Color Crush: The Quilt Was There First
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Time to read 7 min
Long before oxblood, olive and chartreuse became fall’s favorite shades, women were stitching unexpected combinations into quilts. We look back at the colors, patterns and craftsmanship of antique textiles with SHAPEAU founder Dr. Lauren Shapiro.
Long before we were calling a shade oxblood, chartreuse or the color of the year, women were piecing together unexpected combinations of red, green, yellow, blue and brown.
For Fall, we’re looking back instead of forward. Why does faded red look so good against olive green with a little mustard yellow? How can a quilt hold ten colors we’d never think to put in the same room, yet somehow feel completely right?
Maybe our grandmothers understood color theory better than we gave them credit for.
To explore the idea, we turned to Dr. Lauren Shapiro, founder of SHAPEAU, who transforms antique quilts into one-of-a-kind clothing. An emergency physician and self-taught designer, Lauren has studied hundreds of vintage quilts, developing an appreciation for the unexpected combinations and craftsmanship that make each one unique.
What began as a conversation about fall’s favorite colors became something much more interesting: a look at what generations of quiltmakers can teach us about trusting our own eye.
“Vintage quilts have taught me not to be afraid of color and maybe more importantly, not to overthink it,” Lauren says.
“The women making these quilts weren’t necessarily sitting down with a perfectly curated color palette. They were often working with what they had: scraps from clothing, feed sacks, leftover fabric, or pieces that held some meaning to them. And somehow, colors that you might never intentionally put next to one another work beautifully together.”
There’s something wonderfully freeing about that. Rather than beginning with a carefully curated palette, many quilts came together from what was available, what had been saved and what someone thought looked beautiful together.
A scrap of pink beside a deep red. Mustard next to turquoise. Chocolate brown meeting an unexpectedly bright green. The result? Pieces that still feel remarkably fresh generations later.
“I think that has really influenced the way I approach SHAPEAU. I’ve learned that color doesn’t always have to ‘match’ to belong together. Sometimes the unexpected color is exactly what makes a piece interesting. After looking at hundreds and hundreds of quilts, I trust my eye much more and worry a lot less about the traditional rules of what is supposed to go together.”
It’s a philosophy worth borrowing, whether you’re getting dressed, decorating a room or standing in a field at Round Top wondering whether the piece you love will work with anything you already own.
Fall’s Favorite Colors Have a History
Oxblood. Olive. Chartreuse. Tobacco brown. Mustard.
They’re the shades catching our eye in interiors and fashion this fall. They’re also colors Lauren has encountered repeatedly in antique textiles.
“We call these colors ‘trends’ when they come back into fashion, but then I’ll pull out a quilt that is 100 years old and there they are.”
She’s found deep burgundies, tobacco browns, olive greens, mustards and surprisingly vibrant greens that we’d happily call chartreuse today.
Of course, age and fading can change how we perceive a textile’s original colors, but the palettes themselves are hardly new.
Brown has become a particular favorite, both for its richness and its relative rarity among the quilts Lauren sources.
“I especially love finding brown quilts because they’re much harder for me to source in good condition, and the tobacco and chocolate tones feel incredibly relevant right now. But there is something funny about calling a color in an antique quilt ‘on trend.’ The quilt was there first!!”
She’s right. The names may change, but the colors have been here all along.
Before Oxblood, There Was Turkey Red
Even the names of antique quilt colors have stories to tell. Turkey red. Madder brown. Lancaster blue. Fugitive green. Cheddar orange. Indigo.
Lauren brought up these wonderfully specific names when we began discussing the colors found in antique quilts.
Some refer to historic dyes and dyeing traditions, while others are names historians and collectors use to describe particular colors and fabrics.
Turkey red was prized for its brilliance and colorfastness. Madder dyes produced a range of warm reds and browns.
Cheddar orange brought a distinctive punch to nineteenth-century quilts, particularly in Pennsylvania German textile traditions.
Fugitive green tells a different story. The term describes greens susceptible to fading or changing over time. In some antique textiles, the original green has shifted toward blue or tan as components of the dye faded.
Lancaster blue is associated with blue prints found in quilts from Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County region, while indigo has a much longer history as a source of rich blue color.
It’s fascinating to think about the vocabulary surrounding these textiles. Cheddar orange sounds almost impossibly current. Turkey red and madder brown could fit comfortably into today’s richer fall palettes.
The terminology has evolved, but our fascination with color hasn’t.
The Combinations That Shouldn’t Work (But Absolutely Do)
Perhaps the most interesting thing about studying antique quilts is discovering how fearless their makers could be with color.
Lauren has found chocolate brown beside bubblegum pink, red with lavender, mustard paired with turquoise and acidic greens mixed into otherwise traditional palettes.
On paper, some of these combinations sound questionable. In an antique quilt, they’re often the very thing that makes you stop and look.
“I’m constantly surprised by how fearless some of the color combinations are. You’ll find chocolate brown next to bubblegum pink, red with lavender, mustard with turquoise, or a really acidic green mixed into otherwise very traditional colors. On paper, some of those combinations sound like they shouldn’t work, but then you see them in a quilt that is 80 or 100 years old and they look completely intentional and incredibly current.”
Take red and pink, for example.
Once a pairing Lauren might have avoided, it’s now one of her favorites after seeing it repeatedly in antique textiles.
“At one point I probably would have thought they were too close or that they competed with each other, but I see that combination constantly in old textiles and now I love it. The same goes for brown with bright colors, or mixing several different shades of the same color rather than trying to match them perfectly.”
There’s a lesson here for anyone who loves a collected home.
Not everything needs to share the same undertone, come from the same era or look as though it was purchased together. Sometimes the piece that seems slightly out of place is precisely what makes everything else more interesting.
“Quilts have almost taught me that the slightly ‘wrong’ color can be the best color in the entire piece. It gives your eye somewhere to go. Perfection can sometimes be a little boring! The unexpected combination is often what gives an old quilt its personality!”
Consider that permission to stop searching for the perfect match.
Ten Colors, One Beautiful Quilt
Of course, there’s a difference between an unexpected color combination and a composition that feels like everything is competing for attention.
How can antique quilts incorporate five, six or even ten colors without becoming overwhelming?
According to Lauren, the answer often comes down to shape and repetition.
“I think shape and repetition are what create order. You can have ten completely different colors, but if they’re repeating within a recognizable pattern—a star, a ring, a flower, a square, your eye understands the structure before it even processes all of the individual colors.”
Traditional quilt patterns like Lone Star, Double Wedding Ring and Grandmother’s Flower Garden offer structure for an extraordinary range of fabrics and colors. Repetition gives the eye something familiar to follow, while negative space allows the composition to breathe. It’s a principle that extends well beyond the quilt.
A repeated color, a familiar shape or a common thread between otherwise unrelated pieces can make a room feel collected rather than chaotic.
For Lauren, understanding how color and pattern work together is also essential to the way she designs for SHAPEAU. When transforming antique quilts into clothing, she considers not just the fabric itself, but where the original patterns and colors will fall on the finished garment.
“That has actually influenced the way I design with quilts at SHAPEAU. I’m always thinking about where the pattern falls on the garment and which part of the quilt I want your eye to see first. You aren’t just cutting fabric, you’re essentially reframing someone else’s artwork. The shape of the garment becomes a new frame for the shapes and colors that were already there.”
Each piece begins with an existing composition, one made by someone else’s hands, and becomes something entirely new without losing its history.
The Case for Following Your Eye
There’s a particular kind of magic in finding something at Round Top that you weren’t looking for.
Maybe it’s a quilt with an unusual combination of colors. A painting that introduces a shade you never imagined bringing home. Or a piece of upholstery that makes you reconsider everything you thought you knew about a room.
The best finds don’t always fit neatly into the plan. Sometimes they change it. That’s what makes Lauren’s perspective so compelling. After studying hundreds of antique quilts, she’s learned to trust her eye rather than worry quite so much about what is supposed to go together.
“That is one of my favorite things about antique quilts. I’ll find something made generations ago and think, I would wear that color combination today. It’s such a good reminder that great design really is timeless.”
It’s also a reminder that inspiration doesn’t have to begin with a trend report. Sometimes it starts with a piece of fabric that has already lived a hundred years.
“Fashion has a way of convincing us everything is new, while these quilts quietly remind us that so much of great color and design has already been explored. We’re just finding new ways to see it.”
The next time you find yourself drawn to an unexpected combination, don’t worry too much about whether it goes.
The quilt was there first.
