Navy Allendale - Ayr

Here is an Allendale quilt which came from an auction in Ayr, Scotland. Marked tops from Allendale were sent to all parts of Britain, including Scotland and Wales. The quilt is a double bed size, at 80 x 93 inches.


This quilt did not cost me much as it has been dyed navy at some point. Quilts were expensive items, and if they got stained they were thrown in the dye pot to disguise this - they certainly were not thrown away. No "throw away society" then! You can see that the colour is uneven and you can see the stain in parts. There is also a big "bite" out of the edge on one side...

The centre of the quilt is a lovely star motif -There is a central rose surrounded by diamonds - the diamonds have the traditional rose and fern as quilting patterns enclosed in them. There are also large feather motifs. Stars were a popular motif - both as a central quilting design and as the Sanderson Star,a patchwork pattern.

The edge treatment is nice - goose wings with a large corner leaf motif. A goose wing is a curved, one sided feather. It looks good in pairs, or as here, end to end as a graceful border. Swags and goose wings are the most common borders in Allendale quilts.

Another look at the large feather motif - you can see that the stitching is of a good quality on this quilt. What colour would it have been originally? White or another light colour?

A view of the edge of the quilt, showing the single line of machine stitching around the edge. This is a quilt which demonstrates some of the other major quilting designs marked by the Allendale quilt stampers.