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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