Old Soldier’s Rose Quilt
The Old Soldier’s Rose quilt is not a well-known design in its own right, but it relates to a perennially popular genre of quilt design: the rose quilt. These quilts featuring a repeating stylized rose motif, typically in pink or red, with leaves and other elements radiating from the center of the block. Sometimes they involve roses arranged in a wreath. They are typically on a plain white or cream background, and may or may not have borders between the blocks. Sometimes these are appliqued, and sometimes pieced - the Expo ‘74 example was appliqued.
There are dozens of variations of rose quilt blocks, and dozens of names. The “Rose of Sharon” is a consistently popular name, as its biblical allusion never goes out of style and its theme of romantic love fits well with this quilt’s traditional role as a gift for newlyweds. Other well-known variations include the Whig Rose and Democrat Rose. Although there is a long tradition of political quilt block designs, the Whig and Democrat rose labels appear to have been applied retroactively to these blocks in the 1910s. Quilt historian Barbara Brackman discusses the names in more detail on her blog here.
As with many quilt trends, the rose quilt’s popularity followed a fifty-year cycle - first widespread in the 1860s and 1870s, experiencing a revival in the 1920s and 1930s, and just on time for a third wave when Expo ‘74 came around.
The “Old Soldier’s Rose” variant of this design is not a common one. It appears to have originated in a quilting pattern book from Tower Press printed in 1970 (P-145, Volume 3). This may indicate that the Old Soldier’s Rose was chosen because the pattern was already in the collection of one of the quilters involved in planning the Expo ‘74 quilts, rather than for any specific resonance with the themes of the fair. A rose quilt of some sort was a natural inclusion, and this one may have been the pattern closest to hand. It is also a relatively simple design compared to some rose quilt blocks.
Although interesting to read, the historical background given in the Tower Press book should be regarded as apocryphal. Trade restrictions on the American colonies limited access to the type of fabric needed for applique quilts. Most American quilts from the late 1700s and early 1800s were simple pieced patchwork quilts made from clothing scraps and other leftover fabric. Textiles remained relatively expensive until the industrial revolution, when access to affordable cotton fabric and sewing machines changed quiltmaking from a practical chore to an art form. The rose quilt’s first wave of popularity corresponded with the invention of synthetic red dye in the mid-1800s, which made red and pink fabric much more affordable for the average American quilter.
I have found photo evidence of only one finished Old Soldier’s Rose quilt other than the one created for Expo ‘74. This was created by Jean Funderbergh of San Jose, California in 1976. A comment on the “Plain Needlewoman” blog from 2015 indicates that this quilt is currently in the collection of Eileen and Bernie Donnelly. Note that the artist here has highlighted the different centers of the “petals” by using white fabric, rather than blending them in with a similar pink fabric like the Expo quilters did. She has also alternated her rose blocks with plain blocks, leaving more white space in her version of the pattern.
