on the splendour of the Welsh Quilts made for and by your average Welsh family over 100 years ago.
Using Patterns and techniques that were passed along and down through communities, families and Welsh women trying to earn a crust.
When you break them down the Designs are simple and homely. Using what they had to hand to create the wonderful sculpted Patterns.
Typical Welsh Quilting Designs are wonderfully organic. Made using whatever the Quilter had to hand to create them.
Using Plates, Cups, Scissors, Flat Iron, etc And The Skill of The Quilters Eye
The Designs created by the Welsh Quilters along with the way they used them on their Quilts and the fabrics used tend to make a Welsh Quilt quite easily recognisable.
These Welsh Designs are brought together and complimented by the Cross Hatching and Echo Quilting used.
Of course the fabrics and wadding used gives them more texture than a cotton quilt.
Sheep
But let's go back a step. Welsh Quilts begin with the fabrics. What gives a Welsh Quilt it's uniqueness, it's background. The Designs just wouldn't stand out/feel the same without the help of Sheep.
Yes Sheep are the unsung heroes of Welsh Quilts. We talk so much about the Designs and the Quilting, it's easy to overlook a Welsh Quilts foundations. Wool. And that brings us to Sheep.
If you know anything about Wales there are a few things that come instantly to mind:
Mountains, Beaches, Green, Rain, Coal, Sheep, Singing, Dragon, Rugby, Friendly
We are a very Green Country. And by that I mean green grass, mountains and trees. And this green is curtesy of the quite large amount of rain we get. And of course with all this greenery our land is perfect for rearing Sheep.
We have an awful lot of Sheep.
And Sheep need shearing. So we have more than our fair share of Sheep Wool.
So in Wales we used this Wool to make woolen fabrics.
We also used our wool as a filler (wadding/batting) for our Quilts.
This made our Quilts both warm and rather heavy.
Wool
Woolen Blankets were very common here.
We made some beautifully patterned Wool Blankets.
And we used the plain coloured wool fabric to make Quilts for our beds to keep us warm.
Of course to make a quilt, backing, top and filling you needed to hold these three parts of your Quilt together. And the Welsh Quilters created some beautiful quilting designs to achieve this.
These Quilts were very heavy as many had three layers of wool!
Made up of wool fabric for the backing and top layer of the Quilt along with a wool wadding/batting.
So let's take a look at some of the Welsh Quilting Designs.
When I draw a spiral onto a Quilt I use something circular, probably a plate to start the spiral off.
Lots of Echo Quilting here
A mixture of Spirals Hearts
Echo Quilting & Crosshatch
Creating Welsh Quilting Designs
Some everyday items I used to create My Welsh Quilting Designs.
More about Welsh Quilts and Quilting to follow.....soon. And I'll be sharing details of My Welsh Quilts.
In the meantime check out Wyn's 100 year old Welsh Quilt it's a lovely Story.
