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This wholecloth quilt is typical of many which were made by the ladies of the church guilds in Hawick, a small town in the Scottish Borders, as fundraising initiatives during the 1920s, to rebuild St Andrew's United Free church following a fire.
Collection of Carolyn Gibbs
Hawick Hearts
White wholecloth quilt from Hawick with distinctive hearts design.Click on image to see the full quilt.
Characteristic heart motif
This heart motif is 9 1/2" across, and features the spiky centre reminiscent of a thistle.
Heart template
This wooden template belonging to the Quilters' Guild Museum Collection, shows the characteristic heart shape.
The layout has similarities to North Country quilts made in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century - a central motif within unlined borders.
The central motif consists of four of the distinctive heart motifs with a spiky centre. Along with smaller daisies (or gowans), these are set into a large background area of square diamonds.
The inner border is formed from double rows of swags (also known as hammocks). Careful inspection reveals two different corner treatments - all are neat, but perhaps not as originally planned!
Characteristic "gowan" (daisy) motif
This is another motif typically found on Hawick quilts, where the daisy is often known by it's Scottish name "gowan".
Good corner treatment
This section of the double swag border turns the corner in a balanced and integrated way.
Adapted corner treatment
The quilter has needed to adjust the way the double swags turn this corner.
The outer border again uses the large hearts.
Outer border: hearts
The large hearts are used again for the outer border. Note the butted corner.
Butted edge
A single line of machine stitching secures a butted edge - usually there would be a second line of stitching 1/2" away where the hand quilting stops
Linda Lane Thornton wrote a research paper about Hawick quilts in Quilt Studies Issue 9.
The Quilters' Guild Museum Collection includes two Hawick quilts; one made by Janet Pow, and another one in Black and Pink. More Hawick quilts can be seen in a blog by Pippa Moss on her website
