Patchwork Quilt – 160 years to complete?

Just in time to coincide with the V & A Quilt exhibition, this quilt is finally ready for a bedroom. Found, unfinished, with a fascinating collection of stiffening papers which appear to include copperplate handwriting exercises and children’s drawings we wonder whether this could be the work of a Victorian nanny or governess. Many of the very finely printed fabrics are exquisite and in very good condition both fibre and colourwise. Carefully setting to the task of completing the almost finished, handsewn work we found the most tiny, deftly applied stitches holding the patches together. The finished article measures 205cm long by 230cm wide and is backed and edged in handwoven silk dupion. A handsome addition to Tinsmiths’ collection of vintage quilts on display in the shop.