Vintage Series IV - Dresden Plate and Snowball

Welcome back to the carriage house!  Today we're going to go inside to see how my friend has renovated a tiny room into her art studio.   While there we'll take a peek at two quilts from my vintage collection: a Dresden Plate and Snowball.

The popular name for the first quilt, Dresden Plate, reflects the romance of the Victorian Era with its love of elaborate decoration on household items and décor. 

Dresden, Germany was a center of 19th century romanticism movement in art, one that included the fine decoration of porcelain. The plates were embellished with elaborate design using flowers, fruits and foliage. The beautiful plates would surely have been admired by women of the early 20th century.

The Dresden Plate quilt pattern was one of the most popular quilts made during the 1920s and 30s. It was first published in the 20s but not always under the name Dresden Plate. Grandmother's Sunburst, Friendship Ring, Aster, Dahlia and Sunflower are all names associated with this pattern.

This quilt is made of blocks with fabric appliquéd in a series of radiating "petals" with flat sides, radiating from a central circle which is more representative of a flower than a plate.

A few Dresden Plate quilt blocks are made with a smooth outer circle. More often the ends of the "petals" are rounded or pointed. Occasionally the pointed and curved forms are combined. 

Next; the Snowball pattern, which is one of the best-known of all Amish quilt blocks.  The one featured here is an early 20th century charmer.

The Snowball pattern is one that fools the eye by creating an optical illusion. From a distance, a snowball block looks like a round circle, but it is actually an octagon, an eight-sided figure.  

Close up, you can easily see that the snowballs are easily formed by taking a square of cloth and sewing a triangle across each of the 4 corners.  

Here I've zoomed in on the backing, which shows the feathering detail I've quilted in and around each snowball.  This quilt was fuuuuun to quilt!

For those of you who are anxious to see what this studio looks like without the quilts, I've included a shot.  It's how my friend spends some of her summer days. 

It aptly illustrates that whether we create using a medium of paint, food, words, clay or fabric, all women need to connect the beauty within to the beauty without.  

So, go create!