Cording and trapunto

For this series of six quilts with the theme of Time I have decided to look at the history of patchwork and quilting,

mainly in the UK, through the last 600 years – starting 1400 and moving forward by around 100 years for each quilt.

Each piece will be based on quilts styles from the relevant century that can be seen in UK museum collections.

I plan to work with the basic style each time and create a new version using modern fabrics and sewing methods.

So I will be using old design ideas with the added element of time travel. To link the 6 quilts together they will all

include flowers in some form within their design. Each quilt will stand alone and the overall journey through time

will hopefully be clear when all 6 are shown together when the series is complete.

This first piece in the series is based on a quilt from around 1400 currently in the collection of the V and A museum

in London. The quilt is not British in origin but shows styles and techniques widely used in Europe at that time.

Materials used were linen and cotton in beige and brown and, of course, all stitching was done by hand.

I have adapted a section of the quilt design showing flowers and stems outlined in backstitch then stuffed and with

the background quilted in a “serpentine” pattern. My time travelled version includes cording and trapunto, rayon

threads for colour and is completely machine stitched. I have used free motion stippling to update the serpentine.