Showing posts with label vintage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vintage. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

New from Old: Quilts from Vintage Linens!

Are there any precious vintage blocks or linens in your cupboard? Here are some fantastic quilts made with reclaimed vintage materials. We love the way in which these quilters honored the materials and handwork, bringing them back to life. 

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Vintage Fiesta by the Pam Snow Group (Pam Snow, Marion Stearman Skaggs, Agatha Despain Stearman, Flora Warren DeSpain & Various Artists), quilted by Pam Snow. 

Vintage Fiesta was inspired by Rhonda Cox Dort's online vintage linens classes.  The quilt is made from a variety of vintage pieces including table linens, embroidery, quilt pieces, stamped items and a vintage hankie.  The center block is Saucy Senorita by Jane Tenorio Coscarelli.

Spring Morning by Carol W. Carpenter, quilted by Kris Neifeld.  

How lovely to see the cross-stitch embroidery in this quilt! Donated from the estate of Maggie Mullins, the embroidered blocks remind us of a bygone era. Carol Carpenter says, "The modern floral fabric and settings add additional richness to the original blocks and I was delighted to create something special from Maggie's handwork."

1939 Nosegay by Kathryn Bramley Clark and Katrin Bramley (d. ~10 years ago) 

Kate Clark made Nosegay from blocks originally made by her mother. Kate says, "The squares were hand pieced by a 16-year-old in 1939. Nine years later she became my mother. Complementary fabric was found, enabling these rediscovered squares to become a quilt using an original square set and machine quilting design." The choice of border fabric is brilliant!  Also check out Kate's machine quilting, which created a bouquet (in dark thread) on top of the pieced bouquet.


 Seeing Stars by Katherine O' Brien, quilted by Penny Boese.  


This is such a cool quilt! Katherine O'Brien found the antique string stars at an antique shop (in Mesa, Arizona). The block setting was inspired by the book, Smashing Sets: Exciting Ways to Arrange Quilt Blocks by Margaret J. Miller (out of print, but sometimes available on eBay).  The alternate square blocks were pieced using vintage fabrics.

detail, Seeing Stars


 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Tucson Quilters guild show (Nosegay, Spring Morning) and the 2025 Quilt Arizona show (Vintage Fiesta, Seeing Stars.) 

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Out of the Blue: Outstanding Blue-and-White Quilts

Quilters have long used the color blue to symbolize trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. These new and antique blue-and-white quilts revisit the chosen gems that celebrated the 45th anniversary of the International Quilt Festival. 

p.s. Please see our E-Bay shop for great bargains on patterns and vintage collectibles. For continuous free quilt patterns and blog updates, please visit us on Twitter.

Blue Hawaii, IQF Corporate Collection. 

Blue Hawaii was hand appliquéd and machine quilted. The quilt top was donated to the Texas Quilt Museum in 2015 by Karen K. Buckley. The unknown hand appliquér was clearly an expert in her craft; check out the tiny, even stitches in the closeup photo, below.

The top was quilted by local Houston longarm quilter Ellen Happe Phillips. Echo quilting was selected to complete the quilt in the traditional Hawaiian method.

Early Indigo Trapunto, IQF Corporate Collection. 

This quilt is circa 1876, the 100th Anniversary of the American Independence. It was hand pieced and hand quilted. It is pieced in such a way that it looks more like a woven blanket than a quilt. The intricate hand piecing and outstanding hand quilting shows just what an expert needle artist the maker was. 

 

Carpenter’s Square, IQF Corporate Collection.

The indigo and white Carpenter’s Square is distinguished by an unusual diagonal block. Constructed by hand and machine, the quilt features double-line hand quilting in a windowpane pattern.

Indigo Sunburst, IQF Corporate Collection. 

This quilt block design is known by various names – Sunburst, Sunflower, Compass Rose, Mariner’s Compass, etc. The research shows that this 14-block point is unusual because of the number of points. Indigo Sunburst was hand pieced, hand appliquéd, and hand quilted. 


T-block variation, IQF Corporate Collection. 

This T-block variation is hand pieced, appliquéd, and quilted. The setting for this quilt is “T” blocks with an appliqué border. The appliquéd border is 11 inches wide with four cornerstones; we love the frilly motifs, which soften the angular shapes of the blocks. The appliqué motifs are a combination of a modified tulip or pomegranate with cutouts in the center of two large leaves. 


Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2022 International Quilt Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Free pattern day! Trip Around the World quilts

We are pleased to introduce another Free Pattern Day! Trip Around the World quilts are traditional Amish patterns in which the design is made with small squares of fabric that are arranged by color to form concentric rings.  To go to a pattern: Scroll down the page until you see the quilt you like, then click on the words "CLICK for PDF download" (or the hyperlinked website name) in the title above the quilt. 

Please check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on jewelry, clothing, and collectibles. For continuous free quilt patterns and blog updates, please visit us on Twitter.

Vintage View – Mennonite Mosaic quilt, ~80" square, free pattern by Elizabeth Musser Weber for McCalls Quilting (CLICK for PDF download)


Woven Fragments quilt, 60” square, free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)  

Soleil quilt, ~60” square, free pattern by Katarina Roccella for Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)  

Pick Up Sticks quilt, 60” square, free pattern by Kim Schaefer for Andover Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download

Occasion placemats, free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Amplify quilt, 65” square, free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download

Beauty Sheen quilt, 74 x 56”, free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Bullseye quilt, 68” square, free pattern by Ruby Star Society for Moda Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download


Celebration quilt, 78” square, Valori Wells, free pattern at Robert Kaufman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download


Checkmate quilt, 69 x 81", free pattern at Wilmington Prints (CLICK for PDF download)

Classic Large Throw Quilt, 66 x 72", free pattern at Wilmington Prints (CLICK for PDF download)

Diamant Quilt, 75 x 87”, free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)


English Countryside quilt, 60 x 72", free pattern at Maywood Studio (CLICK for PDF download)


Flaunt quilt, 85” square, free pattern by Bari J for Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download


Flowers from France quilt, free pattern by Elise Lea for Robert Kaufman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Garden Path quilt, 94” square, free pattern at RJR Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download

Girlfriends quilt, 52 x 54”, free pattern by Marsha Evans Moore (CLICK for PDF download)

Happy Garden quilt, 82 x 98”, free pattern by Kona Bay Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Let’s Dance quilt, 82 x 92”, free pattern by Wendy Sheppard for Anthology Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)


May Meadows quilt, 75 x 87”, free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download

Nightfall Quilt, 61 x 66”, free pattern at Maywood Studio (CLICK for PDF download

Pollen and Petals quilt, 74” square, free pattern by Sarah Campbell for Free Spirit Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)


 Quietude quilt, 60" square, free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download

Rainbow Flight quilt, 66 x 72", free pattern at Wilmington Prints (CLICK for PDF download)


Scrappy Trip quilt, ~58” square, free pattern at Robert Kaufman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download

Spontaneous quilt, 90 x 99”, free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download

Sweet Balance quilt, 87 x 99”, free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download


Trip Around France quilt or table topper, 39" square, free pattern by Janet Page Kessler for Benartex (CLICK for PDF download)


Trip Around the Rainbow mini quilt, ~16 x 19”, free pattern at McCalls Quilting (CLICK for PDF download


Trip around the World baby quilt, 40 x 46", free pattern by Susan Emory for Michael Miller Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Trip Around the World quilt, 57" square or 81" square, free pattern at Robert Kaufman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download

Trip Around the World quilt, 80" square, free vintage quilt pattern by RJR Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download


Tropical Swing quilt, 54 x 68", free pattern by Wendy Sheppard for Anthology Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download

Baltimore Square quilt, ~80” square, free pattern by Debra Finan for Windham Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)  

Vintage View – Philadelphia Pavement quilt, 86” square, free pattern at McCalls Quilting (CLICK for PDF download)

What a Trip quilt, 55” square, free pattern at APQS (CLICK for PDF download)

Image credits: Note:  This post was updated on February 12, 2026.  Individual images are copyrighted by their owners. Please respect their generosity in sharing their free patterns, and the restrictions they have placed on the use of these designs; complete information can be found at the designers' websites provided in the links. The photo montage shown on this page is a derivative work that is the property of Quilt Inspiration. If any links are broken, we'd love to know so we can fix it. Please email us at QuiltInspiration {at} gmail {dot} com.

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