English Flexible Framing (EFF) with Jenny Bear

About this event

This is Jenny’s somewhat irreverent name for English Medallion or English Frame quilts that often started out with no overall plan in mind. There is an excellent and well-researched chapter about them in Quilt Treasures 1995, a book documenting a search by The Quilters’ Guild for quilts and other domestic textile articles that demonstrated the historic character and artistic skills of ordinary British folk. The book is an absolute treasure. Please bring it, if you have it, to Jenny’s workshops (full reference given below). She will be bringing, as many as she can carry, several examples of quilts of this nature. The workshops are designed to be flexible as per the nature of the quilts she will bring. Patterns (payable to Jenny on the day) will be available for, at least: Charlotte Thornton of Mirfield, a scaled-down version of the cover girl quilt in Quilt Treasures and made by one of the Thornton sisters (Hannah, Elizabeth, Sussanah and Margaret). Charlotte is fictitious but the name was coined to honour Jenny’s friend in the USA (Charli Thompson) who gave her the antique border fabric that she used in her interpretation of the quilt. £15 Mary Armitage in Cumbria, a quilt combining elements from the Mary Armitage Coverlet of 1787 (in the collection of The Quilter’s Guild) and the Grove Documentation Quilt (a name coined by Di Ford Hall for the double-sided coverlet in Quilt Treasures pp 34-35).