August 11 – 18, 1998
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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:
- Family Quilting Traditions and the Decline of Needlework — Members trace whether quilting and sewing skills passed down through their own families, and debate why home-ec and needlework instruction has faded from schools.
- “Comforter” vs. Eiderdown — A UK-based member asks what Americans mean by “comforter,” prompting a cross-Atlantic comparison of bedcover terms.
- Hair Embroidery and Mourning Keepsakes — A Winston Churchill biography segment sparks a discussion of human hair used in Victorian-era embroidery and mourning jewelry. (see the article on Victorian mourning customs)
- Quilt Restoration Referral Request — A member seeks a restorer near Dallas for a family star-pattern quilt with deteriorating points. (see the article on quilt restoration)
- Book and Web Resource Recommendations — Members point each other to reference titles like “Aunt Jane of Kentucky” and new feedsack images posted to quilthistory.com.
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 21:13:26 +0930 | From: Karen Bush <Birdsong@
WEll, Sally and Jean, I guess I ARE one,too! My aunts and Grandmother(on father’s side) quilted and pieced. Although, I would never THINK about getting close to the quilting frame then! Such a waste of all that knowledge down the drain! I was a teenager then, and just wasn’t interested. My dds couldn’t sew a button on if they’re life depended on it, and my sister is ‘trying’ to get interested. So, as far as any sides of my family….I ARE it!!!! The only ‘interest’ the families have shown for quilts, is when I’m going to make MORE for them. I hope they’re not holding their breath! After all these years of quilting for other people,family and clients, THIS year, is MINE! I don’t own one, isn’t that a bummer! So, I’m trying to clear that little problem. My mother, Grandmother were professional seamstresses, my Grandfather a Tailor, I guess if the ‘genes’ were passed out, that’s where I got mine. Although, I quit sewing clothes several years ago. So,….am I the “Quilting Auntie” of the family!???? EGADS!!! hahaha..kb after I wrote my long email about quilting ancestors, i realized I probably are one! how ancient I feel… LOL
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 23:24:48 EDT | From: CToczek@
To put my $.02 worth in on Sally’s question regarding the decline of needlework….I would say that, yes, in the schools it is.
Unfortunately, answering Sally’s question dates us somewhat <G>. My ten year college reunion hit this year. 14 years ago home economics was one of two electives to choose from in junior high and then most chose the college prep or tech courses in high school over additional home economics classes. Then, when I taught in the military school overseas a few years ago, I found half of the home ec class to be boys! Kathy mentioned that this is a good thing…true…but I must add the ones I talked to chose the class thinking it would be easier than the shop class!<G>
While interest from school groups isn’t the same as in the past, I can vouch for my 30+peers that sewing/quilting is alive, well and growing. Many of my friends have started their 5 and 6 yr old daughters (and my son) on sewing. I think quilting will survive the generations as it has before….through our mothers (or grandmother for me.) And to Jean Eitel, Ha! my grandfather used to ask why I’d want to quilt when “I can buy you a blanket if you need one!” It’s late, I better go when I’m halfway brief with this!
Best wishes,
Carla at West Point
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 09:24:53 -0400 | From: Nancy Roberts <robertsn@
RE Cheryl’s request about redwork: There is also an article in Issue 34 of Traditional Quiltworks magazine (a back issue) that offers quite a bit of history, quilt photos from the collection of Massachusetts quiltmaker Sandra Munsey and a Sunbonnet Babies pattern from Sally Goodspeed. Sally’s catalog contains many authentic block patterns and her address is included with the article. As far as floss, we found a deep red that closely matches floss used in vintage blocks. However, I’m going to have to dig to get the number for you so will post that later when I locate it. Best to all. Nancy
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 09:25:03 -0400 | From: Marsha MacDowell <macdowel@
Lisa Evan’s response is a good one. I would also encourage those on QHL list interested in this topic to see our exhibit “To Honor and Comfort:
Native Quilting Traditions” which will be at the Michigan State University
Museum through October 18, 1998. SITES (Smithsonian Institution Traveling
Exhibition Service) will then tour it to six other major museums around the country over the next two years. The exhibit was ajoint project of the
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and Michigan State
University Museum.
Meanwhile the MSU Museum is preparing a smaller version of the exhibitdesigned for small (and primarily tribal) museums. A book of the same name was edited by Marsha MacDowell and Kurt Dewhurst and published in 1997 by Museums of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico to accompany the exhibit and contains several articles by various authors on a variety of Native quilting traditions. Issues of cultural contact and origins of Native quilting are addressed in several of the essays.
The book is available through Amazon for $28.00
QHL readers interested in this would also want to know about Carolyn O’Bagy Davis’ recent book Hopi Quilting: Sttitched Traditions from an Ancient Community, Sanpete Publications, Tucson, Arizona, 1997.
Marsha MacDowell
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 10:23:10 -0500 | From: Merry May <gridgees@
On the quilting ancestors topic, it’s interesting that there are several of us on this list who picked up quilting “on our own,” not knowing of past family members who quilted. As Jean Ann pointed out (at least I think it was Jean Ann!), the generation from around the Depression don’t want anything to do with quilts, as they seem to be reminders of hard times.
The last surviving quilt tops from my family were pieced around the late 1930s by my great-grandmother on my father’s side (our theory is that she never finished them because she had 13 children! but WWII may have had more to do with it). I also now have a large quilt made by HER mother (signed and dated 1904), plus a baby quilt made by HER mother from 1894 (oral history). I’m always amazed to think that I was drawn to quiltmaking, never knowing of my family’s quiltmaking history until just a few years ago (had already been quilting for 10 years). I just thought that if I was ever going to HAVE a quilt, I was just going to have to make it myself!
My grandmother on my mother’s side was the one who taught me how to sew. She seemed to have no knowledge of any family quilts ever existing. I think she decided early on that her granddaughters were going to learn to sew, since her daughter’s version of hemming involved using masking tape and/or staples! (This is not an exaggeration, either!! My mother’s home ec. teacher retired after a year with my mother in her class!) 🙂
—
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 19:01:09 +0100 | From: “Celia Eddy” <celia@
Who can tell me what the word ‘comforter’ means in America? I THINK it means what we in UK would probably call an eiderdown, i.e. a bed cover filled with wadding/batting/down or other warm filling, and not quilted but tied at regular intervals over its surface. Any thoughts/comments/explanations appreciated.
Celia in UK
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 14:36:48 -0600 | From: Sharon Harleman Tandy <harleman@
Hi all QHLers,
1. I never heard or saw anyone in my family quilt. 2. I learned to sew at home, in 4-H, and in school. 3. My mother felt there was something shameful in the old quilt on my bed, as if she should be able to afford something better.
4. I always “knew” I would make a quilt someday but it was so hard, I would wait as long as possible! (;D
5. The quilt bug bit me on 1/1/88 at the age of 47. 6. That old quilt I slept under as a kid? It was made by a g.g.m.
c.1880.
7. Recently found out another g.g.m. (father’s side) also quilted. 8. Many q.h. researchers have discovered that quilting (and other “chores”) seem to skip a generation. Maybe because:
a. mothers and daughters seldom have as relaxed a relationship as do daughters and grandmothers/aunts.
b. sometimes mothers don’t have as much time c. things done in one generation seem useless or too tedious for the next generation but “quaint” to the one after
9. In my case, much of this is academic because I was adopted, I only have sons, my DIL won’t sew (yes, _won’t_), and I don’t have time to teach anyone now, though I used to teach many hand work things when the boys were in school, I had time, and we lived so far out there wasn’t anything else to do (because I hadn’t discovered quilting yet!) If you’re wondering about the format; it was the only way I could keep all the things running through my head straight! Happy days to you all!
Sharon.
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 18:24:16 -0400 | From: debatqps@
I think the reason sewing is declining in the US is because we introduce children to it TOO LATE. Typically, they don’t have Home Ec until 7 grade, now in our school district its 9th grade, and by then the kids are into 40 million other things, soccer, boys, dance, etc. I have a customer who does it in the 6th grade and has a waiting list to get into her sewing club, boys and girls.
I have more little kids come up to me in airports, soccer games, the emergency room (you name the place, I have probably quilted there! VBG) and ask me what I am doing, is it hard, can I try, etc. Adults just look and say, My grandmother used to do that, I didn’t know anyone still did it anymore! And when the advertising people tell you that your target audience is 60+, we own a quilt shop, it makes you want to scream . . . .
Debbie in NJ
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 17:51:07 -0700 | From: BLF@ (BLF)
I’ve wanted to post this information request for awhile and now that I’ve learned a little more I have the perfect excuse. I made a copy of an old patriotic quilt that I loved at the suggestion of Barbara Brackman and she published it in her Civil War book (page 110). The original quilt called The Union Star is published in Hearts and Hands by Ferrero/Hedges/Silber (page 10). (Click on the pictures to order. ) 
For those who have neither book, the original was made in 1869. It has appliqued white stars and leaves, a flag with an eagle perched on it and also the appliqued words “Abraham Lincoln/Grant PR/Colfax VP/and the Union Forever” all on a blue field. To me this was her stitched ballot when women couldn’t vote. The really unique part is that the maker proudly signed the quilt across the bottom with appliqued letters: “Made by Elizabeth Holmes in her 68th year 1869”. While working on my quilt I wondered about who was Elizabeth Holmes and where she was from. Barbara reminded me that Holmes is a fairly common name and there were many Elizabeths in those days. But it seemed that when she signed her quilt so boldly, she wanted to be remembered. So, when I was in Salt Lake City last weekend I decided to spend one afternoon at the Family History Library looking for Elizabeth. I found a likely candidate out of about 50 Elizabeth Holmes listed in the 1860 census records for non-southern states. An Elizabeth Holmes lived in Melton (Marlborough) in Ulster County, New York about 60 miles north or NYC on the Hudson River who was the right age. She was born in New York, lived with her 27 year old daughter, Sarah, and owned real property valued at $6,000.
Questions for the experts: Would a woman in NY in 1860 who owned a fair amount of property have made this quilt with the reversed letters? Anybody know about literacy in those days? Anybody know anything about this area in NY?
The other part of this is I’ve always wanted to know where Elizabeth’s quilt is now. It was originally owned by Bill Pearson but I understand the collection has been sold. I haven’t been able to find out where it went. Any of you dealers/collectors have any info? Any information or comments would be appreciated. Sorry for the length of this post.
Bobbi Finley in San Jose where we had a little shaker this morning!
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 2:11:55 EDT | From: Crowcreek2@
In a message dated 98-8-14 1:33:15 EDT, jcneal@ writes: << Quilting must jump generations, since my mom is not really interested in quilting. She has done some, but doesn’t have the passion I do. >> I really believe this! My grandmother made quilts for all of her grandkids, she asked us for old clothing and when we got our quilts back, we would sit or lay on them for hours and pick out our dresses and shirts! I still have those quilts today. 3 years later!!! I now have a passion for quilting and using many colors in them. My grandmother used to tell me of one of her aunts who handquilted all the time. I remember going to this aunts daugthers home and being in awe at the tiny stitches and beautiful patterns in a quilt that she made. And I remember thinking how hard that would be to do. Now I find many hours of pleasure sitting next to colorful patterns that mesmerize me with content. Have a day makin’ memories…..
Denise Clason in thundering/storming LasVegas
I am very interested in these quilt ancestor stories. My grandmother on myAmother’s side always had a quilt in the frame when we went to visit. SheAfinished quilts for a fee inorder to supplement her social securi ty. Now IAknow that was remarkable for the 6s. I just learned to qui lt by observingAher and inherited her quilt scraps and books. She made a quilt for each of usAgrandkids for our graduation from High School a nd another for when we married.AI used to love to open the closet and l ook at the stack of quilts just waitingAfor us.
I ran across an article in a 196 Missouri newspaper as I was doing famil yAresearch that really warmed my quilting heart. This was about my gre at greatAgrandmother (other side of the family) It was a short article and about herAquilts!! It reads she is 87 years old and just finished her 23rd quilt inAthree years. She made them for her grandkids and fa mily. It even describesAher last one as having 1751 pieces. They comm ented that this was remarkableAsince she broke her arm the year before in a fall. I wish I knew where theAquilts went. My grandfather moved to Washington State with his family when heAwas small and in those days you didn’t just travel home to Missouri veryAoften. I don’t think he ever made it back. I went back in 1975 and visitedAhis cousin who was 9 2 at the time. Living alone and still driving, she wasAone sharp lady. I didn’t see any family quilt evidence, but that was before IAreally got into quilting so I may not have noticed. I have often wonder if the Aquilt blocks I received from that side of the family were hers or if t hey wereAmy paternal grandmother’s mother. They are Jacob’s ladder blo cks of turn ofAthe century fabrics, hand pieced of course. I know they are not thatAgrandmother’s work, not only the age is too old, but her idea of a quilt wasABIG squares sewed together on the machine and tied into a lap size cover.
Quilting must jump generations, since my mom is not really interested in Aquilting. She has done some, but doesn’t have the passion I do.
Joy jcneal@
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 21:26:5 -4 | From: “Kenneth K. Regan” <11674.126@
Celia,
Regarding your question about comforters, yes they are referring to bedspreads. To me, they are the fluffy, polyester-filled bed covers. Usually thick and sold as a set, with matching pillowcases, sheets etc. I remember when comforters became popular over here, it made bed-making much easier. Before the modern comforters,bedspreads were thin (atleast in my non-quilting family), and it was tedious to smooth out all of the wrinkles when making a bed. The comforters are fluffy and therefore don’t show if the sheets are wrinkled.
In the last digetst somenone mentioned their mom using masking tape for hemming. My mom used scotch tape! Sewing definitely skipped a generation in our family!
Tiffany
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 21:26:7 -4 | From: “Kenneth K. Regan” <11674.126@
Hello quilt friends,
I need to find a quilt restorer in the Dallas area. I discovered a nice star-pattern quilt at my MIL, and a few of the stars are falling apart.
It is a family quilt, probably 3’s or 4’s. I think I have convinced my MI L of the value of the quilt (if only sentimental), and told her I would hel p her to find someone to restore it.
Also, can anyone explain what a double pink and homespun are? Back to the hair thread, my MIL made my wedding gown for me. Very intricate with lots of handwork. She took a lock of my hair and sewed it into the hem. I believe the practice had been done in her family for generations. It was the first time I’d had heard of anything like that.
Tiffany in Colorado
Heading to Estes Park next week!
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 22:45:52 -4 | From: “Judy Grow” <Judygrow@
Janet requested me to forward her message to the list. Does anyone know of any other guilds who are doing this?
Judy in Ringoes, NJ judygrow@
—–Original Message—–
From: JBQUILTOK@ <JBQUILTOK@
>Central Oklahoma Quilters Guild in Oklahoma City has been swatching for several years. Some of our members helped organize the Quilt Heritage days
in
>Oklahoma (long before the Air Force stationed us at Tinker & this became home). We’re currently renting a couple of climate controlled storage
units
>to store our heritage collection. (We made samples of all the Kansas City Star blocks & have them mounted so that the panels can be displayed or
loaned
>out at shows.) One of our members is very into feedsacks. She swatched
for
>herself & a set for the guild, so I think there are about 5 books from her collection. We encourage members to donate swatches of their old or
current
>fabric to be used as dating guides. The only real problem with this arrangement is that none of the resources are availble for use by the
members.
>I hope someday we’ll find a way to put this all in the hands of a museum or similar facility that can allow public access. For now, parts of it get brought out for the quilt show every other year and occasionally something will be brought over to the church for a meeting.
>Oklahoma Quiltworks (the biggest quilt store in the area) keeps swatch
books
>of everything they carry labeled by manufacturer so they can reorder if necessary. I hope these aren’t going into scrap quilts when the lines are
no
>longer available.
>Janet
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 23:7:57 +93 | From: Karen Bush <Birdsong@
I heard/saw something interesting the other night. The Biography of Winston Churchill on “Biography” mentioned the hair embroidery. On one of his trips to Canada during the war, the women had embroidered handkerchiefs with their initials and flowers from their hair! So, it’s not as old as I thought! That was in the late l930’s…early l940’s. kb
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 11:55:52, -5 | From: LVQG24A@ ( ELIZABETH K DONALDSON)
Love this thread! My grandmother left many, many yo-yo’s which we foolishly threw out after she died. I got custody ot her treadle sewing machine which still works. Someday I’ll make a quilt on it. My mother was a great sewer, but not a quilter. Her specialty was Halloween costumes (we always won prizes) and slip covers. My mother, good seamstress that she was, always bought too much fabric. One year she grossly overestimated yardage for a sofa slipcover and used the extra to make my sister a suit. Whenever my sister sat on the sofa she blended in and all you saw were too huge eyes! My sister is an excellent seamstress and spent her youth making Barbie clothes and her own wardrobe. She is 5 years older than I and always a better sewer. After I had been quilting for five years I taught her how. She thought I was nuts, but it only took her one weekend (and a king size Jacob’s Ladder quilt top) to get her hooked and now she’s a fabulous quilter as well.
I learned to sew in Home Ec class at the age of 13 where (in 1970) I made an a-line mini skirt, with zipper and facings in a lovely red, white and blue floral poly-cotton. The years 1970-74 were devoted to an entire coture line of unfinished, badly made garments. In 1974 I made my first quilt. I cut 959 triangles from a variety of fabrics, never worrying about silly things like fiber content or template accuracy. After piecing the triangles into the Broken Dishes pattern (which of course I thought I invented), adding 5 layers of batting and a flannel back for warmth, I machine quilted the monster on Mom’s old black Singer 21. That quilt survived 5 years of heavy college use, before dying under its own weight.
Subsequent years were spent actually learning how to do it right. Many thanks to Pepper Cory whose class guided me through accuracy, color and design. The rest as they say is herstory!
Beth Donaldson
Michigan
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 1:58:53 -4 | From: JOCELYNM@
On 16-AUG-1998 :11:4.2 Birdsong said to JOCELYNM
> handkerchiefs with their initials and flowers from their hair! So, it’s not as old as I thought! That was in the late l930’s…early l940’s. kb —
Karen,
I’m not sure what you meant by that. Just because it was done in the 1930s or 40s, doesn’t mean hair embroidery wasn’t done earlier. All this would mean is that the craft survived until c. 1940.
Jocelyn
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 18:38:25 +4 | From: Xenia Cord <xecord@
Just catching up after a great week’s vacation, and I saw Audrey’s post on my casket quilt. I had said that the quilt I have came in a presentation box that opens with the bulk of the box serving as a lid, and the quilt resting in attached leaves of tissue on the shallow bottom. This box is not a child’s casket. The box is about 3″ deep, by 14″ from front to back and 24″ from side to side. It is heavy white cardboard with an applied pebbly paper surface.
Xenia
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 19:33:6 EDT | From: Baglady111@
<< Kris added feedsack .jpg’s to the page. Thought you might be interested in that! <A HREF”http://www.hickoryhillquilts.com/feedsacks.htm“>Feedsacks</A> >> I have often been asked…what are feedsacks?? or well, are’nt they just plain old white bags with printing on them (they are referring to company logos)..well, Kris Driessen designed a web page for me and if you click on the above..you’ll have a chnace to see what our fantastic feedsacks look like…YUMMY!!! Jane, fondling those fabulous feedsacks here in Pittsburgh, Pa..
From: Lscmsw@
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 19:57:32 EDT | From: AZquilter9@
Decided to come out of lurking to probably put a “clink” in the skipped generation theory. I do believe it is in the genes, however. My grandmother, who was my mother’s step-mother pieced quilts, my mother both pieced and quilted quilts, my mother’s twin sister quilts, I quilt, my sister has made at least one quilt, my daughter (who is adopted) has started piecing her first quilt, and my grandaughter who is seven helps put the pieces on the flannel board I use by my sewing machine and told me that the next time she comes for a visit she wants to learn to use my machine. (Teeth chattering here at the thought of a seven year old using my Bernina!). Considering the step grandmother and the adopted daughter, I guess environment may have had a part here too — but no skipped generations yet.
I also had to chuckle when the size of quilt discussion came up. My 6 foot 3 inch brother has always said that my 5 four 2 inch mother just help the tops she was piecing up to herself and decided when they came up to her shoulders they were big enough. This left my brother and my 6 foot 4 inch dad with either cold feet or cold shoulders! It’s doubtful that was the Mom did it, but it’s a thought!
Lois in sunny, hot, Arizona
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 22:14:43 EDT | From: CABHoney@
To: QHL@
Subject: QHL: Mildew on Sunbonnet Sue
Message-ID: <80861d64.35d79214@>
Dear quilters,
I have not come across this problem yet, and didn’t have the answers in any books. I have a Sunbonnet Sue quilt by my Great Grandmother that is very clean, just has tiny little dots or areas of what I believe is mildew. How do I get rid of the mildew? I have already washed it in my tub, taking all precautions, etc. I would love any advice that I could safely try . Thanks!
Cindy in Norman, Ok
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 22:42:38 EDT | From: Kittencat3@
Hair was used in mourning jewelry at least from the early 19th century, and I believe from at least fifty years prior to that. I don’t know about using it in embroidery (nor do I think it’s very practical unless you use several hairs at once), but human hair was used in craftwork well before Winston Churchill. Did they couch the hairs down or actually do fancy stitching? I’m curious….
Lisa Evans
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 20:07:04 -0700 | From: Anne Scott <nzquilter@>
To: QHL@
Subject: QHL: Wool batting
Message-ID: <35D8EFD8.71FD@>
Chris asked a few digests ago about wool batting. Sorry, I’m a little behind in my reading.
I personally love wool batting and use it as my batting of choice for my bed quilts. Not only does it needle beautifully, but it wears well – it is more resilient and does not show the fold marks as easily as cotton in my opinion. And is wonderful to sleep under. In New Zealand, we have 42 million sheep (3.6 million people) and wool batting is not an expensive commodity. It is used far more widely than cotton battings which are imported from the USA and very expensive. Dacron is still the most commonly used batting.
As for shrinkage, when washed carefully, (and providing your quilting is not widely spaced) this does not happen. You get problems with wool batting when you change the temperature of the water suddenly. Then it can matt and shrink, distorting your quilt. Keep the wash and rinse water at tepid/baby bath temperature, use Orvus or some other similar PH neutral soap and you should have no problems.
All may not be lost if you do shrink a quilt with wool batting – a friend re-washed a disaster, then very carefully pinned it out, in much the same way as you block a tapestry, to dry. She fixed the problem. You can get black wool batting in NZ so for Amish type quilts or those with dark fabrics, you can choose this option. And its real black, crock dyed wool, not charcoal grey.
As for the fibre migrating – Juliet Taylor, a New Zealand quilter did an extensive research programme on this and dicovered that it was a self limiting problem – after the seventh wash, the fibres had linked together sufficiently so there was no more bearding. All those loose fibres then disengaged themselves in time.
I am happy to email the text of this research to anyone who is interested.
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 10:18:23 EDT | From: Feathrwate@
To: QHL@
Subject: QHL: Re: QHL-Digest Digest V98 #234 size of quilts Message-ID: <7a321c25.35d83bb0@>
Lois’ post about her mother’s holding the tops up to her and deciding that they were big enough, reminded me of a story. Years ago, when I made lots of quilts for sale, a couple came by to find quilts for their cabin. They had specific beds in mind, and not all my quilts were labelled as to size. I did the old-fashioned thing, just held them between tip of nose and tip of outstretched hand, to guesstimate sizes for them. The husband said, ” Look at that! She can tell how big it is just by sniffing it!” This still brings a smile every time I remember it.
Linda
From: Con Van Maanen <convan@>
To: QHL@
Subject: QHL: Mildew on Sunbonnet
Message-ID: <35D8420A.7AE3@>
Dear Cindy in Norman,
My name is Roberta, and I’m very new to this internet thing and nobody’s answering the question I put forward, so I’m not sure if this is even going out, so if it is please let me know.
I have a collection of fixes from a 1946 edition of the Western Mail here in Western Australia which might prove useful. It says: “MILDEW REMOVER. Mix equal quantities of soft soap and white starch and half the quantity of common salt with the juice of a lemon. Cover the spot of mildew thickly with the mixture, then place the articles in the open air or on the grass, in the sun if possible, and allow to remain for at least two hours. Then wash with soap, boil and rinse well.” I’m sorry but I have no idea if this will work. Perhaps you could find something else mildewy and test first. Good luck and let us know how you get on! Roberta.
in the most beautiful spring weather in winter – Perth, Western Australia
From: “Mary K. Tozer” <mkt@>
To: “‘QHL (post)'” <QHL@>
Hi, everyone —
I am reading a book right now that I thought others may be interested in. It is called “Women’s Voice from the Oregon Trail” by Susan G. Butruille (1993). (click on the picture to order.) It is about how life was along the trail from starting out in Missouri or “out east” and moving across the western part of the US. What makes this book really different is that has actual excerpts from women’s diaries and goes into real detail about life on the trail. They even talk about making quilts and how they made the batting to go in the quilts or fabric to sew with. Here is a quote from the book that I thought was really neat: “I’ve been a hard worker all my life, but ‘most all my work has been the kind that ‘perished with the usin’, as the Bible says. That’s the discouragin’ thing about a women’s work..if a woman was to see all the dishes that she had to wash before she died, piled up before her in one pile, she’d lie down and die right then and there. I’ve always had the name o’ bein’ a good housekeeper, but when I’m dead and gone there ain’t anybody goin’ to think o’ the floors I’ve swept, and the tables I’ve scrubbed, and the old clothes I’ve patched, and the stockin’s I’ve darned….But when one of my grandchildren or great-grandchildren sees one o’ these quilts, they’ll think about Aunt Jane, and wherever I am then, I’ll know I ain’t forgotten.”
— Aunt Jane of Kentucky
I am not too far into the book but sure have enjoyed it so far. The book doesn’t talk about making quilts or sewing all the time but makes references to it quite a bit.
–Mary
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 11:35:42 +0000 | From: Jocelyn <jocelynm@
You get problems with wool
> batting when you change the temperature of the water suddenly. Then it can matt and shrink, distorting your quilt. Keep the wash and rinse water at tepid/baby bath temperature, use Orvus or some other similar PH neutral soap and you should have no problems.
You’ve never gone by a pasture, and seen a bunch of shrunken-up sheep, have you? <G> That’s what same-temperature water will do! Even if you vigorously scrub the sheep with soap, you still don’t get matted, shrunken fleeces because you’re not using hot water, and the amount of agitation you’re using is pretty much limited to what the sheep will tolerate. <G> As a knitter, I was taught: felting takes heat, water and agitation, so watch the temp and agitation when you’ve got wet wool, and don’t use anything to wash it in that you wouldn’t use on your own hair…after all, wool IS hair! <G>
Jocelyn
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 12:20:46 +0400 | From: Xenia Cord <xecord@
For those who may not be familiar with “Aunt Jane of Kentucky,” it is a book originally written as a series of fictional short stories around the turn of the century. The author was Lida Calvert Oberchain, who wrote under the name Eliza Calvert Hall. She was a native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, college-educated, married to a professor of mathematics, the mother of 4, and an outspoken proponent of the women’s suffrage movement.
For other works of fiction dealing with quilts and quilting, and an excellent time line of “American quilt fiction, quilt plays and quilt poetry published from 1844 to 1945,” see Cuesta R. Benberry and Carol P. Crabb, A Patchwork of Pieces: An Anthology of Early Quilt Stories 1845-1940 (AQS, 1993). ISBN 0-89145-800-X
Xenia, in Indiana
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 13:24:19 -0700 | From: BLF@ (BLF)
I went to visit my 88-year-old mother yesterday who lives in a nursing facility. Since our conversation is sometimes difficult due to many things and to help pass the time, I decided to take along an applique block I am working on. It was the best thing I could have done. Mom talked about it and then started talking about her grandmother who I already knew was an accomplished needlewoman. She sewed, crocheted and embroidered (telling my mother when teaching her that her work must look as good on the back as on the front!) and she also did tatting. I have a fragment of an old dresser scarf with a fine edging on it that this woman did long ago. I don’t know why I’d never asked the question before, maybe because I’d heard the story so many times and figured I’d heard it all, but for some reason I asked my mom if her grandmother ever made quilts. “Oh”, she said, “Yes! We had quilts on all the beds. I don’t know what ever happened to those quilts.” Well, I could have cried! I didn’t know that anyone else in the family had been a quilter, nor do I know why my mother would not have thought to mention this to me in the last ten years that I’ve been making quilts. But, I’m glad to have finally found a line to a quilting ancestor and to have had such a good visit with my mom. Just to complete the needleworking ancestors, my father’s mother did sewing to help put my grandfather through veterinary college at Iowa State around 1910-1912 and did fine work. This grandmother made clothes for me when I was growing up. I particularly remember a reversible corduroy coat — red on one side an navy on the other! She also was appalled to find me sewing one Sunday when she stopped by for a visit when I was about 10 — appalled that I was sewing on Sunday but also that I was not using a thimble! She told me that if I would learn to use a thimble she would give me her gold thimble. It didn’t come to me until after her death, and I treasure it. So, if needleworking is hereditary, I got it from both sides!
Bobbi
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 08:40:23 +0800 | From: Con Van Maanen <convan@
Dear Cindy in Norman,
Thank you for your question as I now know I was pushing some right buttons when I answered it! I’ve been feeling like this little kid trying to play skippy, watching the rope go round but not being able to get into the game! Yes Laura, I do remember you and Marta and Sharon! You’ll probably all be trying to get me off this thing once I really get going. My son’s into guitar and he has found some great stuff while showing me how to get in and my husband’s into diving so I might have to fight to get a seat here! My question was about Gold Standard Quilts. Perhaps I shouldn’t have given it that name as I’m not even sure they exist. I don’t know if any of you remember the quilt top I bought in Omaha last year but it had a checkerboard of indigos, shirtings and mourning prints and someone at the conference thought it was possible it could have been a Gold Standard Quilt. Because it had just this one gold patch in the whole design and that the fabrics could be dated to 1900c. Jill gave me a lovely antique photo of President McKinley and his wife which has a love story attached to it.I am trying to find out if there are other quilts out there that were made to support McKinley’s campaign for the Gold Standard Act – or anything else connected to them. Perhaps I should have headed it political statements made in quilts but that might be too broad a net. I’m off to our own West Australian Quilting Association to see what our library has today but am unsure whether I’ll be able to find anything. Lovely to know I’ve touched base. Won’t make it this year back to the States but who knows maybe next year.
Love Roberta in now raining Perth, Western Australia!
