Medallion

Immigrants to America brought framed medallion style quiltmaking techniques across the Atlantic with them. These quilts were a favored style from the 1780s through the early 1800s. Appliqué was dominant on medallion quilts until the latter 1700s.

Medallion is the first piecing technique and it was an extension of the Broderie Perse technique. Border strips were cut from chintz and hand sewn onto a center block to which a motif was appliquéd. Smaller blocks may also have been cut and sewn as corners. Some early fabric manufacturers specifically designed panels to be used in the center of medallion quilts. Smaller panels were printed often in rectangular or oval shapes. In some cases these medallion panels were cut apart with sections of the original panel put in various parts of the quilt. For example the curved corner pieces could be cut out and appliquéd to the 4 corners of the quilt. The smaller panels could be cut apart and appliquéd one after another to create one of the many borders of the quilt. Modern panel and attic window quilts were inspired by medallion quilts.

Not all medallion quilts were square, some were made with cut out corners to fit on a four poster bed. Most of the surviving examples of this method are from North Carolina and other southern seaboard states.

We're not into rotary cutting, yet and the home sewing machine hasn't been invented either.

Tools from the Whole Cloth and Broderie Perse pages.