Bridal Wreath Quilt

Unlike many of the quilts in this collection, Dorothy Rankin appliqued and sewed this quilt by creating the pattern herself from a standard she saw published.

Red binding contrasts with a green calico frame on this quilt. An inner frame of plain red cloth, further contrasts.  The central motif of the quilt is composed of 30 squares, five across by six down. Each square contains a heart at all four corners, with the hearts points facing outward.  A leafy wreath encircles a four-leaf clover made of heart shapes.  The wreath’s leaves are made from the same calico as the framing. Some squares are sewn on cream colored fabric, others in blue. The white squares are arranged to form an X shape when the quilt is seen as a whole.  The reverse of the quilt is green calico.

The vibrant reds, greens and blues of the applique harken back to 19th century quilts. This wreath and heart pattern, sometimes referred to as the Bridal Wreath pattern, is also an old one. It bears much resemblance to a type of quilt first made popular in the era between 1840 and 1860, with examples like the Rose of Sharon and Wreath of Roses, however in a Bridal Wreath the flowers are, appropriate to the name, composed of hearts.

This quilt pattern is referred to in Marguerite Ickis’ The Standard Book of Quilt Making and Collecting, published in 1949 and reprinted in 1959 by Dover Publications. It may have been the source of Dorothy’s pattern.

The Standard Book of Quilt Making and Collecting, Marguerite Ickis, Peter Smith Publishing: Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1949.