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A century in miniature
"I certainly made quilts for my dollhouse, so you can say I started in miniature and now I am returning," Ratcliffe said.
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"I loved antique quilts and when they started getting very popular and rising in price I decided I'd like to make them myself and make them look like old quilts," Ratcliffe said.
Ratcliffe found the quilts she wanted to emulate were those patterns typical of the 19th century.
"I always use 19th-century designs an patterns ... and I try to use colors and patterns and fabrics typical of the 19th-century quilts. The difference is my quilts could be washed. They are not as fragile as antique quilts, but they would have that wonderful aura of old quilts," Ratcliffe said.
As time passed, she created quilts for every size -- from cribs to double beds.
"Quite literally I did have a storage problem, and as I thought about that, I realized that the graphics and the vibrant colors of old quilts would translate beautifully into a small-scale artwork that's famed and enjoyed all the time. Someone said that somehow when you reduce these things to their tiniest parts they just really pop. You leave out the dull parts and they are even more lively and exciting," Ratcliffe said.
Ratcliffe said the process also varies, that the construction is different since the stitcher is dealing with such extremely small pieces.
"There are some patterns that you can't do on the small scale. It's just impossible. You have to consider what fabrics will work and what will show up graphically that will be an interesting enough design that will present itself well as a framed piece," Ratcliffe explained.
While there are other quilters who do small pieces, Ratcliffe thinks she is the only one who takes the scale to one-quarter-inch pieces.
"Because you have to be slightly crazy or you just love to do it. I've always loved to do miniatures," Ratcliffe said.
Her prices run anywhere from $350 to $800. This includes the hand-painted, hand-grained frames
To date, she said, she has made "probably two to three hundred miniatures.
"I think the thing to stress is -- and I try to do this with my customers - that they are unique because they are all based on actual 19th-century quilts. They're not reproductions. They are translations of 19th-century quilts. And at the fair I will have an example of an old quilt and miniature to compare. That is the unique thing, and I try to have a representation of the whole 19th century in terms of the earliest quilts to the late 19th century. It was a very exciting century for quilts, a lot of changes," Ratcliffe said.
Contact the writer at ecarlton@timespapers.com
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