Honeycomb Quilt

Maintenance and Project History

History & Provenance

  • Work by: unknown
  • Date made: circa 1950. Fabrics range from 1920-1950’s.
  • Ownership History:
    • David Bailey – From October 24, 2022
    • Vendor – To October 24, 2022
    • Documented by owner.

Overall Size:

  • Length: 82 3/4″
  • Width: 71 1/2″

Top:

  • Fabrics
    • Cotton
    • Prints / Solids: Prints appear to be predominantly from the 1930’s. Some fabrics may originate in the 1950’s.
    • Shirting / Likely some feedsack
    • White
  • General Organization: Grid
    • Grid Dimensions: There are 8 columns of flowers each made from 7 hexagons. 4 columns are set with a half-drop. There are 60 total full flowers and at the edges there are 8 flowers that only present 2 hexagons each. Flowers are separated by white background fabric pieced as hexagons.
    • Block Name: The block is a hexagon that has been set in a variation of a Honeycomb pattern. This setting does not strictly adhere to the published patterns listed by Brackman.

      The closest pattern appears to be pattern 160n – Honeycomb – because of the number of rings around the central hexagon. The quilt’s pattern has a center of yellow with 1 ring of prints surrounded by a path of white. Pattern 160n has these three layers. Pattern 160g only had two layers.

      Grandmother’s flower garden is a closely related pattern but requires an additional ring of color. I mentioned the Grandmother’s flower garden here because variations of that setting specified yellow centers and a white path around the flowers.
    • Hexagons are 3″ edge-to-edge and 3 3/8″ point-to-point.
  • Techniques: Patchwork
  • Stitching Method: Hand

Back

  • Fabrics
    • Cotton
    • Solids
    • Predominant Colors: White
  • Seamed Yardage with one seam down the center of the quilt. The width of this fabric from the seam to the edges are 36 3/8 and 41.” The seam is likely has a 1/4-1/2″ allowance and the front-to-back binding is 1/2″ on the front with negligible fabric for the thickness of the batting.
  • Stitching Method: Machine

Layering and Stabilization

  • Batting Type:
    • Cotton
    • Low Loft
  • Stitching Method: Hand
  • Stitching Patterns: Quilting lines form a grid patterns that run perpendicular to each edge of the hexagon so that three lines intersect in the middle of each hexagon. This forms a grid of triangles. Each triangle overlaps 3 hexagons. I did not observe any quilting that ran in or parallel to the ditch to stabilize the seams.

Edging

  • Size
    • Front: 1/2″
  • Style: Back to Front by hand.

Workmanship / Condition

  • Original Piecing
    • Very Good
  • Original Setting
    • Very Good
  • Original Quilting
    • Very Good
  • Restoration or repair work.
    • No observable work done or needed.

Appraisal

  • No

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