Exotic birds, such as those perched on the branches of the various motifs featured in this quilt, were popular in chintz appliqué quilts. Sources like Robert Sayer’s A New Book of Birds, published in London in 1765, likely inspired the designs.

Most of the leaves of this chintz fabric appear to be blue. This is likely due to the loss of yellow dye, which had been applied over the blue color to produce green. Natural yellow dyes were notoriously fugitive, or prone to fading, when exposed to light or laundering, In this case, it seems that the yellow dye has completely disappeared, leaving only the blue dye intact.