Saturday, August 17, 2013

Queen Charlotte's Crown quilt block

Queen Charlotte's Crown
April 17, 1933-The Queen Charlotte's Crown block originated in Charlottesville, Virginia which was named in honor of Queen Charlotte of England, wife of George III.  Do you see the pair of crowns?

"In the migration of this pattern to Kentucky the name was changed to "Indian Meadow" and in Kentucky was "almost as popular as in it's home city" explained Nancy Cabot in her Chicago Tribune column.

A tutorial for making the Indian Meadow block can be found here.  It's for a 15" block but there is a good explanation of how the pieces get sewn together.  You can download my paper piecing pattern here.







This is how I made the Queen Charlotte's Crown block:

These are the pieces of my paper pieced pattern-

The parts get sewn together like this-

Before adding the half square triangle blocks, mark the seam allowances like this-

Sew to your mark like this-

to make two halves like this-


To sew these pieces together, I started in the middle and sewed from seam to seam before sewing each side as shown below.

You could also start at one end and sew to the seam allowance and then pivot the fabric around to line up your center and then pivot again at the end of the center section to line up the last edge.

Here's another way to make the block which is easier in some ways but made differently than Nancy Cabot presented it.  The tutorial is for a 10" block.
Here's a quilt that is linked to the tutorial also.  I love it!


Tomorrow- Windblown Daisy


5 comments :

  1. me gusta!! la colcha esta preciosa
    saludos

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  2. I would be interested in where you quoted your information on this quilt block. It did not originate in 1933. It is documented in Ruth Finley's book Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them that was published in 1929. If the quote is by Nancy Cabot she copied it word for word from Mrs. Finley's book on page 79.

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  3. The information is from Nancy Cabot's Chicago Tribune column published on April 17, 1933. I'm not saying that it originated in 1933 just that Nancy Cabot wrote about it that day. Nancy Cabot was selling patterns for the newspaper. She often gave a little history of the block when introducing her patterns. That's interesting that she would have copied without citing the source.

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  4. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. It is refreshing!! I know the block was once very popular here in Virginia. Mrs. Finley's book sites the nine-patch block to prior to 1770 and originating in Virginia (with no other specific location) honoring the last Queen of America. Since finding the block in Mrs. Finley's book several years ago I have been somewhat taken by it's history and by that of Queen Charlotte. More than one place is named for Queen Charlotte in the Commonwealth of Virginia but I have never come upon any earlier documentation (before 1929) that actually cites Charlottesville as the place of origin. I would very much be interested in finding that written down somewhere. Happy quilting!!

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  5. As a side note I think you would love Ruth Finley's book. I have seen it on the internet for as little as $2 and as much as $35 for a first edition. Either price or anywhere in between it is worth its weight in historical information.

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