Medallion for Jane Austen Quilt

Gotta love Reproduction Fabrics!

Have you visited Margo Krager’s ReproductionFabrics.com lately? She has some fabulous reproduction panels and they look perfect for a Jane Austen Quilt.

You can visit her site to see exactly how these lovely panels would look as a diamond-shaped medallion. Click on the panel above to go to that page on ReproductionFabrics.com and scroll down to see the choices. I sent Margo a window template, and she photographed the template on the designs.

These new panels are much prettier than earlier reproductions of the basket in the original coverlet.

ReproductionFabrics.com also has all of the fabrics you need for the other diamonds in a Jane Austen Quilt. (No affiliation.) The site is easy to navigate because everything is in chronological categories.

Jane Austen lived from 1775 to 1817, so you know where I look first!

Window Template

You can make a window template to take with you when you shop for fabric for the medallion. Jane Austen Patchwork Mystery (book on paper) and the Inklingo Jane Austen Patchwork PDF (download) both include the templates.

But. . . maybe you are a thoroughly Modern Quilter!

Modern Quilters love Jane Austen too!

If you are looking for a more contemporary design, use the instructions in Jane Austen Patchwork Mystery to make a window template and take it to the quilt shop.

If your local quilt shop doesn’t have fabric with big designs or panels, there is another place to look! Try the “Home Dec” department of your local fabric store. You will find many cotton fabrics with large designs.

I found several exciting cotton fabrics priced from C$28 to $60/meter in a local discount store.

Once you have chosen the medallion, you can use the color dots in the selvage to buy complementary fabrics for the other diamonds at the quilt shop.

100% Cotton? Compatible with quilting fabric? (Not too heavy?) Also buy enough for unpieced borders?

Dramatic, dark navy fabric.

Soft and dreamy celadon. I could have moved the window template over other flowers in this one. There were several pretty possibilities.

Chocolate background. Yummy!

Rich, black, dramatic. This is exciting!

A little bit of ivory!

If it is cotton, it is washable, but decorator fabric may shrink or bleed more than other fabrics, so wash it before you use it in a quilt! It is also important to pick something that is not thick. It should be as close to the weight of the other fabrics in the quilt as possible.

Baby Quilts?

Emma would have at least started a quilt for Mrs. Weston’s baby, don’t you think?

“Mrs. Weston, with her baby on her knee, indulging in such reflections as these, was one of the happiest women in the world. If any thing could increase her delight, it was perceiving that the baby would soon have outgrown its first set of caps.” (Emma, Ch 53)

There are wonderful bright decor designs for modern babies, like this orange lion. You can eliminate a few rows of diamonds and simplify the border for a baby quilt.

Jane Austen never married but she had dozens of nieces and nephews. Her brother Edward had eleven children and he was not her only brother! I think she probably sewed for babies.

Another Bright Idea

Kaffe Fassett (rhymes with Safe Asset) designs fabrics with huge motifs in bright colors. They are at the other end of the spectrum from Margo Krager’s reproductions. You might find one that works for a JA medallion.

It might be possible to buy less than a meter and get the motif I want to use. Stand back for a good look before deciding.

More Resources

Jane Austen Patchwork Mystery (book)

Jane Austen Patchwork (Inklingo PDF to print shapes on fabric)

My variation with drapery fabric in an earlier blog message.

There are more links in the right sidebar and you can search the archives too.

Print the rest of the diamonds and sashing on the wrong side of the fabric with Inklingo.

Print with Inklingo and Machine Piece an Heirloom

This is a great design to make by machine. The sewing machine was not invented until long after Jane Austen’s time, but the straight lines and sashing are easy to assemble by machine, especially when the shapes are printed with Inklingo—no templates, no measuring—because you have a line to cut on and a line to sew on!

“It was a plan to promote the happiness of all.” (Emma, Ch. 53)

By the way, I first learned about the Reproduction Chintz panel because I signed up for Margo’s newsletter. It is a great way to stay up to date with what’s new in old designs!

Thank you for visiting.

Linda & Monkey

New to Inklingo? Order and download free shapes and start sewing in the next few minutes. Quick Start (Always FREE.) There are triangles, diamonds, and squares in the free collection—great for dozens of different blocks.

Inklingo for Beginners

Tilde’s 15 Minute Challenge (Win $25, Draw on September 1st)

2 thoughts on “Medallion for Jane Austen Quilt”

  1. Oh you’re KILLING me here! I always forget about the Jane Austen quilt. I don’t know WHY I do because I absolutely love that quilt and it’s on my “to do someday when my evil urchins (aka my youngins) aren’t so evil and are older list.” Then you go and do this to me. *sigh* I try to avoid going to the ReproductionFabrics.com site. Why? Simply because I adore the place and my wallet screams at me “We can’t spend any more moolah right now! We must wait! Just a little while longer!”. 🙁 I love the fact that the website is set up by date too. It makes it SO much easier to find the fabrics that I need when doing a reproduction quilt. I wish that other places would get the hint. Well, no, I don’t because RF is still my fave, but you know what I mean! Ha!

    I must admit that I hadn’t thought of doing a “window template” like that though. Often the most simple and obvious of ideas are the easiest to overlook! Thank you for sharing it!

    Reply
  2. Thanks so much for the lovely walk in a fabric shop trying out different ways to make a JA quilt “your own way”.
    I love the new medallion fabric and can see a lovely repro of the original Jane quilt! I love when quilters take the time to fussy cut from their yardage…even though you end up with “swiss cheese” LOL

    Reply

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