(pictures from Colby, Quilting, p5-7)
100 BC to 200 AD - Floor covering found in a Scytho-Siberian tomb.
The center section is quilted in an interlocking spiral pattern of both large and small spirals. It is stitched in back stitch. Variations on this spiral pattern are still in use in quilting today.
The center is surrounded by two borders. First, a smaller border is made up of a repeating pattern of interlocking geometric shapes which are echo quilted in a running stitch and outlined in back stitch. Then, a second, larger border is quilted in running stitch in a cross hatch or diamond pattern. Trees and pairs of fighting animals are appliqued around this border and are outlined in back stitch quilting.
A wide binding is found at the edge of the quilt.
This quilt is of particular note because the techniques found here are still in use during the Middle Ages indicating that even though we don't have many surviving examples, techniques and patterns used here didn't change much between this quilt and it's later counterparts in the middle ages.
source: Quilting by Avril Colby, p 5-7.
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