June 18 - 21, 2004 - QuiltHistory

Quilt Dating, Quilt History Resources, Quiltmaking Techniques & Construction, Restoration & Conservation

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:

Fabric Bolt Widths Over Time — Members compare notes on when cotton bolt widths shifted from 36 inches to the modern 44-inch standard, drawing on personal sewing memories dating to the 1940s and printed timelines.
Lewis and Clark Weblog — A link to a daily weblog summarizing Lewis and Clark expedition events prompts quick appreciation from list members.
Marseilles and Matelassé Quilts — Members work out the difference between woven Marseilles bedspreads and quilted matelassé, tracing terms through textile glossaries and dealer correspondence.
Trapunto and Corded Quilting Origins — A question about the geographic origins of trapunto and corded quilting produces textual evidence from Janet Rae and other sources suggesting both British and Italian roots.
Quilt Cleaning and Conservation Advice — A member asks about cleaning an antique quilt with light damage, receiving measured advice about vacuuming under gauze and leaving well enough alone. (see the article on cleaning antique quilts)

From: patkyser <patkyser@>

RE: Lewis and Clark Thanks for this site, Judy. I’ve long been a L&C buff, went on my first=

Elderhostel last summer, following the trail from St. Louis to the Pacific. I came home and made a small wall quilt to commemorate OUR trip. We saw quilts (not outstanding ones) at the W.H. Over State Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota and at the Custer House at Ft. Lincoln in Nebraska. Did you see the L&C quilts at AQS show in Nashville last summer?

Another note Bets Ramsey, renowned quilt historian from Nashville, TN, will be giving the opening lecture on Sunday, August 8th for Bold Improvisations: 120 Years of African American Quilts, a new exhibit at=

Huntsville Museum of Art. It will run August 8 – September 26, 2004 From the Collection of Scott A. Heffley comes 120 years of African-American quilt making. This exhibition explores the influence=

of African roots on these American quilt making traditions and provides=

historical context and traditional comparisons. Several African textiles are included in the exhibition to facilitate this comparison.

Organized and circulated by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services in Kansas City, Missouri.

Unfortunately I have a family wedding that weekend that will make me miss Bets’ talk.

Pat Kyser, Huntsville, AL

From: “Marcia Kaylakie” <marciark@>

HI All, Will anyone who went to the DAR exhibit in Washington, D.C, contact me please? It turns out the great great grandaughter of one of the quiltmakers in the exhibit lives in Conroe, Texas and would like to know more about the exhibit. The quiltmaker’s name is Bryant. Also, if there is a catalogue of the exhibit, how can we obtain one? Thanks! Marcia

From: Hazelmacc@ D

Good news for historians and scholars from Patricia (Almy) Randolph who edited NIMBLE NEEDLE TREASURERS (NNT) magazine from 1969 until 1975. She has put together a complete, annotated index to one of the early pioneer quilt magaz ines published in America. Cuesta Benberry who contributed to Nimble Needle Treasures Magazine has written the Foreword for the Index. She spells out the reasons for this ind ex in context with the special place NNT stands in the late 1960s quilt history.

Cuesta wrote 22 general articles and many more articles on patterns. She contributed 19 items for “Around the Quilting Frame” and submitted 5 Crosswo rd Puzzles. The magazine gives a list of pattern collectors from across the USA and from Canada. There is also a list of quilters. In fact, there are 4 =BD page s of quilters from across the USA. At that time the majority were probably hand quilters. This list should help complete a quilt’s history in cases where o nly the last name of the quilter is known. In the Quilt Frame Patterns listing,= there are two for machine quilting. Quiltmaking Information includes such topics as borders, geometric shapes, quilting terminology and yardage.

The= listing of classified and display ads was interesting because it tells of th e businesses in those early years of this last quilt revival. The cost of the index is $16.95 plus $3.00 for postage and mailing. To orde r your copy Write: Nimble Needle Treasures Index, 2769 Bridge Avenue, Ponca City, Oklahoma 74604. More good news – the magazine will be placed on a CD, which will be available for purchase. A web-site is also being set up and Patricia plans to show excerpts from various articles printed in NNT from time to time. She will keep us inform on the progress of these two projects.

Hazel Carter in No. VA.

Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 14:07:13 -0500 | From: “Charlotte Bull” <charlou@>

I agree with Joan about fabric widths. But, I can add the info from a Time Line that the dress & blouse/shirt fabrics pre 1916 were usually 24″ to 30″, the 20s to 40s were likely 30″ to 34″ and the late 30s to mid 50s tended to be 36″ to 39″. I was told that the late 50s to early 60s was when the dress fabrics were beginning to be 40″ to 42″ and that the mid 60s saw fabrics at 44″ to 45″. Then by the late 1990s you could find some from 54″ to 60″. This pretty much dovetails with my 50 years of sewing and with the fabrics I have purchased over the years, both “new” and “vintage”.

But all sizes could vary! I recall buying quilt print fabrics in the 1980s at Hancock’s that were about 40″-42″. But the solid color cottons were still 36″. The clerk pointed that out to me as a warning when I was buying lots of yardages. I also own mint condition fabrics still on a bolt that are only 21″. I was told by the vendor from TX, at AQS show, that it was circa 1880. It certainly exactly matches fabrics of that date in my research books. As I recall, 100 years later I paid $21 a yard for it. Worth more now! But, yes, there were really wide early muslins & percales or, as some called them, sheeting.

So we can make an estimate of dates, but nothing is a “sure thing”. However, I definitely remember the very late 1940s or early 1950s when I bought my first dress fabrics that were really wider than 36″. I can still envision that memory of discussing it with the clerk. Miller & Paine department store on the corner of 13th & O in Lincoln, NE!!! It cost about 1 cent per inch!!! Opps! I also recall wearing a size 5 shoe in those days, so let’s not talk personal dress sizes!!! Or dress prices! Although my lace wedding dress in 1955 cost $55 compared to my grandchild’s wedding dress this summer being a sale bargain of $600. I always thought $55 and 1955 went well together!

Enjoy your weekend!!! cb

Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 14:35:46 -0700 (PDT) | From: Kris Driessen <krisdriessen@>

Nine People attended todays meeting of the Capital Region Quilt Study Group, bringing quilts from c.1840 to c.1950. You can see the pictures at http://www.quilthistory.com/study/CRQSG.htm

Our first quilt was a blue and white carpenters wheel with a the type of tree border that seems indicative of the Hudson Valley region of NY. Heavily double and triple quilted, it was showing some signs of wear. One of our members commented that old quilts were meant to be viewed by candlelight, so we experimented with lighting while viewing the quilts. This quilt just glowed in the faux candlelight when we turned the lights off.

The same person brought a four patch quilt which caused our meeting to divide into debate groups. One group pointed out that the size, the border and the dark browns in the quilt indicated it was made c 1870. Another group pointed out that the milk chocolate browns, the peach moire fabric and the linen back made it 30 years earlier. You can see the pictures at http://www.quilthistory.com/study/CRQSG.htm . What do you think?

We also discussed how this quilt was made. Other than the setting blocks and border, the quilt seems to have been made from scraps. Were these scraps left over from dress making? It didn’t appear to me to that they were worn clothing, but would dress making in the 1840’s – 1870’s have leftover pieces of fabric?

Our next quilt was an 1840’s double irish chain made using bars. It must take a lot of planning to make a DIC in strips. We compared the fabric in this quilt to the four patch and they did seem similar, which swayed us to the earlier date.

Our next double Irish chain was made in the 1890’s using the block method. The blocks were all different fabrics, but the appliqued corners were all the same plaid print. It was in absolutely pristine condition. Seems it was made by Mother Brown in Vermont and given to her daughter in law, who did not like her. D-I -L just packed it up and left it to her heirs to sell at an estate sale. Along with all the cardboard quilting templates. There were also two signed wood quilting templates for a feather stitch. There are pictures on the website. It was signed “Laura Weeks, feather, 1848” in pencil.

One last pre Civil War quilt was shown. This one had a triangle border as part of the design of the quilt.

We also saw two gold and white quilts we decided were 30’s or 40’s. The first was a twin sized lone star made by Mrs. Dickerhof of Malvern NY and given as a gift to the current owner in 1959. It had a separate pillow sham. One of our members asked if the sham was indicative of a certain time period – anyone care to hazzard a guess? This quilt had a lot of traditional fan and feather quilting in it.

Our second gold and white was a positive/negative block made from a coarsely woven fabric similar to feedsack fabric. It was purchased in Iowa. One block was the donut, the other was the donut hole. It was also heavily quilted by the piece and had a bias binding.

We were also treated to a small crazy quilt. It was dated 1894 and had a lot of commemorative ribbons in it, along with some interesting floral embroidered motifs and some Kate Greenaway figures.

Our last two quilts were tops from the 1940’s and 50’s. One was a broken dishes pattern made largely of shirting fabrics and the other was a parasol lady in a star setting.

We closed our meeting by examining a pincushion collection.

Our next meeting will be August 7 assuming we can get the room.

Kris

Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 | From: Gail Ingram <gingram@>

Charlotte,

I’ve sewed since I was in junior high school, and my experience generally matches what you cite.

Except for 54″ fabric. I purchased fine wools and other top-line dress fabrics in this width so early as the 60’s. I don’t recall finding cottons or cotton blends in that width until much, much later, perhaps the late 80’s or early 90’s, and I suspect many of these were French and British imports.

Gail

From: “Christine Thresh” <christine@>

I was recently thumbing through the *Singer Sewing Book, Revised, Enlarged Edition* (Second Edition 1954) by Mary Brooks Picken, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited.

On page 16 it said, “Two lengths of 40″ fabric, shoulder to floor, will cut a straight sleeveless or short-sleeved dress. Allow 3/4 yard more for long sleeves, three lengths if skirt is full.”

Christine Thresh http://www.winnowing.com

Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 21:32:03 -0400 | From: Joan Kiplinger <jkip@>

I think when asking about fabric widths, the types of fabric and ifber have to be mentioned; for instance wool was made in 54″ widths in early 1800s and in going through Sears and Ward’s catalogs of the 1890s, most of the wools and wool blends were 45″ to 54″. In cotton, sheeting was made in wide widths; Jackson sheeting, later renamed Indian Head, was available in 40-50″ from the beginning in 1830, as well as many utility muslins and osnaburgs.American percale, introduced in 1860s as the alternative to calicoes which were losing favor due to cheap yarns, has always been 36″. Silks and rayons traditionally were 38-40″ beginning in the 1930s-50s although some silks were 50″ wide — I have a piece of chiffon from the 1890s in that width. And as I mentioned before, staples such as lawn, nainsook and batiste were available in 40″ widths in the 1890s. Cotton broadcloth was one of the earliest to be made in 42″ in the latter 50s when it was first on the market as a drip dry; I remember the elation of using that wider width and how much nicer it was to work with than the traditional 36″. The drip dry part was a disaster 😀 For a recent project I traced fabrics in all fibers from 1880s to 1959 using catalogs, textile glossaries and ads, and it was surprising the wide widths that were available in the latter 1800s. I would share this with the list but it is is for another project to be published later. For the past 6 years or so, 50″ to 60″ width in cotton has been the norm in the Swisses and is starting to filter down into quilting and dress cottons.

From: “Jocelyn Martin” <jocelynm@>

Jennifer, One of the first things my mother taught me about selecting fabric was to be sure to check whether it was 36″ or 45″. This would be c. 1965. By the time I started sewing, c. 1970, she had ceased to remind us girls of that, and we were all astounded if someone found a bolt of 36″ fabric. In other words- by 1965, 36″ fabric was pretty much the standard. 🙂 Perhaps someone slightly older than myself will remember HER mother telling her to watch for 24″ vs. 36″?:)

From: “Jocelyn Martin” <jocelynm@>

>>>Where did the ladies get their fabrics and notions? Did they use remnants from other sewing projects or the “good” parts of worn clothing or did they buy material specifically for a quilt?

All of the above!<G> Each quilter made up her own mind as to which to use, and it probably differed from quilt to quilt. For example, my grandmother didn’t use worn clothing, saying that by the time a garment was too worn to wear, it was too worn to re-use. Of course, she had a husband and several sons and only one daughter. The menfolks’ shirts would be grimy and sweaty from working in the fields- no wonder she didn’t want to use them in quilts!<G> Also, they would primarily be solids, and not so interesting to piece, and if she’d made them, she already had leftover pieces that were brand-new to use. I was just thumbing through a book on clothing construction from 1943 (more interesting than getting on with house-cleaning!) and there were instructions about how to re-use dresses, how to make 2 dresses out of 3 old ones, etc. So probably my grandmother’s old dresses, with full skirts, were more profitably used in making baby and toddlers’ clothing, than cutting up for quilts.

Another source you didn’t mention was trading fabric with friends. A source in the 1920s-1930s was Sears- which sold off the scraps from their manufacturing for quilt pieces. My mother remembers my grandmother getting a batch that were all the same shape, apparently the cut-aways from under the arm and along the side seam of a child’s dress. She designed a quilt top that used those triangles just as they were, rather than spending the time to cut them into another, smaller, shape. 🙂

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 00:13:33 -0500 | From: “Jocelyn Martin” <jocelynm@>

>>I was interested, when I went to the site, to read that the same quilter quilted this embroidered quilt with 13 stitches to the inch and the Round the World quilt with only 8.

Barb, I have a family heirloom quilt that is pieced very roughly. The quilter was a master quilter, but this was one of her last quilts and obviously either her eyesight or her coordination was going. It is a GFG that has each of the outside hexagons fussy-cut, centered over a flower in the fabric. Design-wise, it’s gorgeous. But the quilting isn’t. It might also happen in reverse, if one were seeing an early quilt made by a child and a later quilt made by a craftsmaster quilter. (we know that’s not true of my quilt because of the fabrics, which date to the end of Mrs. Clark’s life, not the beginning.)

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 02:27:55 -0400 | From: Patricia L Cummings <quiltersmuse@>

Dear Kris:

Thanks so much for the report on your latest meeting. The photos add so much, too! Particularly amusing is the “parasol lady quilt in a star setting”. This is the first quilt of this type (that I’ve seen) in which the lady has “lost her head”. Did a double take on that on! Just the chuckle I needed. Thanks.

Pat Cummings

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 11:10:52 +0100 | From: “Sally Ward” <sallytatters@>

I seem to recall both 36 and 45″ widths on the shelves when I was busy dressmaking in the 60s UK. One way to guage the arrival of different widths might be to look at vintage dressmaking patterns to see when the yardage tables started to give requirements for alternative widths.

And wasn’t it the more exotic fabrics, jerseys, wools etc., that came in even wider widths?

Sally W

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 05:55:56 -0500 | From: “Marcia Kaylakie” <marciark@>

HI All, Jumping in on the discussion about widths, here’s one that will confuse eceryone. Mission Valley Mills fabrics from New Braunfels were making their fancies (unusual style cottons with embroidery and other items) in 60″ wide from the 1950s on. So if you lived in Texas and bought locally, you might have seen wide widths in cotton very early! Marcia

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 06:55:07 -0400 | From: Joan Kiplinger <jkip@>

Jocelyn — like Charlotte Bull, I started sewing in mid-1940s. Most cottons were 36″, occasionally 34″ & 35″ were to be found; however, depending on manufacturer and type of fabric, 36″ width could include variances in selvage width of 1/4″ to 1″. For instance good voile then and as today has sevages of 1″ to 3/4″, lesser grades will be the standard 1/4″ or shuttleless edge. So one had to take those differences into consideration. I don’t recall any widths less than 34″ at that time and 24″ to 26″ width range probably ceased after WWI for the most part. Catalogs tend to bear this out. Your mother was wise to make you aware of differences; I was giving the same advice about that time to friends who were beginner sewers. It was equally important to make sure patterns contained 36″ width layout as well if that was width of fabric selected.

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 09:09:57 -0400 | From: Joan Kiplinger <jkip@>

Marcia — I read something recently about Mission Valley MIlls — is this the area where the National Cotton Museum is located? Re the wide fabrics — do you recall if they were more for home use? Many linens and other fancy cottons suitable for light to medium-weight drapes and home decorating came in exceptionally wide sheeting widths which I recall in the 40s and 50s. Your comment reinforces the need to identify fabric category when asking about widths in any era.

From: mswaller

I was surprised to read Pat Kyser’s post mentioning quilts she saw at the W.H. Over State Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota while following the Lewis and Clark route last summer. I live in Vermillion.

Pat’s absolutely right, the Over Museum usually has about a half-dozen quilts on display and they are not outstanding ones. Most are 1930s and later; what’s on display may include one or two quilts pre-1900. To the best of my memory, the one or two c. 1850 pieces are not outstanding and have been displayed once in the twenty years I’ve lived here during a quilt exhibit. Definitely nothing from the L&C expedition time. There’s usually a 1930s quilt in the claims shack; don’t bother telling them it is not appropriate to the era, they like it there.

Don’t be disappointed by the quilts; go for the Lewis and Clark and Native American exhibits. Two of the best Native American artists have works in the Over Museum; there’s a diarama Oscar Howe worked on and one of Oscar’s best-known students, Bobby Penn, painted the background for the family life exhibit. If you are interested in real Native American art, beadwork and quilts, plan to spend time in the museum’s gift shop.

If you’re in Vermillion, be sure to visit the Oscar Howe Gallery in Old Main. If you are interested in Native American or Western American history or ornithology, research the Chilson Collection at the I.D. Weeks Library before you leave home to see if they have anything you want to see. If you like Native American art, wander around the I.D. Weeks Library; there’s always a lot of it on the walls, especially on the second floor.

If you are into music history, you’ll want to see the National Shrine to Music museum. For more art, check the exhibit at the Fine Arts school’s main gallery. All of these are on the University of South Dakota campus within five blocks of each other. FMI, http://www.usd.edu/museums.cfm.

There are also a few quilts in a glass case at the Dakota Territorial Museum in Yankton, South Dakota. If you go to Yankton, go another 30 minutes north to Heritage Hall on the campus of the Freeman Academy in Freeman, SD. There is a wonderful collection of Native American items, collected by Kent Wintersteen, that includes a wonderful child’s star quilt in excellent condition.

In Pierre, SD, visit the Cultural Heritage Center. There are usually several quilts on display there.

Mary Waller Vermillion, SD

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 09:25:59 -0500 | From: louise-b <vlbequet@>

How wonderful to see that there is going to be an index & a CD of the magazine. After reading Gwen Martston’s book on Mary Schafer I definitely wanted to find those magazines and now it will be possible.

On the widths of material, I remember 36″ widths for cottons when I started sewing in the late 40s and early 50s. I remember some Botany woolens from the early 50s that I think weren’t the 54″ width but not sure now.

Louise Bequette — in mid-Missouri

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 09:20:55 -0500 | From: “Charlotte Bull” <charlou@>

Thanks, Joan, for added comments. To be very open and honest with you all, I shall admit that I only think of COTTON fabrics for quilts or for little kids dresses and my own square dance dresses. I really did not do much with wool or rayon. I am so single minded that, to me, Fabrics are created and purchased for future Quilts! Sorry! I abjectly apologize! But I did make a sport coat for my husband out of gray cashmere wool he’d bought when on duty in England. I drew the line after making a pair of slacks for him out a nice navy wool. I declared that I was not a tailor! I would condescend to make his Western shirts out of cotton plaids because the leftover scraps were useable!!! For doll dresses or Quilts! So do not expect me to know anything about other fibers! : ))) Oh yes, the sails I made for his sailboats were cotton! I did extend myself to make down jackets and sleeping bags out of nylon fabrics because he begged!!!

We speak of Kits and we think of embroidery, applique & pieced quilt kits. We bought Kits to make the jackets, mittens and sleeping bags and they included packets of down. Yes, we camped in the New York and Colorado Winters! cb

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 07:48:38 -0700 | From: “Laurette Carroll” <rl.carroll@>

> Our next quilt was an 1840’s double irish chain made using bars. It > must take a lot of planning to make a DIC in strips.

Hello and thanks for sharing the photos of your group meeting. You can make a Double Irish Chain by piecing it in blocks. See Brackman’s Encyclopedia, #2028 for what appears to be the exact pattern used in the quilt shown. Notice how the points where the blocks meet are not exactly like the center of the of the block (in the quilt photo).

Laurette Carroll Southern California

Look to the Future With Hope

From: Patricia L Cummings <quiltersmuse@>

Laurette Carroll Southern California

My first large bed quilt (queen size) was a Double Irish Chain constructed with the strip method, a la Eleanor Burns method.

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 10:15:59 -0500 | From: Gail Ingram <gingram@>

Dear Charlotte,

Carolyn Miller has heard of a quilt museum at Rogers, Ark. Is it good? REALLY good? Worth a trip, when we could be in Gawgia? Carolyn lives in Dallas area, I in N. LA. and could make a weekend visit to Rogers if it a) exists b) is open on weekends. Address?

One more query of import: Do you know of examples of Whig’s Defeat quilts in your area? Are they block or the older, set-in types?

How are the cows and Wal-Mart types up your way?

Gail

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 10:56:58 -0500 | From: “Laura Syler” <texas_quilt.co@>

Marcia, I remember as a young child, playing under the bolts of fabric at the old Jem Fabrics store on 2222 in Austin- for what seemed like HOURS (gosh-MOM!!!) while my mother sorted through patterns, then fabric and then judiciously studied the back of the pattern packet to figure out the conversion charts. She and the sales lady always had to rework the yardage’s when ever she (which seemed most of the time) purchased fabrics from Mission Valley. She always remarked how wonderful it was to find such wide fabrics, and made just down the road a piece- when making two dresses – for me and my NOT twin sister (17 months apart!) Laura Hobby Syler Richardson, Texas —

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 12:43:44 -0500 | From: Gail Ingram <gingram@>

Folks,

I apologize for posting to the list an email intended for Charlotte Bull.

And if you work for, love, hang out at in pink lycra pants (!) Wal-Mart, please don’t be insulted. Charlotte understands. The rest of you probably don’t.

As for cows, I make no apologies, esp. since they have been the subject of such fond comments on this list lately, though I have to say those down around Brenham, TX, that produce Blue Belle vanilla ice cream have always dearer to my heart than most. Even dearer than the ones that produce Blue Belle chocolate ice cream. Wonder what those dear ladies would do for the dye industry today.

Gail

From: “Susan Wildemuth” <ksandbcw@>

I recently acquired a quilted petticoat on a trip back home from Bloomington, Illinois at an antique shop along the way. It is made from muslin/or muslin-like material and is machine quilted. The quilting starts about 4 inches down from the waistband and it is quilted horizontally every two inches. The quilting pattern used is simple — like someone put a piece of masking tape around the entire body of the petticoat and the quilter quilted on both sides of the masking tape; repeating the same technique all the way down to the hem. The waistline is 22 inches. The petticoat has two button holes — one at the waistband and one about 3 1/2 inches down on the main part of the petticoat.. I am unable to tell if the button hole openings are machine or hand done as some the stitching is close, but not what my sewing machine would do today. The buttons themselves are missing. I’m 5 foot 3 and the hem hits just above my ankle and the hem is crocheted (33 inches from the top of the waistband to hem). It is in good condition. I do not have a picture of it yet, but it looks similar to this petticoat http://www.1860-1960.com/xa1273p0.html , but it does not have the tie in the back — mine has buttons. I was assured it was not a reproduction piece, but the “Real McCoy.” Any ideas on how I can date it? Are the buttons a clue to it’s age? Were most petticoats tied at the waist instead of buttoned? What years were petticoats in vogue? Any books on the subject? Any help you give me would be greatly appreciated?

Thanks, Sue in Illinois

From: Donald Beld <donbeld@>

A while back Kim Wulfert wrote in about the U.S. Sanitary Commission Quilt on public display at the Lincoln Shrine in Redlands, California and talked about the name of the block.

Brackman’s closest block is the Old Italian Block, but she attributes that to Nancy Cabot–long after the period of the Civil War..

I, also, have always been curious about the block name. I know it is the block used in two of the existing Sanitary Quilts and that it was a popular block both before the Civil War and during.

The name I always associated with it was simply “The Album Block”.

I came across another name for it in The American Quilt, 1993, Roderick Kiracofe, where he uses the name Album Crosses, on page 89 for a quilt dated c. 1840.

For those of you interestedin current quilting, I am spear heading a drive by my guild, Citrus Belt Quilters, in REdlands, Ca (home of the Lincoln Shrine) to make replica U.S. Sanitary Commission quilts based on the Shrine’s quilt to give to the families of War Dead in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties–to honor them and link them to our nation’s past. Currently we have lost 17 service persons in Afghanistan. Don Beld

From: Jccullencrew@

Dear Don, Your plan to make Sanitary Commission Quilts in rememberance of those lost in Afghanistan is a lovely thing to do. The relatives, I’m sure, will find comfort in holding on to or wrapping themselves in the quilt. Did you come up with a pattern for the quilts based on the ones you have seen? Or were they made according to each seamstresses specifications? And what type fabrics were used? Anything that was available or were they only darker colors? Were they one piece of fabric that was tied in quilt fashion? No doubt there was little time to fuss over the quilts since so many were needed at the time. I remember this topic coming up before and I was very curious about those quilts. Can you fill me in on the above please? I know I can get correct answers from you. We lost two soldiers in Iraq in our town in the past couple of months and I’m thinking that perhaps I could find several quilters who would be willing to do this also. I’m looking forward to hearing from you. Kind regards. Carol Grace

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 08:53:19 +0100 | From: “Sally Ward” <sallytatters@>

Since I was unable to back up my early log cabin silk purse claim a few weeks ago I have been trying to track down where I actually got the reference from. Two emails and three phone calls to the V&A have (very frustratingly) elicited no response, and I’ve checked every book I can think of to no avail. So I have to hold my hand up and admit to giving unsubstantiated information.

My last hope is a new book published by quilt historian Jan Rae which I gather is to be launched at the Festival of Quilts in August here in Birmingham, UK. the blurb says :

<Rae, Janet and Travis, Dinah, Making Connections Around the World with Log Cabin (RT Publishing, Chartham, 2004) Includes historical development of one pattern from 100AD, its spread to Europe and the British Isles (including Scotland), North American and ‘Down Under’. Work by contemporary quiltmakers in Japan, Australia, Europe, North American and UK is also included as well as design development projects based on traditional quilts.>

I guess if my vindication isn’t in there, it won’t be anywhere. I’ll let you know.

No affiliation etc.

Sally W

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 06:16:54 -0400 | From: “Karen” <@charter.net>

Janet Rae did mention it in Quilts of the British Isles…it’ll be interesting to see the book. Do you know if it’s scheduled for publication in the United States?

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 12:19 | From: “Celia Eddy” <celia.eddy@>

We usually describe Trapunto and corded quilting as Italian but are there any books which cover the whole history and tradition of quilting and/or patchwork in Italy? Thanks Celia

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 12:34:08 +0100 | From: “Sally Ward” <sallytatters@>

> Janet Rae did mention it in Quilts of the British Isles

Indeed, but that reference just leads back to Seligman and Hughes’ ‘English Domestic Needlework’, and my edition doesn’t give an illustration. I can’t figure out why I think it was in the V&A.

…it’ll be > interesting to see the book.

Very!

Do you know if it’s scheduled for publication > in the United States?

I don’t, but I can ask.

Sally W

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 07:55:02 -0500 | From: patkyser <patkyser@>

Ah, Charlotte, your note brought back memories. I, too, made dozens of down jackets from those Frostline kits from Colorado. They were wonderful, miraculous in that if you did each step and checked if off in the booklet, you ended up with a very professional looking jacket.I did several where I appliqued patchwork designs on the final shell. The hardest one I did was a rain slicker and pants with so many zippers that I think you could have fallen overboard in a North Sea storm and stayed dry. And, I, too, have made sails for my husband’s sail boats. My first ones were from lovely Egyptian cotton. Because Nassar had declared an embargo on their cotton, we had to scour the nation to find enough, finding some in Maine and some in New Orleans. (Remember, this was late fifties, eons before the internet!) There was no “pattern” but only a book written in England with many phrases I did not understand. I had to figure out the “pattern” by working with math and the height of the mast, depth of the keel and had to build “belly” in for when the wind first filled the sail and stretched it. We cleared our den of furniture and laid it out with masking tape on the oak floor.I made them on a 1950 Featherweight using an ancient attachment that allowed you to make a zig zag stitch by jiggling the fabric back and forth. Hard to sew a straight line with that fabric jerking back and forth! I was SO PROUD when those sails first were raised. I had never even seen a sail boat up close until my husband finished building the first one and we launched it. I was an idiot to tackle the taskwith my dearth of knowledge , but too in love to tell my husband I couldn’t! I still have the “sailor’s thumb” I wore for the hand work. For later boats I made dacron sails and I hated working with that slippery fabric. Pat in Alabama

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 09:11:11 EDT | From: MSNeedleArts@

In a message dated 6/21/2004 6:24:49 AM Central Daylight Time, celia.eddy@ writes:

We usually describe Trapunto and corded quilting as Italian but are there any books which cover the whole history and tradition of quilting and/or patchwork in Italy?

Funny, I always think of corded quilting as French, since it was produced in such large quantity in Marseille and Provence. Of course, that is probably colored by my deep interest in Boutis! :-0

Rissa

From: Judy Schwender <sister3603@>

Janet Rae, in Quilts of the British Isles, writes that the pattern originated in the British Isles and was taken to America by emigrants. She asserts that the origin of the pattern in England may date back to at least the 1600s based on a surviving example of a perfume bag featuring a Log Cabin style pattern that is dated 1650. A black and white picture of this perfume bag is found in G. Saville Seligman and E. Talbot Hughes, Domestic Needlework, (London: Country Life, 1926), Plate 58. I found a copy of this through interlibrary loan (I think it came from Iowa State) when I was doing research for my exhibition of 19th century Log Cabin quilts that is currently at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There was no reference to where the pictured article was located. My reaction was that it was a pattern that sort of looked like the Log Cabin pattern, but it is not pieced. (It actually reminded me more of Native American quill work [done with porcupine quills.] But obviously that is not the technique used!) I’ve seen the new Janet Rae book and she mentions the above reference, as well as a mid-1600s casket with embroidered designs reminiscent of LC. Actually, in Seligman and Hughes there is a embroidered box (plate 90) that also has this type of embroidered pattern. I will say that the structure of these embroidered pieces is not the same as the structure of pieced LC blocks. Different mediums, different methods.

Sally Ward <sallytatters@> wrote: Since I was unable to back up my early log cabin silk purse claim a few weeks ago I have been trying to track down where I actually got the reference from. Two emails and three phone calls to the V&A have (very frustratingly) elicited no response, and I’ve checked every book I can think of to no avail. So I have to hold my hand up and admit to giving unsubstantiated information.

My last hope is a new book published by quilt historian Jan Rae which I gather is to be launched at the Festival of Quilts in August here in Birmingham, UK. the blurb says :

Around the World with Log Cabin (RT Publishing, Chartham, 2004) Includes historical development of one pattern from 100AD, its spread to Europe and the British Isles (including Scotland), North American and ‘Down Under’. Work by contemporary quiltmakers in Japan, Australia, Europe, North American and UK is also included as well as design development projects based on traditional quilts.>

I guess if my vindication isn’t in there, it won’t be anywhere. I’ll let you know.

No affiliation etc.

Sally W