I thought you might like to see some pictures of this lovely old patchwork quilt I came across in an antiques market in London. It is an English quilt dating from the late 19th Century and was intended to be used as a bedcover, although this one was actually never completed.

People are naturally curious about how antique textiles were made. Unfinished articles such as this quilt can often give us a better insight into the techniques used than finished articles.

Patchwork Quilts were made from thousands of tiny pieces of material that were cut out individually and carefully sewn together to form intricate patterns. They were usually made from the oddments of material that any needlewoman of the time would have in her 'piece bag'. This bag would contain materials left over from other needlework projects such as making dresses or furnishings.

Victorians considered it a virtue not to waste anything and the expression 'Waste not, want not' was in frequent use. (Some of us still believe in this today!) Patchwork was both decorative and functional, so was an ideal way for a young woman to demonstrate what a fine needlewoman she was and at the same time what a frugal housewife she would make if anyone cared to marry her!

Although this quilt is very attractive it does not have the most intricate design I have ever seen. It is, however, fascinating for a number of other reasons. 

When trying to find the age of any antique one of the first things you should ask is how it came into the possession of the owner. You need to find out the history of the object; where it originally came from. We call this the 'provenance' of the object.

However you may then have to take the answer 'with a pinch of salt' as we say. This means you should have some doubts about what they say!

I don't mean to imply that they will not be truthful, but if the quilt has been owned by one family for a long period of time, memories can become confused. The owner will sometimes produce an old letter which states that the quilt was made by a relative for a particular occasion. If the letter was written at the time the quilt was made, then this may be accurate, but often the letter has been written by the next generation and is just based on a story that has been passed down in the family.

Of course, you may be lucky and find that the maker of the object has signed it and dated it. It is always worth looking carefully to see if an object is signed. It is easy to miss the obvious!

The materials used can  also give us lots of valuable information.

Two good indications of the age of a quilt are its design and the material used. Different designs were fashionable at different times and can sometimes be a rough guide to age.

The materials used can tell us a lot about the age of the quilt. One thing to bear in mind however is that the material used may have come from garments that had been in the piece bag for a considerable length of time, so that the quilt is a lot more modern than the materials used.

The materials in this quilt seem to be British in origin. By the 19th century there was a large industry in England manufacturing printed cottons like these. It may be possible, if you have the time and inclination, to research the materials used and gain accurate dates for when they were manufactured. Laura Ashley, when she started her clothing company, apparently used to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and look at old pattern books. You can see the Victorian influence in her fabrics.

As you can see from the picture this quilt is made from a large number of hexagonal-shaped pieces of material. The shapes would be cut out in cardboard first (using a small metal 'template' to make sure they are cut out all the same size).

Then each piece of material is cut out slightly larger than the cardboard piece and fixed to the card with large tacking stitches. The pieces are then joined together with finer stitches.

Normally the tacking stitches and cardboard would then be removed but this quilt was left unfinished and the cards remain.

The cards themselves are fascinating. They appear to be cut from 19th Century letters. The faded ink and type of writing are typical of the period. I would love to take them all out and examine them. Perhaps some fit together. The words in the lower right of the picture say ' dear Mother'. I am sure they would reveal some fascinating information! 

The floral designs, spots and stripes are very typical of the Victorian period. 

If  you look carefully you can just see a number of  these small motifs stitched into the border of the quilt. They give us a very obvious hint as to the age of the quilt. Small motifs like this one were made specifically to be incorporated into quilts and other needlework projects. This one is celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria  in 1887. Her Golden Jubilee commemorates 50 years on the throne.

In fact Queen Victoria then went on to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in 1897 when she had been Queen for 60 years. She reigned from 1837 to 1901, which makes her our longest reigning monarch so far. 

Our present Queen, Elizabeth II has been Queen since 1953 so she has also celebrated her Golden Jubilee.

Here's an important clue in our hunt for the date of this quilt. It is a postmark from an old envelope. It was posted at a place called Gerrards Cross (just to the west of London) on January 15th 89. This means 1889. Of course this indicates that the quilt could not have been made before this date.

So what do we conclude about this quilt? All of the information we have examined seems to indicate that the quilt was made in England at the end of the 19th Century, probably around 1889.

As is often the case we can only make a guess, but I feel happy that this is accurate  in this case as we have lots of evidence. In any case it is a beautiful object that it would be a pleasure to own!