August 4 – 6, 1997
These restored messages come from the Quilt History List, an online forum where quilt historians, collectors, researchers, appraisers, and enthusiasts discussed antique quilts and related textiles. The archive dates from 1996 through approximately 2016 and is being restored gradually. Sign up in the form at the bottom of the page if you want to know when a new page is added. Original spelling, opinions, formatting, and inactive links may remain unchanged.
Primary topics of this QHL Digest:
- The Oral History Debate — Members debate whether Underground Railroad quilt-code stories qualify as reliable oral history or as well-meaning folklore, comparing it to the Washington’s cherry tree legend.
- A Mystery Pink Quilt — A member describes an unusual solid-color pink/lavender/raspberry quilt bought at auction and asks for help dating and attributing its regional origin.
- Skeptical Book Review — A tongue-in-cheek review of a newly published “Instant Expert” quilt-collecting guide questions its claims about quilting’s medieval origins.
- Tracking Down the Dahlia Pattern — Several members trade sources for a Dahlia quilt pattern, including a book title and a source willing to share a photocopy.
- Log Cabin Cleaning Tips — A thread on cleaning techniques carries over from the previous digest, including tips on removing residue from irons. (see the article on cleaning antique quilts)
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 1997 11:45:55 -0500 | From: Maury Bynum
I am of the impression that most of man’s early history has come down to us in the form of “Oral History”! Doesn’t “Black Centers” apply? Maury Bynum
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 16:51:57 -0400 (EDT) | From: Quiltfix [at] aol [dot] com
I don’t believe it. I bought another pink quilt Sunday. Walked into the auction and saw two quilts and a blanket on the wall. When I got closer, the blanket turned into a spectacular, mostly appliqued/reverse appliqued summer quilt. The others were batting for new quilts. I eventually bought the stunner.
But I am at this point unable to give a “Circa” to it. I know, sounds really weird coming from me, but I cannot comfortably decide if it’s a 20th century quilt, or if it is a 19th century piece.
This quilt is made entirely of solid-color cotton fabrics. Four colors – white, pink, lavender, and raspberry (not wine/burgundy). That’s where my first and main difficulty comes, because I don’t have any fabric patterns to go by.
There are four block patterns, different but similar in design. The block starts with a 12″ raspberry square, which is bordered with two 2″ borders, one pink, one lavender. Then, on top of the raspberry of all twelve blocks (set on square, 3 by 4 blocks) is a white border, 2″ wide. There are small designs (running v’s, soemthing that looks like a tiny variant on the orange peel pattern, butterflies (X’s?) that run in double rows along the white border, each motif being *REVERSE* appliqued to the raspberry. Then every block has a dog-tooth border on the inside of the white, teeth facing the raspberry, in lavender. They are not separate triangles, but one continuous piece running around the edge and appliqued down. The base design on the remaining raspberry is variants on “daisies”, three rows of three, in lavender and pink . Some are six petalled, some four. All have a center circle, the circumference of my fingertip, in a contrasting color.
The kicker after all that is this: every block (around it’s double border) is sashed with running diamonds, in the colors, on white. All appliqued !
Single two inch border, pink, on the sides. Top and bottom have pink-lavender- pink borders. It is not bound, but the edges of the top and back were turned in. No batting at all. The backing is pink. The quilting consists of parallel lines, 1/2″ apart, running the length of the quilt, not including the top/bottom borders. They are quilted the same, but perpendicular to the rest of the quilting.
The lavender is not bright, but very grayed. The pink is not the bubblegum pink of the depression era. All the fabrics seem to be inexpensive greige goods. No wear, though. This quilt is in excellent physical condition, just dingy.
Oh, the quilting thread is basically pretty thick, and the pink color is not regular. The thickness of the thread is also variable, from the thickness of three strands of embroidery thread, to as thin as sewing thread. Is the thread possibly hand-spun?
The quilt is very folk-arty. It feels Penna Dutch. Also Mennonite. Also Amish (very unlikely). Also African-American. Also kind of like a mola. See why I’m so confused?
At this point I have no provenance. The quilt was on consignment. The auctioneer didn’t know where it came from. I plan on asking if he’ll put me in contact with the consigner.
I’m of a mind that it is dated somewhere just the other side of 1900, and from the Lancaster Co., PA area. This is instinct, and I’ve learned not to ignore it.
I was so anxious and excited yesterday, I was trembling (it’s how my friends know there’s a “find”).
And NO, I didn’t get a deal. I paid much more than I expected (two to three times average) – that’s what happens when a rich woman with decent instincts, but no real knowledge, decides she wants the quilt too, and doesn’t really care if the price is sort of high. The plastic was smokin’ !
Any ideas? I’m really at a loss here. I have started looking in books for similar quilts, but haven’t seen anything like it, although the one or two non-Amish, Lancaster Co. quilts I’ve seen have the right *feel*. I will definitely bring it to Omaha next month. I think I have quite a find, and very possibly a true, one-of-a-kind piece.
It also does not have the feel of traditional red/green patterns, nor the 30’s applique patterns.
Pam, Teddy, and other appraisers – have you seen something like this? How about you, Maury?
Alan
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 1997 11:57:09 -0400 | From: Diane McGuire
If any of you missed the November issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine, try to borrow one or send for a back issue. It has the most spectacular example of Burgoyne Surrounded. It is actually reverse the usual red on white coloring. It is called “The Scalping of Jane McCrea.” Jane was murdered on the morning of her wedding day, and her death, as ordered by Gen. Burgoyne, rallyed public sentiment against him and inspired many volunteers to fight the British.
One side of the quilt tells the story of Jane McCrea in words, symbols, traditional blocks, copies of documents, etc. the reverse is a white on red (ranging from slightly orange to red/purple) of the Burgoyne Surrounded pattern with a flying geese border of red triangles on white pointing to the words “Burgoyne Surrounded” at the bottom.
I saw the quilt at the Vermont Quilt Festival two years ago. Almost everyone who saw it could just stand in front of all that blood red fabric and cry. The only other art that has ever inspired such strong feeling for me was when I went to Westminster Cathedral and saw poet’s corner (as an English teacher, I have taught most of the works of those represented there).
The quilter was Connie Fraser who wrote the article for the magazine. I still gets chills just looking at the picture. What a testiment to the power of quilts!
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 17:17:51 -0400 (EDT) | From: Baglady111 [at] aol [dot] com
In a message dated 97-08-04 10:07:21 EDT, you write:
Julia, how odd that you mention the coverlet patterns..it does indeed make reference to it being a woven coverlet quilt as well..I just did’nt mention it in the post..You have a keen eye..Jane
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 20:26:59 -0400 (EDT) | From: CToczek [at] aol [dot] com
And yet another thought on intentional mistakes:
In John Irwin’s book, *A People and Their Quilts*, the same source for the baby-care piece I quoted, he liberally shares the myths and folklore of quilting…i.e. the intentional mistakes. Several photos present the intentional mistakes and it is well within the realm of believabiltiy that the mistakes were *on purpose.* Some seem very obvious, like a bear’s paw with two backwards toes…or even more obvious, a bear’s paw quilt of a single overall print and only four blue toes.
I would agree that the *myth* of intentional mistakes in quilting may well have started when one woman declared, “Oh, I meant to do that!” However, it may also be true that what began as a joke or a *cover-up* later caught on as *the thing* to do…like the blue bear’s paw toes in Irwin’s book. Or could it be that what was a joke in one generation became the gospel in another?
Carla in West Texas where it finally rained in the wee hours this morning
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 1997 19:58:50 -0700 From: Diane Lockwood
Margaret Garland, who is on a couple of other lists that I am on has a fantastic web site resource page. She’s entered links on her page to hundreds of quilt related subjects. And, of course, each of those links has links. Those of you who do extensive research may find many of the links useful. If you know of some that she should add, please let her know.
The URL is: http://mh101.infi.net/~cookee/Cottonpatch.html
Happy Webbing!
Diane
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 23:49:31 -0400 | From: “R. Shink”
I was delighted that you news came through as I am in the middle of studying a quilt made to commemorate the vetrans of the civil war and I did not realize until someone at the re-enactment of the Civil War at our old fort in Montreal pointed it out. I had just clued in to some of the discussion and am still perplexed. One of the curators at the museum looked at the picture of the quilt and said that the black centers would tie in with Harriet Beacher Stowes book about Uncle Sam -Log Cabin. I am not great on history so not sure of the dates. This adds another slant to the discussion. The quilt I am studying was not finished until 20 years after the war so I can go along with B.Brackmans theory that black centers were used after Lincolns death. Was his death the reason they switched to black centers. Does Brackman read this list or should I write her directly. I trust you are going to Kansas. Diane
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 09:48:07 -0400 (EDT) | From: CATHYANNE [at] aol [dot] com
Thanks for the nice messages from each one of you re: my adoption search and 49er birthday quilt. I am answering each of the private E-Mails I’ve recieved and will be glad to share info on how I searched.
Now to quilting. My Aunt Leota in Oklahoma is looking for a quilt patten. It’s the DAHLIA. Could you share where I might find this pattern for her? I saw a picture of it in the fall 1984 Quilt book that my grandmother used for the 49er quilt. There was a picture but no pattern.
I go to the library often. Perhaps you could suggest a book I might find the pattern in, or a magazine.
Thanks again, CATHY ANNE [at] aol [dot] com Portland, OR
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 10:05:04 -0400 | From: Merry May
For Jean Ann (& others!): The fee for Global Priority depends on where the envelope is being sent. Also, the $3.75 fee is the minimum charge for the SMALLER envelope (about 6 x 9″). The minimum charge for the large envelopes (the 9 x 12s) is $6.95. They do usually go through very quickly, though – I mailed an order out to a lady in New Zealand, and she had it in only 3 days! (I can’t even send something across the U.S. in that amount of time!) As someone who deals with shipping on almost a daily basis, I just wanted to clarify this for you all.
Now, for the flaws (again)… on my second large quilt, I made a boo-boo in piecing a Road to California block… one section somehow decided to turn itself around when it was being pieced. I didn’t notice the error until I was quilting it, and I was NOT about to rip everything out and fix it at that point!! So, in order for people of future generations to NOT misconstrue this as an “intentional” flaw, I should document the error, both on the back of the quilt, and on paper as an “honest mistake!!” (There’s nothing like pointing a neon light at your mistakes, is there???) 🙂
Merry in “down Jersey” gridgees [at] algorithms [dot] com
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 10:25:34 -0400 (EDT) | From: NelBru [at] aol [dot] com
The United Methodist Church’s symbol is the cross and flame for Jesus and the Holy Spirit and is usually displayed somewhere on or in the church.
Nellie in dry and comfortably warm North Huntingdon (just east of Pittsburgh, PA)
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 11:06:23 -0400 (EDT) | From: HPQuilting [at] aol [dot] com
You can find the Dahlia pattern in a book called The Collector’s Dictionary of Quilt Names and Patterns Yvonne M. Khin and published by Acropolis Books, Ltd. The pattern is on page 339. Knowing how magnificient the Portland libraries are, I am certain you can find it there. If you have any trouble finding it, please contact me. I know our library has it here (I just happened to have checked it out this week) and I will go and check it out again, copy the pattern and send it to you snail mail.
Penny(HPQuilting [at] aol [dot] com)
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 10:45:28 -0500 (EST) | From: Diane Krall
I have been eagerly following the log cabin thread with a friend of mine who does not have e-mail. She suggests the following:
African Retentions in African American Quilts and Artifacts, by Rosalind Jefferies in THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART, v. 11, no. 2
Quilts as Communal Emblems and Personal Icons, by Ramond Dobard, also in INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART, same issue as above.
She also suggested a book titled SPIRITS IN OF THE PASSAGE, THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE IN THE 17TH CENTURY, by Madeline Burnside (NY: Simon and Schuster, 1997)
Now if any of you could return the favor, she is looking for information about a genre of art called “end of the trail,” used to commemorate the struggle of the Indian march. Can anybody out there help?
Thank you in advance
Diane Krall, Indy
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 14:55:05 -0400 (EDT) | From: QltHMT [at] aol [dot] com
I’VE GOT DAHLIA’S!!!!!
Hi to all,
Cathy Anne,
There is a dahlia pattern in the Fall 1997 magazine called QUILT. I also have a book given to me by my Aunt Pearl, who lives in the Dallas area of Texas. The book is one of Dover Needlework Series. It’s called The Quick and Easy GIANT DAHLIA QUILT on the Sewing Machine. Comes with step by step instructions. Authors are Susan Aylsworth Murwin & Suzzy Chalfant Payne (Dover Publications, Inc., New York). It has a 1983 copyright.
Let me know if you need more information.
Happy quilting!
Helen (Heirlooms by Helen) MN
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 14:32:45 -0700 | From: Quilting Heritage ListServ
Has anyone heard the theory that black centers in log cabins came about as a way of mourning the death of Lincoln?
I am in the >>middle of studying a quilt made to commemorate the veterans of the civil war >>and I did not realize until someone at the re-enactment of the Civil War at >>our old fort in Montreal pointed it out. I had just clued in to some of the >>discussion and am still perplexed. One of the curators at the museum looked >>at the picture of the quilt and said that the black centers would tie in >>with Harriet Beacher Stowes book about Uncle Sam -Log Cabin. I am not great >>on history so not sure of the dates. This adds another slant to the >>discussion. The quilt I am studying was not finished until 20 years after >>the war so I can go along with B.Brackmans theory that black centers were >>used after Lincolns death. Was his death the reason they switched to black >>centers?
I had to smile at her comment about the dates. When I was in Montreal attending CQSG, one of the speakers kept referring to the bicentennial quilts made in the 1980’s. It took me a long, long time to figure out that Canada has a different bicentennial than we do…
Kris
Date: Tue, 05 Aug 1997 00:18:53 -0500 | From: Mark Mashaw
Dear Jean-Ann,
Thank you for the information on international mailing. As I am not very good at delayed gratification especially when sending off a package to Australia this is a great innovation. Thank you for the info.
Had the pleasure of taking a class with one of your protegy’s, Debbie Moffett- Hall. She is so lovely and very patient. What a pleasure it was to get to spend a whole day with her last Sunday in Cromwell CT! I told her how you had taken the trouble to answer an email when I wrote to ask you how you do it all. I continue to enjoy your magazine thoroughly as it is chock full of history, patterns old and new and wonderful pictures of lovely quilts. I very much enjoyed Debbie’s recent contribution of what to do with fat quarters, pine burr block and ohio star I believe? I hope you will publish more of those. Thank you again for a great publication and your informative contributions to this Digest. Sincerely, Mary Herron
Date: Tue, 05 Aug 1997 19:01:49 -0400 (EDT) | From: JOCELYNM [at] delphi [dot] com
On 4-AUG-1997 13:05:05.1 maurybynum said to JOCELYNM > I am of the impression that most of man’s early history has come down >to us in the form of “Oral History”! Doesn’t “Black Centers” apply? Maury, Alas, a similar heritage exists for gossip and lies. The problem is, we may never be able to separate the truth here. I remember several years ago reading that McGuffey’s Readers would use fictionalized accounts of great people’s lives, if the story made a good enough point. Thus, Washington and the Cherry Tree was born. How many of us learned THAT as a fact in school, when actually, it was created by a 19th century author as ‘a story that SHOULD have been true, even if it wasn’t’?
The problem with oral history, is when you can’t trace it back to at least ONE source by name. If we had even ONE slave or ONE quiltmaker saying it…but so far, no one has stepped forward with that sort of documentation. Like Washington and the Cherry Tree…it may be something that so many people have repeated, believing it was true, that we’ll never get to the bottom of it. But I think it’s wise to question, even something in common belief, until and unless we can get proof one way or the other. Sure, tell the story…but let’s not tell it as TRUTH, but as something that may be, or may be a lovely made-up story. After all, we all appreciate the legends about quilting, without REALLY believing that if you bounce a cat on a just-finished quilt at a quilting bee, the cat will jump off closest to the quilter destined to be the next bride! Jocelyn
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 19:03:55 -0400 (EDT) | From: Kittencat3 [at] aol [dot] com
I have serious doubts that the green grass will do much in the way of producing a *dye* as opposed to a stain – you have boil plant material to get a dyebath, and leaves/grasses usually give you a good cup of tannin. Tannin makes a terrific mordant, but it isn’t really a dye. If it works, though, let me know – natural greens are *very* rare!
As for the story about L.M. Montgomery and the “knitted quilt” – sounds like “quilt” was a synonym for what we’d call an “afghan.” There’s a reference in either Anne of the Island or Anne of Windy Poplars to a quilt with a recognizable pattern name, plus a reference in Anne of Avonlea to (you guessed it) an Apple Leaf “quilt” knitted by Mrs. Rachel Lynde. I know that “quilt” has also been used to mean “coverlet” or “summer spread,” but this sounds like an interesting regionalism. Anyone out there from the Maritimes?
And as for the flaming chalice – evidently the AUSC (now the UUSC) used it because it was used in Bohemia as a symbol of the martyrdom of Jan Hus, an early Protestant. I wonder why the Methodists use it?
BTW, there’s an interesting article in a 1950’s issue of American Heritage about the Jane McCrea story and its impact in early America. There’s nothing specifically about quilts, but plenty of interesting background material.
Happy quilting!
Lisa Evans
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 97 23:02:35 UT | From: Diane McGuire
Diane: Thanks for the wonderful tip about cleaning the bottom of one’s iron. That last time I looked at my iron, the gunk was there. Now it’s not!! Appreciate the good tip and the sharing. Jeannette in Colorado
———- From: Diane McGuire Sent: Monday, August 04, 1997 7:29 AM To: antique quilts line Subject: QHL: passing traditions along
Hi, All,
Just a note about how ideas and traditions get passed along in our subconscious memory.
My friend of many years Brenda was quilting with us at my house a few years ago, and I noticed when she went over to the ironing board to press her square she licked her finger and touched it to the iron. I asked her why she did that since we had all been using the iron for hours and it was plugged in and obviously hot. She thought a moment and said she always did that because her mother (who had been a professional seamstress) always did it. She also remembered that her grandmother had done it, too. So even though for two generations the women in her family had had electric irons, they still used the old spit test to see if the iron was hot.
She also passed along a super tip: To clean an iron (not a teflon coated one) of gunk you have picked up from wonderunder or starch, sprinkle waxed paper with a little salt and run your hot iron over it for a few seconds. Iron the gunk off on some scrap or an old towel, and your iron will be clean.
Diane in Massachusetts
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 09:07:40 -0400 From: Merry May To: QHL [at] cuenet [dot] com
The Methodist symbol is a cross and flame, not a flaming chalice.
Merry in “down Jersey” gridgees [at] algorithms [dot] com
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 09:15:01 -0400 (EDT) | From: Quiltfix [at] aol [dot] com
This post is a *teensy* but sarcastic………
Well, I have it on authority that quilting began in the 1400’s, on the British Isles, during the Great Freeze (never heard of the Great Freeze, have you? Did it last the entire century?).
That is how a book review in a local antique paper opens for “Instant Expert:Collecting Quilts” (Alliance Press; October 1996; $14.00).
I’m going to the library and get an interloan on this. I haven’t heard of/seen it yet. According to the article,”…author Anne Gilbert provides all the information necessary to become an overnite expert in this rapidly growing collectible field. This unique, concise book, compact in size and designed to take along anywhere in pocket or purse, contains all the instruction needed to become an authority on quilting in a matter of hours.”
Jeez, and I wasted all these years learning what I know.
“Starting with the history of quilting, the author explains how different concepts and patterns evolved in different countries. Readers will develop an expert eye as they learn about stitching, the different techniques for putting pieces together, how to recognize different types of quilts, and everything they need to know about patterns. Since being able to determine the period in which a certain quilt was crafted is an important part of ascertaining it’s value, Gilbert shows the reader how to date a quilt by color or by printed fabrics. Readers will learn how to analyze the state of the market and determine market influences…. Whether readers want to learn about the history of quilting, modern day quilting techniques, or how to make the most of today’s market, “The Instant Expert”…offers all the knowledge necessary to become a part of this interesting and highly lucrative field.”
There’s also an article on how the quilt market is booming, but it’s just a thinly disguised advertisement for Vanderkellen.
Has anyone seen this book? I’m really disgusted with this paper and intend to tell them so. It’s really irresponsible to tell people that they’ll become instant experts from one book, with no hands-on experience.
And now that I’ve complained, I’ll shut up. But I am interested in anyone’s opinion of the book.
Alan
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 10:41:16 -0400 (EDT) | From: Sue
Alan, Did this “Paper” say how many volumes this “book” was and how big a purse you would need to carry it in? What a *CROCK* Sue in NW Ohio
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 09:27:00 -0700 | From:
A friend showed me her grandmother’s quilt and asked me to tell her about it. I am not a professional and don’t claim to be. I could use a little help/info on embroidery kits, patterns and techniques.
It is made of blocks of embroidered baskets and flowers (not close embroidery, just outline, french knots, etc) and with a few appliqued (blanket stitch) flowers. Sashing is pale pink, colors are pastels. All the blocks match very closely and I assume they weren’t drawn free hand. There are still pencil markings in a lot of the quilting, but no marks at all in the embroidery. I don’t know if it was a kit or some kind of iron transfer pattern, or what.
Did the markings of kits wash out really easily so that it is possible to see no embroidery markings at all while the pencil quilting marks remain? When did iron-on transfer patterns become available? and did they wash out really easily? Was there some other technique to get the patterns so identical?
I’d appreciate any comments. Thanks. Laura in Seattle
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 12:43:44, -0500 | From: LWKB50A [at]
Hi everyone, I also have a source for a DAHLIA quilt. In the spring 1996 issue of Quilt, a Dahlia is pictured on the cover. An address is given for the pattern called Giant Dahlia: Quilt Pattern Reprints, P.O. Box 172556, Arlington, TX 76003. Enclose $3.00. You can have the pattern without having to leave home! Hope this helps.
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 16:47:48 +0100 | From: “Audrey Cameron”
I think we underestimate “spur of the moment myth-making” . The other night I was giving a talk to a quilt group about the making of miniature quilts. While looking at the many examples I had brought one of the members asked me if I put in “deliberate mistakes” & to my dismay I saw one of the blocks in my Friendship Quilt had one of its triangles turned the wrong way. I had never noticed it.To my chagrin I said “of course, it’s all part of the fun.” So this note is a confession but at the same time why were our quilting ancestors any different. There are many reasons for the deliberate mistake including running out of fabric, wrong dye mix, fun, or pride. Isn’t it all just wonderful .. a real human activity.
Audrey in sunny but windy England audrey.cameron [at] virgin [dot] net
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 13:46:42 -0500 | From: Maury Bynum
Dear All,
My wife and I are going to Lansing, MI this weekend–Any good Quilt/Antique shops between Chicago and Lansing?
Please reply to maurybynum [at] textileconservators [dot] com
Thanks, Maury http://www.textileconservators.com
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 15:09:25 -0400 | From: Ricki Maietta
This will be a disjointed message with many topis – hence “stuff” in the subject line.
On the Underground Railroad thing, I recently met a local black woman who is our local “expert” on the local Underground Railroad (enough “locals” for ya?) I asked her if, in her research, she had ever heard of quilts of any kind being used as a signal to the escaping slaves. In a word, no.
Next topic – I have a section of a quilt to be cleaned. It is a wonderfully quilted red & green basket on white background – mid-1800s. Small, delicate pieces, very well made. Unfortunately, like I said, only a section of the quilt about 2 feet wide & 4 feet long. The owner wants a table runner. This section has brown stains in the middle – maybe even coffee or tea, as I can faintly smell coffee. The red fabric is good old-fashioned Turkey red, the green, an equally coarse fabric, still dark green. Has anyone tried either the buttermilk recipe, or Snowy Bleach, on these types of fabrics?????? I fear Snowy may be the only hope of removing the stains (quite large), but have great trepidation about what will happen to the colors, especially the green.
Topic 3 – for those of you who restore – Do you charge a “consultation fee” for just looking at & giving advice on people’s quilts? I think I am going to start doing this. I seem to get alot of calls that folks want me to tell them what to do (kinda beating myself out of business), or they balk at finding out there is a charge more than a couple of bucks for the repair work (therefore, I’ve just spent an hour looking at quilts & no job comes of it!) I’m thinking of charging $15 if they come to me, & $25 if I go to them. Does this sound reasonable? What do others do.
Story time – Yes, this trip spawned the above paragraph. Spent some time this afternoon with a lady who’s husband had inherited several quilts. They were all beauties. All made by the same woman, DH’s great grandmother or somewhere back the chain. Time ranging from 1870s – 1910. Beautiful old brown Geese Chase, 2 Farmer’s Daughters, a brown & pink Lemoyne Star, & a great condition blue & white T-block!! Not to mention one of those long skinny crazy quilt panels with red lace (curtain valence, coffin cover??) & a crazy signature quilt that was made for great grandpa the preacher when he left town, and one washday blues quilt that they had washed & ruined. I was mortified that they were selling these quilts at auction. Their only interest was “what are they worth?” I am not an appraiser & had told her that on the phone. I told her I can only tell you what I would pay for them & I’m a cheapskate! It just bothers me when families have no feelings for heirlooms. Call me a sentimental fool (I heard that!), but they had beautiful quilts that had been stored carefully since the 1930s & were well made, etc. Not interested. So, those of you in the Ithca, NY area, watch the newspapers in the next few months for an auction listing quilts – they are good ones.
A question about one of the above quilts. It was a basket (triangles) with a flower on top of chrome orange. The orange had streaking & fading of a dark brown. I couldn’t tell if it was coming from the orange (in a hot attic?), or did it rub off the purple sashing that was fading to brown. Any experience with this anyone?
Ricki in PA, swamped with restoration projects & trying to do the Hoffman Challenge & curating 2 exhibits (more later) whew!
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 16:29:57 -0400 (EDT) | From:
Anita, who used to on Quiltopia sent me this information, and gave me permission to post it for anyone else interested.
Elisabeth
I got so busy i had to drop out of Qb. My son will wear his mittens and they won’t shrink, They may felt some but that just makes them warmer. I prefer to use wool and know how to wash it so we have a lot of it around here and the boys are learning how to care for it also so we don’t have many sweaters that need to be handed down to smaller cousins ahead of time.
To Wash Wool Wool does not like sudden changes in temperature, or agitation, So: 1. fill washer tub with hot water and mild soap. 2. TURN OFF WASHER. 3. Put sweaters/ whatever-you-have-that’s-wool in the washer, close the lid. 4. Go read e-mail for 30-40 minutes. 5. Go back to washer set on last spin, (the one that does NOT spray cold water on the clothes and cuts off after it’s done) 6. Remove all clothes from washer. 7. Repeat above steps but leave out soap and add 2 glugs of vinegar (take bottle of white vinegar to washer turn up, bottle will go glug, glug, ok that’s enough) the vinegar is to get the pH back to the acid side which wool likes. You can also add some hair conditioner, which will soften it. 8. Lay flat to dry.
That is all there is to it, I wash raw fleece this way, but with more soaps and at least 2 rinses. Anita
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 17:25:01 +0400 | From: Xenia Cord
To Laura and QHLers:
On embroidered kit blocks, sometimes the design was worked with the printed guide marks on the back, especially when most of the work was to be outline embroidery. That way minor deviations from the printed lined did not show, and if the marks were indelible it wouldn’t matter. I have several sets of kit blocks that have been embroidered that way, and that were either machine stamped, or “hand” stamped at home with iron-on transfers or drawn with carbon paper as the transfer medium. Once the quilt was finished no one would ever know that guide lines were used.
I also have a set of Sunbonnet/Colonial Ladies where the lines for applique are on what is now the back of the block. Same principle. Xenia
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 18:28:07 -0400 (EDT) | From: JOCELYNM
On 5-AUG-1997 14:27:23.9 dkrall.inmu said to JOCELYNM > Now if any of you could return the favor, she is looking for >information about a genre of art called “end of the trail,” used to >commemorate the struggle of the Indian march. Can anybody out there >help? Diane, I don’t know about the art…but the Trail is the Trail of Tears. Andrew Jackson decided that the Cherokees and other eastern tribes were just too inconvenient, and ordered them moved to Oklahoma during his presidency. They were not allowed to take their (rather considerable) wealth with them, and huge numbers of them starved and died of exposure/exhaustion on the trip. It’s fairly well understood that the US government found this an agreeable solution to the ‘problem’….that there was full knowledge that people were going to die, and plenty of alternatives, but Jackson INTENDED the Trail of Tears as genocide. My sister knows a Cherokee woman who will not take a $20. As she says, we wouldn’t marvel at a Jewish woman who refused to accept a picture of Adolph Hitler……. Jocelyn
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 18:14:04 -0500 | From: LAURA SYLER
Quiltfix [at] aol [dot] com wrote: > > This post is a *teensy* but sarcastic……… > > Well, I have it on authority that quilting began in the 1400’s, on the > British Isles, during the Great Freeze (never heard of the Great Freeze, have > you? Did it last the entire century?). > > That is how a book review in a local antique paper opens for “Instant > Expert:Collecting Quilts” (Alliance Press; October 1996; $14.00). > > I’m going to the library and get an interloan on this. I haven’t heard > of/seen it yet.
Alan…This is a new one to me too. Be sure and bring it to Omaha if you get it in time. I can’t imagine that anyone would have the audacity to even attempt such a publication!! I concur…what a crock!!!
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 18:55:29 -0500 | From: LAURA SYLER
Ricki Maietta wrote: > > Next topic – I have a section of a quilt to be cleaned. It is a wonderfully > quilted red & green basket on white background – mid-1800s. Small, delicate > pieces, very well made. Unfortunately, like I said, only a section of the > quilt about 2 feet wide & 4 feet long. The owner wants a table runner. This > section has brown stains in the middle – maybe even coffee or tea, as I can > faintly smell coffee. The red fabric is good old-fashioned Turkey red, the > green, an equally coarse fabric, still dark green. Has anyone tried either > the buttermilk recipe, or Snowy Bleach, on these types of fabrics?????? I > fear Snowy may be the only hope of removing the stains (quite large), but > have great trepidation about what will happen to the colors, especially the > green.
Ricki: As for the staining. since the piece is not really large, try making a paste of Snowy or Biz…”painting” it on the textile with the stain ( staying a little away from the seam line) … Now here comes the fun part…Rinse out by pouring warm water thru the piece ( I place the quilt over a tub or large bucket. You can also do this on a trampoline or something like the drying screen Carla had her DH make. Flushing water thru the piece will help keep the majority of the cleaning agent away from the fearful fabric, and hopefully won’t even come in contact. Also, if you make the paste thick enough you can flake it off after it is dry and flush the remaining out.
Topic 3 – for those of you who restore – Do you charge a “consultation fee” > for just looking at & giving advice on people’s quilts? I think I am going > to start doing this. I seem to get alot of calls that folks want me to tell > them what to do (kinda beating myself out of business), or they balk at > finding out there is a charge more than a couple of bucks for the repair > work (therefore, I’ve just spent an hour looking at quilts & no job comes of > it!) I’m thinking of charging $15 if they come to me, & $25 if I go to > them. Does this sound reasonable? What do others do. > As to consultation fees…I state first off that I have a consultation fee of $35.00 per hour, or any portion there of, $10.00 travel fee additional. They can ask me anything they want pertaining to their quilt, how to repair, clean, store, hang, date, condition…you name it (however, verbal appraisments are $5.00, written $25.00 per quilt- no excetptions).(I’m very specific)
However….if at the end of our consultation they should decide to have me work on thier quilt, even just sew on a casing or a documentation lable, I wave the consultation fee. If not, then they have just bought a private class. I explain that I have been doing this for almost 20 years, and decided several years ago that I needed to do this to protect myself. This is, of course, how I make my living, and I must protect my time. Most are in total agreement, and even at that time they will tell me they do not even know which end of the needle to thread so I shouldn’t worry that they will pick my brain and then say…” Gee, I can do that, Thanks” and they are out the door. I have also found that the ones that can really afford to have their quilts repaired will gladly pay for the consultation even if I DO do the work. I have also started teaching a class on restoration…great for the bindings, simple applique, helping them see what is appropriate fabric for the job. ($40. for a 3 hr class) I’ve taught it 3 times 5 max students- 4 have ended up calling me back later admitting that they are in over their heads and bringing me the quilt to work on.
Whew!!!Now that I’ve said all that…I gotta get casings on 2 quilts circa 1860!! Can’t do that on the computer!!!
Hey…are you going to Omaha?
Laura
