Bird of Paradise Details

My first blog began with my project recreating the well-known Bird of Paradise "quilt". At that time there were a number of people who were making a version of that work from a commercial pattern, calling their versions the Civil War Bride Quilt. Since the famous version had never been finished, nothing made in modern times can be a completely faithful reproduction unless it is also left incomplete, but the modern versions added modern touches and changed the arrangement of blocks. I wanted mine to be more faithful.


I drew my own patterns from a photo taken when the Whitney Museum owned the quilt. Mine is slightly larger to fit a double bed--that Renaissance Revival bed that is in many of the photos on this blog (16 inch blocks versus 15 inch blocks). As I drew and made each block, I saw more and more details in the original that were not immediately apparent. The woman who made that top was interested in all the flora and fauna around her, both the domestic and the exotic. The leaves in each block fit whatever flower or fruit is shown in the block. So there are clearly oak leaves, and rose leaves, and cherry leaves, and chestnut leaves. The block arrangement follows a design that I do not know the name of but which can be seen frequently in European decorative painting and tile work. So there is a central area that is tied together even if the blocks vary, surrounded by more vertical block arrangements, followed by the border. The unknown woman also copied animals she knew of that achieved some fame including Hannible, the elephant, and the race horses that she named and put in her quilt. Although her top was never finished, it remains an iconic piece of American folk art. Making this quilt entirely by hand was both a challenge and a joy.

When I made this quilt I changed very little in the blocks basic components but I did use my own fabric choices for the elements that had been made completely of one small print cotton. Since these didn't fit the rest of the quilt, I chose to make them in fabrics that fit the pieces and that blended with the other fabrics in the original.

 

In the original top, these vultures are all one color, a yellowed tan with a small reddish pattern. I made my vultures more exotic even though I didn't change her basic pattern for the birds--those clunky legs. 

These fabrics are as close as I could get to the original. I fussy cut the fabric for the birds' head feathers as the original person did as well. These birds were sitting in an oak tree.

These redwing  blackbirds were sitting in a chestnut tree. If you look closely you can see that the eggs are about to hatch--maybe that's why the birds are singing.

One of my favorite blocks is one of the most memorable in the quilt. The elephant's name is known from other historical references about life in upstate New York prior to the Civil War. The incredible details in the quilt include three dimensional elements as in the trainer's rope, along with inked and painted elements such as the nameplates for the horses and the man's face. The mystery includes why the trainer has a heart embroidered on his uniform.

 There are horses all over the quilt. Some of the horse in the border are ridden by odd little men in odd little poses. Because the original maker did not finish the quilt, it was my choice as to how to quilt and bind this.I chose to quilt diagonal lines one half inch apart across the background and to outline and detail quilt the various elements. I made red piping and then a double French bias binding. I still have my hand drawn patterns if anyone wants a big challenge--it took me 19 months.