Blue Hill Fabrics™ is pleased to present the first series of new fabric collections born from our allliance with the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.  A true gem from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum archives, the original Birds in the Air quilt comes from the collection of Lydia Skinner.

Lydia Mitchell was born in Maine, somewhere around 1820, and became the second wife of William Skinner, a mariner who ferried timber harvested in Maine to New Jersey. William was prosperous at the time of their marriage and went on to become quite wealthy. The couple moved to New Jersey and had 12 children. One of their sons was killed in the Civil War, at the battle of Williamsburg.

The use of oil often caused Turkey red fabric to be described by vendors as "oil boiled" - and quilters loved it. Turkey red was a luscious color, it didn't fade, and it didn't bleed; without it, the elaborate red-green applique quilts of the 1840-75 period would have been an impossibility. But it was expensive. Even after synthetic reds were introduced around 1875, Turkey red "oil boiled calico" sometimes cost ten times more.

The term “turkey red” actually refers to the actual dye process used to produce the brilliant, vivid and incredibly colorfast cool red. In the early 1800s, turkey red grounds featured chrome-yellow, green,blue and black overprints. Large scale paisley prints and small repeated motifs were also popular designs.

Wrappers were the casual dresses the women wore for everyday activities. Made to suit the season in either cotton or wool, this comfortable dress was high necked with long sleeves and a free-flowing body. Less fitted than more formal dresses, the wrapper didn’t require hoops, corsets, or bustles, was easy to make, and could easily be adjusted for maternity wear. The style was practical and enduring in popularity and suited women of all ages, including young girls.

As with any dress goods, after the garment was completed, the leftover pieces went into a scrap basket, eventually joining other scraps to make quilts for the family.

Victorian Christmas II by Sara Morgan   1890-1900

Following the Puritan ban on celebrations, it took nearly 200 years for Christmas to once again become an important event. Many of the things we most love at Christmas, such as sending cards and pictures of a fat, jolly Father Christmas or Santa Claus, date back to the Victorian age. The Christmas tree became popular, as did gift shopping in big stores.

Children in Victorian England had the task of writing greetings to their parents in their very best handwriting. Occasionally, adults took on the time-consuming task ofwriting Christmas letters to each other. The printed Christmas card solved this problem.

We’ve known Sara Morgan for her incredible reproduction fabrics, but now she wows us with this exciting contemporary collection, Swing!

Full of happy colors, whimsical paisleys, retro squares and funky florals, this collection offers lots of possibilities for fun craft, quilt and home decor projects.

Imagine a bed full of colorful pillows with matching quilt...or an exciting wall hanging...a showstopping tote bag...this versatile collection is perfect for whatever you can dream up.

Bright, bold colorings and happy flowers make this collection a must-have! Grafig Trafiq, known for their flirty, fun and funky designs, wows us again with this newest addition to the Blue Hill Fabrics family!

Available in 3 popular colorings, contemporary quilters are sure to delight in the endless possibilities of projects that will appeal to all ages!

Historically, reed pens, quill pens, and dip pens were used with a nib of some sort to be dipped in the ink. The writing instrument that dominated for the longest period in history (over a thousand years) was the quill pen, introduced around 700 A.D.

The quill was a pen made from a bird feather. The strongest quills were those taken from living birds in the spring from the five outer left wing feathers. The left wing was favored because the feathers curved outward and away when used by a right-handed writer. Goose feathers were most common; swan feathers were of a premium grade being scarcer and more expensive. For making fine lines, crow feathers were the best, and then came the feathers of the eagle, owl, hawk and turkey.

Looking for beautifully elegant holiday fabrics that will last throughout the year? Holiday Heritage II is just the collection!

Sara Morgan's special holiday fabrics feature a sophisticated twist with soft gold vintage florals, sheet music motifs and a large paisley border print that you will find dozens of uses for!

These beautiful fasbrics were inspired by the relief printing technique in printmaking known as “wood cut”. In Europe, Woodcut is the oldest technique used for old master prints, developed somewhere around 1400 when paper techniques were used for printing on cloth.  The process of wood block printing is sometimes considered to be the most artistic and the earliest, simplest and slowest of all printing techniques.

In this process, a design is drawn on or transferred to a wooden block. A separate block is required for each color in the design. Because fine details are so difficult to cut in wood, they tend to wear down quickly or break off in the printing process. The block cutter carves the heavier masses first so that the finer, more delicate work is not damaged during the carving process. Because the printing process is usually done by hand, it yields beautiful, unique and highly artistic results.

We tend to think of quilts from the Civil War era as full of blues, grays, blacks - generally dark colors. These fabrics, reproduced from a quilt of the same name in the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum collections, is a cheerful exception.  Most of the fabrics in this quilt date back to 1860-1880, although RMQM believes the black ombre may have been a little earlier. The vibrant green color in the small-scale prints was obtained by an overdyeing process popular at that time. The other prints, although typical of the time period, are somewhat rare finds: the dark red with blue and brown, the double pink with machine ground, turkey red with chrome yellow, and brilliant Prussian blue. It is these beautiful fabrics that inspired Blue Hill Fabrics™ to re-create a vintage collection that would appeal to both traditionalists and contemporary quilt artists.

Although "dry goods" as a term for textiles, ready-to-wear clothing, and sundries has been dated back to 1742 in England, the term was actually more popular here in the United States.  Dry Goods were usually found in stores during the Civil War specializing only in those products - consumer goods that were distinct from those carried by hardware stores and grocery stores – a type of specialty store. General Stores began to carry dry goods as well when they realized the money-making potential of the items.With fashion magazines emphasizing mourning attire,the demand for mourning veils and black yard goods increased. Not just the “fashionably attired” women were concerned with matters related to dress and textiles; dry goods had a prominent part in every sector of the war from the battlefield to the homefront.  Uniforms had a dramatic impact on the war effort. When the war broke out, state volunteer regiments on both sides marched into battle wearing an array of colorful uniforms which, although impressive to look at, resulted in great tragedies of mistaken identity.

Early Finery, c. 1845 by Roberta Benvin

Several decades subsequent to the declaration of our nation’s independence, we were still reliant upon France and Great Britain for many of our commodities, most certainly for the majority of the textiles that were available to women for their household needs. Only the affluent could afford to purchase quantities of quality material; others had to make do with smaller amounts and either cut up or recycle them to maximize their usefulness. 

Blue Hill Fabrics™ is pleased to present the first series of new fabric collections born from our alliance with the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.  The Ohio Star collection is based on a true gem from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum archives, from the original collection of Lydia Skinner.

Lydia Mitchell was born in Maine, somewhere around 1820, and became the second wife of William Skinner, a mariner who ferried timber harvested in Maine to New Jersey. William was prosperous at the time of their marriage and went on to become quite wealthy. The couple moved to New Jersey and had 12 children.  Lydia was an ardent abolitionist, and she was known to have made several quilts that were sold to raise money for the anti-slavery movement and later for the Union Army.