Manchester Blue

The right side of the fabric

At Textiles in Focus at Cottenham a few weeks ago I spotted a little sample pack of indigo dyed fabrics at the African Fabric Stand

When getting home and opening the pack, I was delighted to find lots of small samples of fabric and a little note about them.

"Manchester Blue Pack
These Manchester Blue prints come from vintage sample pieces printed in Manchester before production moved to South Africa. Most pieces are around 15-20 years old. "

The reverse of some of the fabrics

The reverse side of some of the pieces were even more exciting, with original production stamps such as "Three Fishes" and " Three Cats"  So I decided to show the reverse of  some of the fabrics in my quilt. I'm not sure that it can really be called a quilt as it will only have two layers of fabrics, more of a embroidered throw then.

Starting to lay out the patchwork of piece

I have also added some Kola Nut and Indigo
fabric in an ammonite design. I liked the contrast of colour and will add stitch in the golden brown colour to the piece.

I hand-dyed the thread to give a spaced dyed effect and I am stitching in spirals using running stitch.

I have also left the edges of the pieces raw as I want this to have a pieced and patched feel. My version of a Boro Quilt

Stitching detail

It is a lovely piece to work, I am working it in the hand without hoop or frame. It may take some time to finish but there's no rush,  I'm just going to enjoy the journey.

Happy stitching

Bev