glendoralynn

I am a new quilter but, I am fascinated with the blocks of the underground railroad. I think these blocks are a great way to learn and teach our country's history plus,your making a wonderful quilt! my problem is that I don't know the original colors to use? any suggestions?

Jeanniejo

Eleanor Burns has a great book Undergroung Railroad Sampler. It shows the colors as well as great block construction directions. I got the book for Christmas from my DH and am starting to built a stash of civil war repo fabrics so I can get started on it..

glendoralynn

that book sounds interesting keep me in the loop ok

raptureready

Just to fore warn you. There may be a lot of people on here that don't believe in the underground railroad quilt story. (there's been LOTS of debates in the past) DON'T let it discourage you. It's a wonderful legend.

Underground Railroad quilts are usually made with Civil War reproduction prints but one of my sisters made a beautiful one using various train prints.

CoyoteQuilts

Here is El's site for the book and it is at the lowest I have ever seen it:

http://www.quiltinaday.com/shoponlin...er&i=1497&pg=4

Here is a site for the 'Civil War Quilt' from the expert of the era, Barbara Brackman:

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/

For the fabric pick any of your favorites of the 1800's and they will fit. Here is a couple links for sites that sell these:

http://www.bearpawquilting.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi

http://www.bonniebluequilts.com/default.aspx

http://www.quiltbook.com/CivWarRepo.htm

http://www.trinityquilts.com/categor...category_id=45

http://www.reproductionfabrics.com/shelf.php?ID=39

http://www.this-n-thatfabrics.com/cg...tore/store.cgi

http://www.shopvintageandvogue.com/c...tore/store.cgi

cmw0829

This is a topic that fascinates me and I'm eager to start reading about the history of the underground railroad.

We have several homes in my town which were part of it and my sister was telling me last night about two buildings in Burlington, VT that had tunnels running between them. (Turns out one was later converted to a fraternity house and the other to a sorority house in which she lived. The tunnel was used for midnight visiting.) She also told me that the underground railroad ran from Burlington to Canada. I had no idea.

I've seen these quilts and - despite any argument about the authenticity of the blocks - they are great.

lynn_z

Fabric Depot in Portland carries a huge line of repro fabric. Usually the word repro offends me but I actually have some Civil War squares and went to FD to match it up so I can put them all together. They don't offer much online but here are a few on sale now....you can email them, also, and they may help you find colors.

http://www.fabricdepot.com/index.php...ng=civil%20war

Jamiestitcher62

I bought the underground railroad book. It's really neat and there are pages of label headings that you can copy on to labels to organize all the pieces and fabrics.

I thought the story was true and wasn't aware that it was just a theory. Hmm, I guess you live and learn.

Annaquilts

Since the setting was in the 1800's, Civil War reproduction quilts are a natural choice but I have seen many different ones including some made with 1930's reproduction fabrics. The above mentioned Quilt In A Day book is wonderful and will teach a new quilter many techniques in the process.

ckcowl

i made one in 1800's reproduction fabrics and one in 1930's fabrics...both turned out wonderful...the 1800's one is closer to what they would have been though. i have a friend who used thimbleberries fabrics for hers and that one is beautiful too!
the elenor burns book shows good pictures and fabric samples