February 20 – 22, 1999
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:
- Hidden in Plain View Critique — An extended, passionate debate over the claims in the Underground Railroad quilt code book, with members questioning its sourcing, methodology, and historical accuracy.
- Orphan Blocks — A member asks what others do with inherited or found antique quilt blocks that have no provenance or unfinished project to return to.
- Reproduction Fabric Lines — Discussion of new 1840s reproduction fabric lines and sources for purchasing historically accurate prints.
- Log Cabin Quilt Dating — Members discuss the age and origins of the Log Cabin pattern, including a documented Indiana example made shortly after Lincoln’s death. (see the article on dating quilts)
- Vintage Quilts Magazine — A member mentions imperfections shown in antique quilts featured in the current issue of Vintage Quilts magazine.
- Antique Dealers and Shops — Recommendations for antique shops and co-ops specializing in quilts and textiles, including a high-end venue in Adamstown, Pennsylvania.
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 23:07:13 EST | From: EllynLK@
I have been pulling out all of the antique “orphan” blocks that I’ve inherited or found… just wondering what others of you have done to display these.
I’m going to be doing some redecorating in the spring and want to use these in my decor. Just want to know what good ideas are out there to use these little treasures in new and different ways.
Found one I forgot I had… found it a few years ago at a flea market. I have no idea what pattern it is but I bought it because it has three paper template pieces pinned to it. They were cut from an envelope and as fortune would have it, there is a postmark! November 26, 1928 at 4:30 p.m. I would like to somehow display this block along with the templates.
Ideas welcome!
Lauri Klobas
Pacific Palisades, California
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 22:16:46 -0700 | From: Eileen Trestain <ejtrestain@>
OKAY folks. I just can’t bite my tongue any more.
I bought the underground RR book, Hidden in Plain View. First, I have to say up front that I believe in the likelihood that an Underground RR may have used quilts in some manner to give directions, or memorize the way, similar to a map. I bought the book believing this to be a possibility.
I believe the African American culture is/was wise in many more ways that anyone ever gave them credit for at the time, and that their resiliency of spirit is what helped them to survive in the most appalling of conditions.
Now to the book itself. The original author of the book, Jaqueline
Tobin, met an African American woman selling quilts in a flea market in South Carolina, and the woman hinted at the Underground RR legend, which has been with us for years. Leaving aside the possibility that this could have been a most delightful ploy for an elderly woman to sell her quilts to a tourist, we assume she has told them an oral legend handed down that nobody so far has been able to prove.
For the first 63 pages, we get to read the forward by not one, but three people who I presume are well known for their knowledge of African
American history and African tribal history, as well as introductions by both authors. One of these people is Cuesta Benberry, a highly respected quilt historian.
Much of the first portion of the book itself is about African tribal arts and history. The book makes a point that the African American community has a long history of oral traditions. I understand that, too. But every time I felt that approached the subject the book was supposed to be about in the first half of the book, I felt like they dodged, and danced, and never quite reached the subject I was interested in.. the quilts. the authors give a grouping of quilt blocks which the woman named as the blocks that were used. Then they take us on a convoluted journey of how they decided what the blocks may have meant in use. One of the ideas which they have put forward was the Dresden plate pattern symbolizing a town of Dresden Ohio. Does anyone know of any recorded history of the pattern named as Dresden Plate in the 1800’s? Yes, the pattern existed in c.1800 medallion quilts, where it is now named in England as a Dahlia, but can anyone tell me how old the Dresden Plate name is? Yes, Wagon Wheel patterns were in use. Why would the Wheel pattern lead them to Dresden, Ohio?
Next, we come to how old spiritual songs relate to underground railroad themes. And about the representational pictorial quilts of Harriet
Powers. But, so far, I fail to see a great relation to proving the underground RR theme.
Now, to a more telling part, in my estimation. The photographs. Many of the photographs are recently made quilts, made by the second author,
Raymond Dobard. Staged in scenic positions in old slave quarters, but in bright modern colors, the quilts do stand out. However, it is the quilts which are supposedly slave quilts, one which was “a exceptional example of an early log cabin quilt that was made by a fugitive slave in the 1840’s….” Though a terrible photo supplied by the museum, it appears to be a classic C.1880 black silk quilt with considerable damage. On the next page is another log cabin quilt which “is said to be slave made. The date is given as 1830’s by it’s owner.” Here we have a c.1830 quilt, complete with a nice strip of mourning print right up the middle, at the front of the picture? It looks to me like a classic c.1900 log cabin utility quilt, with a baptist fan quilt pattern overall, and possibly a moderately thick to very thick batting, common at that time. Even relative novices I have asked, out of curiosity, and without leading the witness, as it were, have responded when asked “When was this quilt made?” have said without hesitation “Turn of the Century.” A few pages later, we have a quilt, admittedly made in 1980, from the MEMORY of a quilt owned by the maker in her childhood, but which was destroyed by a fire. It features stars in a random pattern, and an unusual quilting design, with some colored threads as some of the quilting. This is supposed to be the topographical map of an unnamed plantation, where the maker, who is still living, quite obviously never lived during the years of slave incarceration.
On the following page, we have a quilt made by the Daughters Of Dorcas, an African American Quilters Guild. This quilt was made in 1987-88, and features several of the patterns listed by the elderly woman. (but who
DIDN’t use those same patterns in the 1980’s for their sampler quilts?)
It is convenient for the authors that the African American quilt maker,
Ozella Williams, passed away last fall, as there is no one left to further question by any other person who might be interested, or who may have been more through in their research. If I, at first glance, can shoot holes in the dates of the quilts they tell us are very early examples of Log cabin quilts, and this is what kind of knowledge and research they have built their story around, it makes the rest of the book look pretty shoddy. I personally had hoped for some definite proof, or at least a decent jumping off place. The best part of the book, in my opinion, is the extensive bibliography on underground RR articles and books which we find at the back of their book. If you want to know more about the Underground RR, use that list. If you want to know about quilts from the underground RR, this isn’t going to help you much.
Just my very personal opinion of this much discussed book.
Eileen
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 22:29:23 -0700 | From: Eileen Trestain <ejtrestain@>
I guess I am on a soap box tonight.
There are a couple things to consider other than ease of quilting in choosing battings.
Cotton and wool battings have a long history of survival. Polyester doesn’t.
Cotton and Wool are very breathable, and are not so likely to trap moisture under the quilt, so they feel cooler in the summer and warmer in teh winter.
Wool and cotton are somewhat fire resistant, wool more than cotton. If you see a burned quilt with a poly batting, you will never forget the sight of how it burned , and melted. There is nothig quite like the feel and sound of a smoked poly batting, which melts between the layers of cotton top and lining, and crinkles and crackles as you handle it.
Rather eerie whan you think somebody might have been sleeping under it as it melted.
I like Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon, probably because grandma would never use anything else, and I like that traditional feel, and Hobbs Organic if I want a bit more loft. I like way Hobbs wool feels, but I am afraid to handle it too long, as I am allergic to wool, and don’t want to take teh chance. I don’t quilt with it.
Eileen
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 11:33:32 -0500 | From: Nancy Roberts <robertsn@>
To: QHL@
Subject: QHL: Story of reproduction fabric
Message-ID: <36D0355C.355D@>
For those interested in how reproduction fabric lines are designed, you might check out Chiori Santiago’s article on the topic in The Fabric Special Showcase, a special issue of Traditional Quiltworks magazine from Chitra
Publications. The article covers P&B Textile’s collection based on quilts from the Oakland Museum. This issue is no longer on the newsstands, but back issues can be purchased from the publisher if you missed it. The website is http://www.QuiltTownUSA.com/ or you can call a credit card order at 800-628-8244. Nancy
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 11:43:21 -0500 | From: Alan Kelchner <quiltfix@>
Liz, I have only one suggestion about your quilt – if it is something that you dearly love, cannot stand the thought of not owning, you feel the price is reasonable and you can afford it, then run (not walk) back to the store and get the silly thing before someone else falls in love!!!! I missed out on one (at that point too chicken to bid on ebay)
that I wish I had bought. Can’t get it out of my mind. But OTOH, if it’s not screaming to come home, I won’t buy it. So I buy very few any more. Would rather buy something that wants to come home with me. And this does not mean that they are fancy and expensive. That is not requisite. My most favorite one is a utilitarian piece that is worn (it was filler for another, very ugly top). As for date, it’s not fair to ask online (whimper-chinquiver). We have to see it. I will stick my neck out far enough to guess at depression era, but that is not definite. My suggestion is to buy and take it home. Love it as is, folded over a chair that is infrequently used, so you can look at it. And never on the couch – someone will inevitably snuggle under it. One of my first jobs came from such an incident. The ladies daughter got under it and was re-arranging the portion over her legs with her foot (don’t we all before we sit up and use our hands?). Anyhow, the quilt was a fragile pieceand, sure enough, her foot went straight through the center! It was easily repaired, and (brag, brag) I couldn’t find the repair easily myself (someone caught me photographing the wrong place – oops).
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 11:56:07 -0500 | From: Alan Kelchner <quiltfix@>
Someone may need to help me here – memory must be going. Watched television the other night and my interest was piqued when the narrator was talking about how these (3rd world men) would not make their (item)
perfect, as only Mohammed was perfect. This was on Discovery/TLC, and I meant to remember everything, but …………
Wait, just remembered – It was PBS, “Antiques Roadshow”, and whichever middle-eastern tribe had woven the rug they were appraising (the rug was
HUGE). The man appraising stated that they wouldn’t use matching dye lots of yarn to create the piece, because only Mohammed was perfect and capable of making perfection. And as the years went on, the dye lots would fade differently, making the differences even more noticeable (the rug in question had blue sections that were two different shades of the same color). Of course, the flags went up in my brain because of the connection to humility blocks in American quilts. I still think that the original humility myths were to cover mistakes, but I also believe that the romanticism of the legend led people to do this on purpose.
Now if I could remember the name of the woman I ran into last week. Used to work with her, can remember the day she came in beaming because her bosom looked bigger (new Wonder Bra), but it’s been a week and I’ll be damned if I can remember her name! Must be a guy thing to remember her chest and not her name (LOL) !
Alan
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 13:27:36 EST | From: QuiltEvals@
In a message dated 2/20/99 6:51:25 PM Pacific Standard Time, QHL-Digest- request@ writes:
<<
Please tell us who is the Quilt Heritage Foundation. How does one become a member. Who will be doing quilt appraisals. The lecture titles sound great!
Who is giving which lecture?
Thank you.
Bobbie A. Aug
Yes, Nancy, I am curious about this as well?
Thanks,
Deborah Roberts
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 11:27:40 -0700 | From: “Jeanne.Fetzer” <Jeanne.Fetzer@>
Thank you for taking the time to point out where you question the authenticity of the Dobard book. All I want to say is, “Amen.” I don’t say that to disprove anything, but to echo the need to look at information and then ask questions. If we want quilt history to be taken seriously, we must carefully research and support our findings based on fact.
Thank you, thank you!
Jeanne Fetzer
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 13:36:17 EST | From: QuiltEvals@
Yesterday, I had the privilege of seeing the strike offs for a new “1840’s”
line by Pat Nickols….Pat, I hope it was okay to tell, I just had to share the news. The line is exciting….very accurate in detail and color. Of course, there are the original colors and added color ways as well, but they are all WONDERFUL! We were able to compare a few of the original fabrics to the repros. Pat, like Sharon Newman has taken actual prints from quilts and fabrics in her collection. This seems to be the way to do it – at least for these two. The line is being produced by P&B and should be available in late Spring, Pat will be introducing it at Quilt Market this May.
Sorry, I don’t usually do this, and I don’t mean to sound like a commercial, but when you see them you will understand my excitement.
Deborah Roberts
Costa Mesa, CA
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 99 16:22:48 EST | From: “Bob Mills” <decision@>
To Jennifer and others:
In the East, Agway which is a retail store and nursery catering to area farmers and yuppies, sells Orvus and it is not special order. I just bought a container of 7 1/2 pounds for $19.95 and my quilt store orvis is 8 oz. for $4.99. You need to find something like a feedstore or farmers co-op. I live in a very suburban area of NJ but am lucky we still have these stores. And my quilts are getting very clean.
About a year or so ago I went into Agway and was told they were sold out.
Mrs. G. is washing all her sheep this week!
Jan Drechsler (not Bob)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bobmills/jan.html
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 99 16:22:47 EST | From: “Bob Mills” <decision@>
Just a word of thanks on the repro fabric information. Already I have learned a lot!
Jan Drechsler (not Bob)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bobmills/jan.html
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 16:34:18 EST | From: Kathi2174@
Alan,
I did get to see wool yarn being dyed in the bazaar in Herat, Afghanistan in 1971. I’m sure the methods had not changed in centuries. The term for the streakiness in the color is “abrash.” It is a word of Turkish origin, that originally meant the dappled or speckled colors on horses. It has long been used to refer to the variation in saturation/hue in yarns used to weave rugs. It’s caused in two ways: 1. By crude (not bad, just primitive) technology used by dyers doing up a single batch. The second is by reusing the dye-bath.
The second and third uses have less pigment, therefore give varying shades.
Not much to do with quilts, is it? Unless we relate the “use what you have “
concept to explain variations in techniques in stead of the romantic lack of perfection notion.
Off the soap box!
Kathi in Calif.
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 15:21:09 -0800 | From: “Christine Thresh” <christine@>
To:
Subject: QHL: I read Hidden in Plain View
Message-Id: <199902212322.PAA00834@>
Tilde’s post asked for input from those who read the book, Hidden in Plain View.
I read the book and was disappointed. The story told by the old African American woman was interesting, but the book did nothing to really back it up. There were lots of references to African textiles and Masonic symbols, but they did not seem to tie in with the story told by the quilter. The books I own about quilting patterns led me to believe many of the patterns she said were in the quilt “map” were not in usage at the time of the Underground Railroad. The author of Hidden stated that she obtained the information from the quilter in one three hour session.
Christine Thresh http://www.winnowing.com
Christine Thresh http://www.winnowing.com/
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 20:00:30 -0500 (EST) | From: JOCELYNM@
On 20-FEB-1999 21:53:29.5 QHL said to JOCELYNM
> Well, for my two cents, I supported the decision of the (A)IQA to have only quilts that had not been exhibited elsewhere. There are so many wonderful quilts out there that it is good to see different quilts at the different shows instead of quilts “making the rounds”.
Jean Ann,
It was my understanding, however, that this rule applied to things like entering our quilts in our local quilt shows, the county fair, etc. The talk here was how it was going to ‘dumb down’ local shows, if the very best quilters held out their work for the big shows…plus, if a quilt could only be shown once, that seems like a shame!
OTOH, I really hate to go to a show and see things I’ve seen before. So
I don’t know what the happy balance is…
>seen on samplers where the maker cross-stitches the letter Z backwards so as not to offend God by making a perfect piece and have thought the practice might carry over to quilting.
Jill,
I once spoke with a ‘plain’ quilter who said that it would be an affront to God to deliberately put in a mistake, because that would mean you thought you HAD achieved perfection up to that point! <G> I don’t know if that were the teachings of her sect, or her personal opinion, though.
>Anyway, the quilt has what I would call a humility block in the lower right hand side of the quilt. The “mistake on purpose” is that the flowers are a totally different color than the rest of the quilt. It
This may be that the quilter ran out of fabric, and used a scrap of another fabric that, at the time, matched, but over the years the dyes have aged differently. I have a turn of the century Carolina Lily where the majority of the red flowers are now brown (fading of turkey red dyes, presumably). Among the blocks that are still red, are several different shades of red, leading me to believe the quilter was making do with whatever red scraps she could find.
Jocelyn
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 19:23:08 -0800 | From: Marilyn Maddalena <marilyn@>
Eileen, thank you so much for your thoughtful and intelligent insights into the UGRR book, and for taking the time to set them out so clearly so those of us who are still novices can learn from you. You put in words just what I had been thinking, but hadn’t taken the time to completely analyze yet. I do think it’s an interesting book, I’m glad I bought it and read it, and it has added to my knowledge — (as does everything I read in one way or another) but I sure don’t want to take it as the gospel truth. Last night on the History Channel was a very lengthy program on the UGRR — unless I fell asleep in the middle, or was distracted by chocolate(!), there was not one mention of quilts in the entire program. I kept waiting for it — and thought it quite odd that such a lengthy program, obviously thoroughly researched by experts — would not even mention signals by use of quilts, or maps, or anything else about quilts. The only mention was of a lantern in the window of safe houses. Wonder if the authors of the Hidden in Plain View book knew of this program — and which one is accurate? Anyone else see it and wonder, too? Marilyn in Sacramento –
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 21:05:55 -0800 | From: Audrey Waite <awquiltr@>
For those interested in learning more about dating antique quilts through patterns and fabric, our own Eileen Trestain will be teaching a class called “Dating and Heavy Petting” at Quilt Camp in the Pines, Saturday, July 24, 1999. Send a SASE for the complete schedule to: Quilt Camp in the Pines, 160 Sugar Loaf Drive, Sedona, AZ 86336. Eventually we will have the class schedule on-line at: http://www.quiltcamp.com If you’ve never been to a quilter’s retreat or similar outing, you’re really missing a treat! Audrey Waite –
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 07:59:37 -0500 | From: Barb Garrett<BGARRETT@
To Judy and others – Marilyn Kowaleski owns a very high scale antique co-op on route 272 in Adamstown, PA, named South Pointe Antiques, just south of the Turnpike entrance. The shop has absolutely beautiful things, not just textiles, and there are always wonderful quilts displayed on the walls above the showcases. It is a showcase co-op, and they are very friendly. I go and look as often as possible — it’s like visiting a wonderful museum. Marilyn has been a fabric and textile collector for many years — back when things were cheap — and she just accumulated them. I don’t know that she actively collects now. Each March she holds a vintage fabrics and textiles show and sale at the co-op — which includes things from her collection and things from the other dealers in the co-op. This year’s begins March 4. I went last year and the things were truly beautiful to look at. I asked last year and they said they continually replace things that are sold, and suggest coming several times during March as new things come out. I know this is at least the 3rd year she has had the show, but it could be longer. As to whether it is worth coming — that’s a personal thing. I live 30 minutes from there, so enjoy looking and hope to go this year. The quality of the items is very, very good, the prices what one would expect for top quality from a dealer who knows what she has. She also has unusual, one of a kind things — pot holders, pin cushions, all kinds of smalls. The shop is closed on Tuesdays If anyone has more questions, please ask and I can look for my literature with hours, etc. Barb in southeastern PA<BGARRETT@
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 08:17:28 -0500 | From: jawhite@
I wasn’t going to say anything, but since the subject has been opened, I agree 100% about this book. My main question about this book is: why did Ozella Williams feel the need to tell a perfect stranger, someone she had never laid eyes on before, about this quilt code after all these years? If this is something that has been handed down orally in families, you’d think we would have heard about by now. The authors didn’t back up the book with enough research. While there is an extensive bibliography listed in the back of the book, there were statements made (supposedly statements of fact) within the book itself that were never attributed to anyone or any research. If you are going to state something as true fact, it must be backed up with research. The bibliography is quite extensive (and very interesting) for such a small book. I also think that there were no directions obtained from the suggested quilt patterns/quilts that couldn’t have been obtained from observing the night sky at the time. Dr. Gladys Marie Fry wrote an excellent monograph on Harriet Powers; yet this was never mentioned. I was left with the feeling that the authors were trying really hard to force a point and just didn’t quite make it. I’m not saying the premise isn’t true – I am saying that much more good research needs to be done. Judy White – Ct
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 10:10:11 EST | From: JQuilt@
More and more we have come to realize how much of “History” is biased opinion…very little or none was ever written about the African American roles in American history…in the military, in the world of inventions and education….but to overcompensate by printing more fictionalized history..is not the answer… The freeing and rescuing of slaves came about because of Abolitionist activists….not by quilts hanging on fences…and to tell the descendents of slaves that it was anything else..does not do anything to help them understand the underground RR movement… when I first heard about the review of “Hidden in Plain Sight”, in USA Today… stating that an old African American women chose a quilt customer to tell all of this “valuable” information…I wrote to QHL saying it had the taint of hoax about it… I know that racism runs rampant in this country and History has always short changed the minorities living in this country…. But “pretend” history is not the answer… jean jquilt@
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 10:37:35 -0600 | From: Laura Hobby Syler <TEXAS_QUILT.CO@>
Jean, and all, You know, I’ve been suspicious of this since I first saw “The Good Dr.” on Oprah….and expressed those views. But what is truely sad, and makes me a little mad, is that we all have bought the book hoping to get more information and at least I for one feel like I was taken to the cleaners!! Almost like that “Instant Expert” book on antique quilts that came out last year……… Laura In chilly N. Texas
At 10:10 AM 2/22/99 EST, JQuilt@ wrote: >More and more we have come to realize how much of “History” is biased >opinion…very little or none was ever written about the African American >roles in American history…in the military, in the world of inventions and >education….but to overcompensate by printing more fictionalized history..is >not the answer… > >The freeing and rescuing of slaves came about because of Abolitionist >activists….not by quilts hanging on fences…and to tell the descendents of >slaves that it was anything else..does not do anything to help them understand >the underground RR movement… >when I first heard about the review of “Hidden in Plain Sight”, in USA >Today… stating that an old African American women chose a quilt customer to >tell all of this “valuable” information…I wrote to QHL saying it had the >taint of hoax about it… >I know that racism runs rampant in this country and History has always short >changed the minorities living in this country…. >But “pretend” history is not the answer… >jean >jquilt@ > > >
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 11:44:29 EST | From: WileneSmth@
charset=US-ASCII
However, it is the quilts which are supposedly slave quilts, one which was “a exceptional example of an early log cabin quilt that was made by a fugitive slave in the 1840’s….” Though a terrible photo supplied by the museum, it appears to be a classic C.1880 black silk quilt with considerable damage. On the next page is another log cabin quilt which “is said to be slave made. The date is given as 1830’s by it’s owner.” Here we have a c.1830 quilt, complete with a nice strip of mourning print right up the middle, at the front of the picture? It looks to me like a classic c.1900 log cabin utility quilt, with a baptist fan quilt pattern overall, and possibly a moderately thick to very thick batting, common at that time. Even relative novices I have asked, out of curiosity, and without leading the witness, as it were, have responded when asked “When was this quilt made?” have said without hesitation “Turn of the Century.” >> I’ve been hoping that someone else would notice (and question) the 1830s Log Cabin quilt in Hidden in Plain View because I wanted to see if others echoed my dating of it. Yes, I, too, immediately dated that quilt at ca. 1900-1910. It’s fabrics are one of the common palettes of that time — cotton calicos of whites (shirting prints), light indigo blues, mourning grays, and wines. While I learned not long ago that a similar light indigo blue existed in the 1820s (I’d love to share my story about those if anyone is interested), but it apparently was not widely used. The wine color did not, as far as I’ve discovered, exist until around the last quarter of the 19th century, and I believe the grays began around the same time, though they could date a tad earlier. And I’ve yet to see that fan quilting pattern in a quilt that was made prior to the end of the 19th century, and it was extremely popular for utilitarian quilts early in the 20th century. But my critique of that particular quilt is not limited to Jackie and Raymond’s book, as I have long criticized not one, but many of the quilts illustrated by Gladys-Marie Fry in Stitched from the Soul: Slave Quilts from the Ante-Bellum South (NYC: Dutton Studio Books, 1990). Six quilts are pictured on pages 18-20 (Plates 21-26) with the caption: “These six quilts are said to have been made by ‘sewing women’ — slaves that were specially trained to do quilting.” #21 is a broderie perse so DOES date to slavery days. #22 is “ify” to a date — it’s either 2nd half 19th century or 1st half 20th century. #24 is definitely 19th century (lots of well-worn brown calicos), but a closer date is not possible from that photograph. #26 is a whole cloth quilt which is undateable from this photograph. But #23 and #25 are 20th century and MADE from 1920s-1930s prints, so can’t possibly be “slave made” for obvious reasons. Made by “former slaves,” yes. #23 is a Grandmother’s Flower Garden in the common configuration of two rows of hexagons around the center hexagon, the pieces are typically large, and the prints used are typical 1920s-1930s. #25 is a pattern first published May 1921 in Woman’s World magazine (Chicago) as “Cracker,” then repeated as a Four Patch in this quilt. (This is not to say the design did not “exist” prior to 1921, just that 1921 is the earliest publication date presently known.) The next quilt, a two-color Lone Star top, Plate 27, is also said to be “slave-made,” but I question it, too. Plate 31 (p.22) is an embroidered crazy quilt, mostly wools, said to have been started by a house slave before the Civil War and finished by her daughter in 1895. And there are still more obviously 20th century quilts on pp. 40-41 with the caption: “These three quilts made by slave Nancy Vaughn Ford are important, for they are good examples of the utilitarian quilts made by slaves for their own use in their free time.” The first one, #56, dates ca. 1880-1910. #57 incorporates a printed fabric of giant pastel hearts with large words between them and likely a 1950s fabric. #58 needs no further comment here. #61 is pieced goblet blocks and it is unlikely that pieced picture blocks existed until after the Civil War. I also question #110, #111, and #114, all attributed to a woman “imported from the Congo in 1818” when she was 12 or 13 years old. All three appear to be early 20th century. In discussing Jackie and Raymond’s book, we are doing exactly what Raymond suggested in his Author’s Note on page 33: “Our interpretation of the code is based in part upon informed conjecture. While we believe that our research and the piecing together of our findings present a strong viable case, we do not claim that our ‘deciphering’ of the code is infallible. Nor do we insist that our perspective is the only one for viewing the code. We have written the book in a way that encourages questions. We leave room for the reader to add her/his own ideas and thereby contribute to the growing body of knowledge. In the spirit of quiltmaking, we invite you to join us in juxtaposing ideas so that patterns and meanings are revealed.” And that is exactly what we are doing here on QHL, albeit rather harshly at times. Jackie and Raymond are to be applauded, in my view, for bringing this idea to us “in Plain View.” I’ll climb down off my soap box now, and Thanks for listening. –Wilene
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 10:46:20 -0600 | From: Laura Hobby Syler <TEXAS_QUILT.CO@>
Shelly, do you remember the conversations that we had last year about the “black centered Log Cabins”? There is some documentation back to King Tut’s tomb with one of the golden cat idols wrapped in cloth strips that formed a log cabin design…….I think that Lisa Evans also gave us some art history background???? But I do know that the pattern became popular during Lincoln’s presidency and there after… Laura At 11:15 AM 2/22/99 EST, ZegrtQuilt@ wrote: >I am curious as to when you all think the log cabin pattern developed. This >is in reference to Eileen’s discussion of the book Hidden in Plain View. I >have always thought that the pattern was not in existance as early as it is >referenced in the publication.Shelly Z > > >
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 12:21:47 EST | From: JQuilt@
“Give me a break” message a month or so ago…after reading the review in USA Today…someone wrote to the list saying people(Me) shouldn’t say negative things about a book before they read it…well the review was enough for me NOT to buy the book…that’s what reviews are all about…. When you read that a book was written based on the “fact” that someone who died gave all of the secret codes to a stranger…….I think it’s time to say Buyer Beware jean
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 11:21:10 -0600 (Central Standard Time) | From: Mary Persyn <MARY.PERSYN@>
Have any of you seen this year’s issue of “Vintage Quilts”, the magazine issue from ??? (I’m at work and the mag is at home) containing pictures of old quilts and how to reproduce them? I remember we discussed last year’s issue on line. Anyway, this years issue has an Amish quilt that is all churn dash blocks except one crown of thorns? block and the article says it is a typical example of not wanting to make a perfect quiilt. To my way of thinking the magazine is perpetuating the myth. There are some lovely quilts pictured in the magazine, but again they did not give any information about the provenance of the quilts or much other information of a historical nature. I have some questions about the information they did give also. I think that detracts from the magazine (but didn’t stop me from buying it, of course. :+)) There are articles by Bev Dunivant (hope I spelled the name right) on crazy quilts, Anita Schakelford (ditto as to spelling) on collecting old quilts, and ??? (another senior moment). Now returning to lurkdom, Mary in sunny and cold Valparaiso, IN
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 12:27:29 EST | From: WileneSmth@
been pulling out all of the antique “orphan” blocks that I’ve inherited or found… just wondering what others of you have done to display these. I’m going to be doing some redecorating in the spring and want to use these in my decor. Just want to know what good ideas are out there to use these little treasures in new and different ways. Found one I forgot I had… found it a few years ago at a flea market. I have no idea what pattern it is but I bought it because it has three paper template pieces pinned to it. They were cut from an envelope and as fortune would have it, there is a postmark! November 26, 1928 at 4:30 p.m.
I would like to somehow display this block along with the templates. Ideas welcome! Lauri Klobas Pacific Palisades, California >> This is what I’ve learned to do with the ones that I avidly collect. I’ve accumulated a large collection (about 1,000 now) of these “orphan blocks” over the past 20+ years and they have become a vital part of my quilt pattern research. I’ve learned more about quilt making and quilt makers from them than from any other single source. Many of these were actually “pattern blocks” never intended to be used in a quilt, but as a pattern and how it went together, especially when one finds the templates attached to them. I did a research paper for AQSG about these that’s in Uncoverings 1986. My collection now fills three very large boxes and many of them are unidentified as to name or published source. They range in age from about the 1820s-1830s to the mid-20th century. I use my huge collection of original vintage published sources (and database) to identify a possible source (or sources) for each block (based on the age of its fabrics), and print a label on 100% cotton paper, attaching it to each block with a brass safety pin like we used in the Kansas Quilt Project. I use Barbara Brackman’s numbering system to keep them in a “findeable” order.
While it’s all an exercise in “educated guesswork,” it also gives me a chance to study how each quiltmaker interpreted her design as compared to the published illustration that might have inspired her (and some of these comparisons can be quite humorous today). I once attempted a simple framing project to “protect” them, but soon learned that the backs are nearly as important as the fronts, so I have gradually “unframed” many of them. I shudder when I think of the many “pattern blocks” that were wasted by others in the 1970s in throw pillows and other projects, but that’s all part of the learning process for all of us. –Wilene
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 19:51:45 +0400 | From: Xenia Cord<XECORD@
raised by Shelly of the age of Log Cabin as a quilt design: in Indiana there is a quilt made shortly after Lincoln’s death, in the Log Cabin design. When the funeral train carrying Lincoln’s body passed through Indianapolis, the pillars of the State House were wrapped in black wool bunting. The plan was that the catafalque was to be placed in the rotunda so the citizenry could file past, but a terrible storm necessitated a change in plans, and the casket remained on the train. After the train departed, an Indianapolis restaurant owner obtained some of the bunting and gave it to his wife and daughter, who made a very somber Log Cabin quilt from it. The quilt is rusty black and dark green, primarily, with red centers and a pinky beige wool for the light half of the blocks. The set is Barn Raising. It is presumed that the quilt was made at the time the bunting was obtained, so around 1866-68. You can see the quilt on page 31 of Quilts of Indiana (1991), and read the story. Although not pictured there, there is a photo of the state house and the draping taken when the funeral train was in Indianapolis. A book with this photo is with the quilt. The quilt has been exhibited a number of times in central Indiana, as the descendant is generous in lending it to qualified exhibitors. Xenia
