Timeless Toile: Terrific Quilts, Pillows Purses

Toile (pronounced twal) is a French cloth or linen that originated in the village of Jouy-en-Josas near Versailles, southwest of Paris. Starting in 1760, the Jouy factory printed original designs from woodblocks but later began to use copperplates as well. Typical Toile motifs often tell a story, including in them vignettes of rural life, msot often pastoral scenes, but also included historical events, military victories as well as mythical themes. Toile was very popular with the French royalty. It was so popular, in fact, that by 1782 the factory in Jouy owned a hundred different drawings for printing toile. When the Napoleonic Wars started, clients and suppliers began to decline and in 1843 the factory closed. Some new prints are still made using old drawings. Toile prints are very popular today and we are seeing many beautiful quilts using these. Red and Blue prints seem to be most popular, with medallions quilts taking full advantage of the beautiful scenes on the fabric. Roxanne Rentzel From the time Roxanne made her first quilt in 1984, she was hooked. Today she owns and operates the Carriage House Quilt Shoppe in Plano, Texas. Designing and making Toile quilts for this book was a labor of love. Toiles are one of her favorite fabric designs and Roxanne loves making quilts that look like antique ones. In fact, she has replicated several of her antique quilts using reproduction fabrics. Her love of antique quilts and quiltmaking keeps her always looking for ways to assure that this art form remains strong.…