Fabric Dating Kit

When you love old quilts, you want to surround yourself with them. Colors, patterns, styles...they all deserve a place in your home -- and your collection. Or do they? What if you’re not sure how old that top is. Could it really be what the tag says -- or is it a modern imitation? Is it a bargain...or are you better off walking away?

Enter Cindy Brick’s newly-released FABRIC DATING KIT, a portable reference book that includes nearly 65 pages of helpful tips, tricks and history to help you date and identify quilts and other textiles. Got a question about a specific fabric or style? The Fabric Dating Kit even has ‘Spotlights’ that put thirteen special quilt styles -- and fabrics -- under the magnifying glass, so you can learn even more.

So far, the Fabric Dating Kit could be any other quilt ID book. (It isn’t!) But we’ve added an extra that no other book has -- actual VINTAGE fabric samples! You’ll be able to touch and view more than 70 hand-selected fabric samples, dating from 1860 through the present, carefully selected to represent the popular colors and patterns of each period. As an added bonus, we’ve also color-reproduced rare fabrics from as early as 1830, as well as specialties like 1876 Centennial fabrics for your learning pleasure.

The Fabric Dating Kit comes in a sturdy pocket size designed to fit a bag or purse. It’s perfect for trips to antique malls and museums, and even includes space for your own notes and samples. Helpful features also include an extensive Bibliography, glossary of terms, and a checklist-- even common sense tools that will help your knowledge.

Think of the Fabric Dating Kit as your own portable education on old quilts and fabrics. Got only a few minutes? View indigoes and double-pinks close up, and learn more about the earliest existing quilts. Check just the time period you’re curious about -- or see how the decades influence each other, year after year. The Fabric Dating Kit was designed by a professional editor, nationally-known teacher and AQS-certified quilt appraiser, who filled it with the tips and information she learned from more than two decades of experience. You’ll be amazed at what you can learn when you have your own Fabric Dating Kit!