Jane Varrall
VICTORIAN ROYALTY MEET INDIAN CHIEFS
Inspiration
On my 2019 quilting tour of Rajasthan we were invited to the home of an antique quilt merchant.
I was amazed by the incredibly rare embroidered pieces he threw from his cupboards, including an ancient, tattered Commemorative Quilt – the 1875 meeting of Edward Prince of Wales, Princess Alexandra and Indian Chiefs.
It was apparently printed on silk in Manchester: my British Museum’s research failed to find the printer: construction definitely Indian.
Tragically this museum-worthy piece was floating away, rotting, disintegrating before my eyes. I had to capture the moment myself and offer you an historical snapshot – a fragment!
Materials and techniques
The central picture - hand painted onto silk crepe.
The Royal portraits and Indian Chiefs scene – coloured using steam-fixed silk dyes.
The ‘antifusant’ technique creates clearer tones, giving a graphic quality. Bold black Gutta outlines the flower swags and banner lettering.
The disintegrating, faded fragility of the Indian antique silk quilt is represented by ripped, distressed, ragged Fragmented areas and edges.
Bold Doupion borders with roughly hand-sewn cotton fabric appliqué diamonds.
A representation of the original quilt with two sides only bound in yellow silk, other edges are ‘raw’.
The centre is Free Machine Quilting using defining rayon threads
Click on image to enlarge
On my 2019 quilting tour of Rajasthan we were invited to the home of an antique quilt merchant.
I was amazed by the incredibly rare embroidered pieces he threw from his cupboards, including an ancient, tattered Commemorative Quilt – the 1875 meeting of Edward Prince of Wales, Princess Alexandra and Indian Chiefs.
It was apparently printed on silk in Manchester: my British Museum’s research failed to find the printer: construction definitely Indian.
Tragically this museum-worthy piece was floating away, rotting, disintegrating before my eyes. I had to capture the moment myself and offer you an historical snapshot – a fragment!
Materials and techniques
The central picture - hand painted onto silk crepe.
The Royal portraits and Indian Chiefs scene – coloured using steam-fixed silk dyes.
The ‘antifusant’ technique creates clearer tones, giving a graphic quality. Bold black Gutta outlines the flower swags and banner lettering.
The disintegrating, faded fragility of the Indian antique silk quilt is represented by ripped, distressed, ragged Fragmented areas and edges.
Bold Doupion borders with roughly hand-sewn cotton fabric appliqué diamonds.
A representation of the original quilt with two sides only bound in yellow silk, other edges are ‘raw’.
The centre is Free Machine Quilting using defining rayon threads
Click on image to enlarge