Double Irish Chain Quilt

Datec. 1904

DimensionsOverall: 177 x 203 cm

Credit LineGift of Miss Louise Wyatt, London, Ontario, 1978

Object number1978.016.062

Label TextEuphemia “Effie” Van Camp Wyatt made this cotton double Irish chain quilt. Quilting historians believe the pattern comes from the intricate designs itinerant Irish weavers created in their coverlets. These bed coverings made their way to North America and quilters created patterns from them. Did Effie choose blue and white because she liked that colour combination? Or did it have greater significance for her? As the daughter of an alcoholic father, she might have chosen them as temperance colours: blue for water and white for purity. In a Monday, April 18, 1904, diary entry, Effie wrote: “I finished piecing my Irish chain quilt. There is so much to do that I wonder when it will ever get quilted.” But it did. The small blue and white squares feature quilting stitches in the shape of an X inside a square. The larger white squares have been quilted in a crosshatch pattern.

NameQuilt

CopyrightPhoto Credit: Alex Walker