Grandmother Clark’s 1931 Quilt Booklets

A Time Machine on Paper

I found a small quilting booklet dated 1931 called Grandmother Clark’s Oldfashioned Quilt Designs, Book No. 21. It is only 16 pages, but it is the kind of little paper treasure that can send a quilter down a research rabbit hole before the bobbin even has a chance to run out.

The booklet was published by W.L.M. Clark, Inc. of St. Louis, Missouri, a company that sold needlework booklets, quilt patterns, templates, and pre-cut fabric pieces during the early 20th century. Antique Pattern Library describes the related Grandmother Clark quilt booklets as stapled booklets with traditional patchwork patterns and pattern pieces shown at what appear to be full size. Book No. 21 fits right into that world: practical, compact, and meant to help a homemaker make something useful and pretty without buying a modern quilt pattern as we know it today.