1860s Quilted Checker Board

Dear Sis,

In recent months, I made a cloth doll for Charlotte to take reenacting. I made a mental note that I wanted to make a period toy for William too, but I wasn’t sure just what it would be.

Last weekend, while I was backing Evelyn and Grant’s cross-stitched baby quilts from Great Grandma Cooper and whipping up a world map wall quilt for Grant’s new big boy room, I had to stop in the middle of my sewing projects to play checkers with William.

He is always looking for someone who will join him for a checker match. During our game, we hatched an idea. Wouldn’t it be neat it to make a quilted checker board?!

1860s Quilted Checker Board

Storage Bag Dimensions (10 x 14 inches)

Board Dimensions (19 inch square)

Materials

3/4 yard reproduction quilting calico (for backing and storage bags)
1/3 yard RED reproduction quilting calico (for red squares and boarder)
1/3 yard BLACK reproduction quilting calico (for black squares)
24 inch square of cotton batting
cotton thread to match backing fabric
24 (1 1/2″ x 1/8″) wooden disks
black, gold, and red acrylic paint
2 yards cotton cord

Cutting

Black Squares – 32 (2 3/4 inch) squares
Red Boarder – 2 (1.5 inch) strips from the cut edge, cut on the fold to make 4 strips
Red Squares – 32 (2 3/4 inch) squares
Backing – Cut along fold line, set aside one piece for backing, use other half to cut storage bags.
Checker Bag – 7×16 inch rectangle
Storage Bag – 17×22 inch rectangle

Piecing

Note: I used a sewing machine for piecing the checker board, but you may piece it by hand if you wish. Regardless, use small stitching and 1/4 inch seam allowances. Press all seams open before moving on to another step.

Seam Placement One: Place a red (R) and black (B) square together, right sides facing. Stitch together. Repeat with remaining 31 pairs.

Seam Placement Two: Place a R/B rectangle face up. Place a B/R rectangle face down on top of it. Stitch together. Repeat with remaining 15 pairs.

Seam Placement Three: Place a R/B/R/B rectangle face up. Place a B/R/B/R rectangle face down on top of it. Stitch together. Repeat with remaining 7 pairs.

Seam Placement Four: Place a 2×4 rectangle face up. Place a 2×4 rectangle with alternate color pattern face down on top of it. Stitch together. Repeat with remaining 3 pairs.

Seam Placement Five: Place a 4×4 square face up. Place a 4×4 square with alternate color pattern face down on top of it. Stitch together. Repeat with remaining pair.

Seam Placement Six: Place a 4×8 rectangle face up. Place the other 4×8 rectangle with alternate color pattern face down on top of it. Stitch together. Checker board seams are complete.

Boarder Seams (Top & Bottom): Place checker board right side up. Aline and pin boarder-strips on the top and bottom edge, right-side down. Stitch together. Trim away excess length.

Boarder Seams (Sides): Place checker board ride side up. Aline and pin boarder-strips on the sides, right-side down. Stitch together. Trim away excess length. Piecing is complete.

Layering

Place backing panel wrong side up.
Center and smooth batting over backing panel.
Center and smooth checker board quilt top over batting.

I like to place curved safety pins in a staggered pattern around work to keep layers from shifting during top stitching, because it is fast. Alternately, you can hand baste the layers with large running stitches.

Top Stitching

Top stitch along each seam row from top to bottom and left to right, starting in the center and working your way outward. Remove safety pins that are no longer needed as you work. I did switch to hand sewing for the remainder of the project for a more period appearance, but you may do as you wish.

About an hour in, I had to reach for my thimble. Top stitching through so many layers can be rough on the finger tips:)

Binding

Trim batting so that it is the same length as the quilt top.
Trim backing so that it approximately 1 inch longer than the quilt top.
Turn raw edge under approximately 1/2 an inch. Then, fold over the edge of the quilt top. Pin in place.

Secure with hand whip stitching. Quilted Checker Board is complete.

Making Checkers

Paint at least 12 disks black and at least 12 disks red on one side. We painted 14 of each, so we can loose a few and still play…lol. When dry, paint the other side and edges. I had helpers:)

To make the crown for the king side of the checker, I used a 1 inch round cookie cutter to stamp them on in gold paint.

Although not a necessary next step, we highly recommend testing your checker game with a quick match. William was eager to oblige!

Checker Storage Bag

Step One: Create a 1/2 inch rolled hem on each 7 inch edge, and machine stitch 1/8 inch from the edge to create draw string channels.

Step Two: Place rectangle right-side up and fold to bring the bottom edge in line with the top edge. Secure each side seam with 1/4 inch seams, leaving the rolled hem unstitched.

Step Three: Turn bag right-side-out. Cut cord in half securing all the ends with knots to keep them from unraveling. Attach a safety pin to one end of the cord to help feed in through the cord channels at the top of the bag. Knot free ends together. The checker storage bag is complete.

Game Storage Bag

Step One: Create a 1/2 inch rolled hem along one of the 22 inch edge, sand machine stitch 1/8 inch from the edge to create draw string channels.

Step Two: Place rectangle right-side up with rolled hem at the top edge and fold from the side until all edges match. Secure along the bottom and side edge with 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Step Three: Clip corner, and turn bag right-side-out. Attach the other prepared cord to a safety pin to help feed in through the cord channels at the top of the bag. Knot free ends together. The game storage bag is complete.

Game Storage

Fold quilted game board in half, then roll it up. Place game board and checker storage bag into storage bag. Enjoy your 1860s quilted checker board set!

A Historical Peak into 1860’s Checker’s

Hey Sis,

Your checker board is awesome! I recently asked on the Civilian Civil War Closet about checkers. I was curious if there were any historical quilted checker board patterns, or originals in collections. Unsurprisingly, I did find that handmade game boards were a thing! Here is pattern in Peterson’s 1864 for a Chess Table. Chess and Checkers were often played on the same board.

Janet from the Button Baron posted this image into the discussion, as well as an original she owns that is similar. I asked her if that was two books, because sure is what it looks like. And, she said that her’s were Titled the Hist. of Africa, and the pieces for game went inside. So, I guess the books were hollowed out for storage.

Another lady had actually seen quilted boards, but they were on blankets, or tablecloths! Another person mentioned that soldiers would paint them on their groundcloths. The ones that were quilted from soldiers, where usually made from wool uniform scraps. Here is a picture, and here is a link to that.

So, I didn’t find any originals like yours. But, definitely some very lovely handmade boards were created and used! I look forward to playing checkers with William!

~ Jamie

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1860’s Afghans

If you have ever considered making your very own historical afghan, here are some patterns that may catch your eye. All of these patterns were published in period magazines between 1858-1865. Most are simplistic in nature, and worked in smaller portions that are stitched together. There are period patterns for both crochet and knitters alike! However, almost all of these crochet afghans are worked in Tunisian or long hook crochet.

Knit Pattern – From Godey’s 1858. This is the only afghan pattern I have seen thus far made of cotton! As you see, they call it a quilt. I’ve seen multiple names for afghans include quilt, afghan, blanket and carriage wrap.

Crib Cover to Knit Peterson’s 1860 – I made this blanket for my daughter, and have a modernized free version of it here.

New Design for Crochet Afghan -Peterson’s 1861

Crib Cover to Knit – Peterson’s 1861 This is just a picture. There is not written pattern

Carriage Wrapper to Crochet – Godey’s 1862

Carriage Wrapper Godey’s 1862

Traveling Blanket in Crochet – Peterson’s Magazine 1862

Velvet Ribbon Afghan – Godey’s 1863

Velvet Ribbon Infant Blanket Godey’ 1863

Baby’s Carriage Afghan in Crochet – Peterson’s 1865: I made this afghan for my son. You can access the free modernized pattern here

Links to Raverly and our Historical Closet

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Quilting for Your Kids

Dear Sis,

My craft closet got a good clean out this past week. That is when I realized I still had not backed the cross stitch baby quilts Dad’s mom made for your kiddos. I stopped at the quilt shop to find perfect calico for the job. I hope you like how they turned out!

Grant’s Quilt

Eve’s Quilt

Grant’s Wall Quilt

Since my winter visit, when we personalized your kids rooms, I’ve know I wanted to make a wall quilt for Grant! It will go with all the colors in his room and help add color to that big blank wall across from the bed! Besides every homeschool family needs a world map somewhere:)

I top stitched all the longitude lines.

I can’t wait to see it hanging on the wall in his room:)

Love,

Godey’s Volume 71, July-December, 1865

Dear Sis,

This is the final post in our ladies book pattern campaign!

Fancy Crochet Trim

Mitts to Wear Over Gloves in Knit

Lady’s Jacket in Crochet

Little Girl’s Knit Cape

Fashionable Earrings

Handle for a Riding Whip in Crochet

Notes: I made this for a friend, whom is a period rider. Unfortunately, I didn’t write down the pattern at the time. But, hopefully these notes will be of some assistance.

- Take a 2 – 2.5 inch piece of elastic. Cut it long enough to fit over hand, and rest nicely or a little loose (as you are going to crochet over it) at the wrist.
- Sew the elastic together, with some long stitches. I didn’t overlap my elastic, I didn’t want a chunky feel. So, I did some long stitches that smashed the two edges together. Don’t sew close to the edge, because that wouldn’t hold.

Take silk lace yarn, and double crochet a band that is big enough to stretch over the widest part of your hand. Make it twice as wide as the elastic. You can work in the round, or sew it up the side.
Fold in half, put in the elastic, and do a single crochet row to close the band over the elastic.
Swap colors, and do a row of single crochet and chains that are a size you like.
Single crochet the next round, putting enough stitches into the chains for a nice look. Make sure you have an odd number of stitches in the chains, as you need a center stitch for the chevron.
Over the next few rows, you are going to do a chevron. That means 3sc in the center stitch of the loop that you made from the chain. Then you are going to crochet three stitches together in the valley. The last stitch of the chain loop, the sc between it and the next loop, and the first stitch of the next chain loop. Repeat row as many times as you like.
Make a simple braid or other style of cord that isn’t particularly stretchy. Tie the center of it into one of the loops. Add tassels to one end.
Godey’s 1865 Crochet Handle for Riding Whip