July 1 – 5, 2004
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:
- Crazy Quilt Restoration Specialists — Jennifer Perkins mentions her specialty in crazy quilt restoration, and Laura Syler also offers her contact information for a member with a damaged example. (see the article on Victorian crazy quilts)
- Biscuit and Puff Quilt History — The biscuit quilt thread continues with more personal memories, a 1970s publication on puff quilts, and a note that some were stuffed with worn-out undergarments.
- Cotton Drill Marked in Squares — Judy White asks where to buy cotton drill pre-marked in squares for foundation quilting, and members suggest commercial sources and alternatives.
- Marie Webster House Grand Opening — Janet Bronston asks about visiting hours and ongoing exhibits at the Marie Webster House museum following its grand opening later in July 2004.
- Women’s Clubs and Quilt History — A member’s curiosity about charming General Federation of Women’s Club buildings in Florida sparks a thread about the clubs’ possible connection to regional quilt history.
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 13:25:13 -0400 | From: Judy White <jawhite@>
Does anyone have any idea where I can purchase cotton drill marked in one inch squares? It’s like the fabric that covers small ironing surfaces that Joanne Fabrics sells that are marked in red and have a series of circles in the center. I don’t want the ironing board cover – just the yardage.
Judy White
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 10:51:03 -0700 (PDT) | From: Judy Schwender <sister3603@>
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Is this what you are looking for? http://www.sewserg.com/products/abp02255-0309.html
Judy White <jawhite@> wrote: Does anyone have any idea where I can purchase cotton drill marked in one inch squares? It’s like the fabric that covers small ironing surfaces that Joanne Fabrics sells that are marked in red and have a series of circles in the center. I don’t want the ironing board cover – just the yardage.
Judy White
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Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 11:09:30 -0700 (PDT) | From: Judy Schwender <sister3603@>
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Oops, this place is cheaper: http://www.sew4less.com/product_details.php?ProductID1595
Judy Schwender <sister3603@> wrote: Is this what you are looking for? http://www.sewserg.com/products/abp02255-0309.html
Judy White wrote: Does anyone have any idea where I can purchase cotton drill marked in one inch squares? It’s like the fabric that covers small ironing surfaces that Joanne Fabrics sells that are marked in red and have a series of circles in the center. I don’t want the ironing board cover – just the yardage.
Judy White
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 16:57:48 EDT | From: Bunjorda@
Hello everyone, I am catching up on past digests so forgive the delayed response. Lynn asked about when inks were made permanent. Dr. Wm R Dunton asked the same question when he was researching Baltimore Album Quilts. Records of his correspondence with the Paysons Ink Co. indicate they produced a permanent ink in 1836. Re the “potholder” quilts, there is a Civil War Quilt pictured in Shaw’s “Quilts: a Living Tradition”, pg 58 and also in Bishop and Houck’s “All Flags Flying“,pg.28, that appears to fit the description. The square in a square blocks include inscriptions and each has its’ own binding.Not all blocks are the same size and each is quilted in different simple designs. The center medallion features a flag and also has its own binding. Too bad the back is not shown as that would help determine the construction. I have made a top like this, but using regular piecing techniques–I’m not into all that binding! Bunnie Jordan
From: Babette Moorleghen
This link was sent via another list I am on and after reading it thought others might be interested. Enjoy! Happy 4th! Babette in Illinois
http://www.hlla.com/reference/artquilt.html
From: Judy Knorr
This discussion about mouse holes in quilts resulting from Cinda’s description of her “find” has caused my mind to wonder more about mouse holes. I have a quilt that I found in a trunk at my Grandmother’s house which has 2 or 3 holes in it. The holes go all the way through the three layers and are fairly circular, about 1 to 1 1/2″ in diameter. The quilt dates from 1880-1890. Now I’m wondering how you can tell that the hole was chewed by a mouse? And, are there other causes of holes like this at random in quilt when it doesn’t appear to be a general wear pattern? Judy
From: Xenia Cord
It seems that when mice encounter a good source for nesting material, they shred it and go to housekeeping. If the source is a quilt, they apparently will begin it the most logical spot – an outside edge, and chew their way deep into the layers. Unfortunately that outside edge is often a fold, resulting in a series of holes through the textile that can be neatly lined up when the item is refolded.
Several years ago there was a wonderful 3-day auction here for a finally-deceased woman of 105; she had resisted placement in a nursing home, and as the inheritor of sewing materials and finished items from both grandmothers, several aunts, her mother and sisters, and even her daughter, she lived in an increasingly smaller space. When finally she managed to fill the bathroom with all of this stuff, plus the furniture in which it was stored, she was taken away to a nursing home (at age 98). She defied her heirs by living another 7 years, but they needed every one of those years to sort through the masses of stuff in a house through which there were only narrow trails (I saw first-hand).
There were about 60 quilts in the auction, many of them unused, and many of them had been the happy residences of generations of mice – so even though unused, they were too badly damaged for most folks. Every time the auction crew unfolded another quilt full of circular holes, the audience groaned. (And you could smell the mice, too!)
Xenia
Hi, I am making a quilt for a terminally ill friend so time is of the essence. I don’t have time to play with measurements. Does anyone know off hand the quick formula to figuring out what size a square needs to be for 1/4 square triangles? My block will be 9″ Finished, but an album type block. Two corners will have 2 quarter square triangles (forming a 1/2 square triangle). The length of the hypothenuse (sp?) on the 1/4 sq tri is 6″, the sides 4.25″… The pattern is on page 128 of Grandma’s Best Full Size Quilt Blocks, it gives templates, but I am rotary cutting. Do I add 7/8″ or is that for 1/2 sq tris? Thanks for your help, Dana
From: Kris Driessen
I believe you add 1 1/4″. Try it on a piece of paper or muslin first. Don’t forget you get more bias edges this way, you may be happier making two sets of half square triangles.
Kris
From: Dana at Material Pleasures
Hi Kris, I think you are right…I found this site: http://www.quilting-arts-forum.com/quartersquare.html
My “block’s” finished size is the size of the hypotenuse, 6″, so the size of the square needs to 7.25″. I am going to add another .25″ just to be on the safe side.
Thanks so much, Dana
Kris Driessen <krisdriessen@> wrote: I believe you add 1 1/4″. Try it on a piece of paper or muslin first. Don’t forget you get more bias edges this way, you may be happier making two sets of half square triangles.
Kris
Material Pleasures Affordable Vintage Linens, Lace, Textiles, Buttons & More! www.material-pleasures.com
From: “Kelly Robinson”
Peggy,
Going from Ms. Keller’s information possibly linking your sampler to Lower Merion Township, PA here is a little more that may be related:
There was a Jane Walker Roberts b. March 12th, 1804 in Lower Merion, Montgomery, PA, died March 9th, 1858 at Newton Square, Delaware, PA. She married Samuel Gregg Hoopes on Apr. 20, 1826 and they had 3 children.
If you wish I could send you more about their children. This Jane would have been 14 at the time the sampler was made, the right age to have been in a boarding school.
If you could prove this Jane attended that school, that would be extremely strong evidence to prove she made the sampler and the provenance with the sampler would many times increase its’ value.
Kelly Robinson, N. Texas (yeah, it has finally stopped raining)
Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2004 13:21:15 +0100 | From: “ChrisB” <chrisbrice@>
That is exactly what the little monsters do, straight down through all the layers. And in double quick time too. In 1968 I was stationed in Cyprus, came off night shift, folded my uniform dress up ready to go to the dhobi (camp laundry) went to bed till about 11 am, got up showered etc. Picked up the dress from the bottom of the wardrobe and spotted a movement in one of my court shoes, 4 wee new born mice, mum scuttled off, I dropped the dress, when I picked it up, there were holes all over it where she had eated right thru all the layers. The mice babies had a really cosy bed made up of my linen dress. Cost me a new dress for my idleness. ChrisB
From: “sue reich”
I wish all of you in QHL land a wonderful Fourth of July celebration. Thank you to the men and women of your families who have made great sacrifices to provide our Country with its freedoms and the right to enjoy weekends such as this. sue reich, Washington, CT. (The first Washington is the U.S. of A.)
From: Kris Driessen <>
Spotted on another list:
Nancy Kirk (The Kirk Collection) purchased 2,500 copies of Chris Dabb’s book “Crazy Quilting”, which is now out of print. Circumstances now require Nancy to quickly “move” those books; you can read her explaination on the website.
She is offering the book at half the publisher’s price: $11.50 … which is a real bargin. Got a friend who loves to crazy quilt.. get two <grin> NAYY…
http://www.kirkcollection.com/crazyquiltbook.asp Then click on the Patterns link… In addition to the $$ patterns, there are two free ones available….. First paragraph, you can download a string quilt pattern that was show on Simply Quilts recently…. Then scroll down further.. and you’ll see “The American Spirit Quilt”…. http://www.kirkcollection.com/patterns.asp
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 07:31:44 EDT | From: JBQUILTOK@
I know that the grand opening of the the Marie Webster house is coming up later this month, but I have not been able to locate any information about when the place will be ‘open’ after the grand opening. And what kind of exhibits, etc they would have in place on an ongoing basis.
I’ll be traveling this month – may not be able to get there for the big celebration, but was wondering if it would be worth stopping a few days later.
Janet Bronston
Subject: Biscuit quilts From: JBQUILTOK@ Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 07:37:56 EDT
There was a publication in the early 1970’s on Puff Quilts & how to make them. It covered not only the square biscuit quilts, but several other patterns done in the same manner – stuffing individual pieces & whipping them together.
The term Biscuit Quilts always reminds me of bread making day at home. We made biscuits for that night by jamming little rolls of bread dough together in a rectangluar cake pan & baking them with the regular loaves. We could break these apart & eat them warm without messing up a whole loaf trying to cut it before it cooled. When we had them at home, the were biscuits. When we took them to a covered dish dinner, they became rolls. So does a biscuit quilt become a roll quilt if it is hung in a show?
Janet Bronston
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 07:37:56 EDT | From: JBQUILTOK@
There was a publication in the early 1970’s on Puff Quilts & how to make them. It covered not only the square biscuit quilts, but several other patterns done in the same manner – stuffing individual pieces & whipping them together.
The term Biscuit Quilts always reminds me of bread making day at home. We made biscuits for that night by jamming little rolls of bread dough together in a rectangular cake pan & baking them with the regular loaves. We could break these apart & eat them warm without messing up a whole loaf that was meant for daily use.
Janet Bronston
From: Judy <jrocheqpil.net>
Hi Cinda I will be working in the Red Cottage Antiques booth- at the VQF- hope to see you! Not sure which building, but was told it is near JS’s exhibit. New England is a dangerous place for me-antique shops all over, just waiting to be plundered! Judy Roche Solebury Pa
On Jul 2, 2004, at 12:59 PM, Lucinda Cawley wrote: > Who else is going to > VT? I wasn’t planning to go this year, but the prospect of the > Silbers’ > blue and white quilts made it irresistible. > Cinda on the Eastern Shore > > —
From: “Pepper Cory”
Hello all-Once in the late 1970s in an auction box, I discovered a large folded piece of paper (about the size of the old Mountain Mist patterns) that had directions for a ‘stocking quilt.’ The text was badly typed with misspellings and the illustrations crudely drawn. What it was essentially was a biscuit quilt with nylon stockings used as the stuffing! The directions, as I recall them, told you to cut the tops and toes off the stocking and wash them and then cut each stocking into about three pieces. In addition there were biblical quotes all through the text and an advertisement, for want of a better term, for a full gospel church on the south side of Chicago. Boy, I wish I knew where I put that thing–it’s now an artifact of a defunct age–when women regularly wore stockings with tops! Happy 4th- Pepper
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 18:12:33 -0400 | From: Joan Kiplinger <jkip@>
Oh Pepper, count yourself lucky that you missed the full-length hosiery stage. It wasn’t the tops which were a pain but the gizmo they connected to called a garter belt. 😀
From: “Pepper Cory”
Ah, I well remember garter belts. To crack up my sisters in church, I would, especially during a boring sermon, slowly slide my skirt above my knees and pretend to play guitar on the garters! Since there were five of us kids, plus Mom, squashed into a pew, the shennaigans were not on public view. My father, being the minister and pontificator of said boring sermon, could not understand why his family occasionally dissolved in giggles while he spoke. I never enlightened him either. Since moving to muggy NC eight years ago, I have worn panty hose exactly three times! Sure you wanted to know that…. Pepper
From: “Sally Ward”
> Ah, I well remember garter belts.
Ever felt like a bygone? Last week, passing through a lingerie department with DD (21), she spotted knickers with integral suspenders (stockings are back, did you know?) She hadn’t a clue how the suspenders worked, I had to give her a demonstration. I couldn’t believe she didn’t know, but she pointed out…why would she?
As to the item we saw, I couldn’t help wondering how the knickers would stay up, with stockings pulling them down. Maybe designed by someone else who had never worn the real thing <GG>
Sally W
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 15:56:15 -0700 | From: Alice Kinsler <alicekmbay.net>
I am new to this forum and a graduate student in the textiles master’s program at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. I have been invited to submit an exhibition proposal for the revolving exhibit space at the Steinbeck Center Museum in Salinas Valley, CA. I am exploring whether (or not) there are quilts remaining from the days that Steinbeck wrote about, most specifically in the 1930’s. Since I’ve begun this search for information or quilts, I have received conflicting views: the quilts arrived in shreds because of their use along the way of migration vs. if they were treasures to their makers, they would have been preserved. I would like to connect quilts from that era with the contemporary quilts of the Steinbeck Quilters Guild in an exhibit. I appreciate any information/leads for my research that anyone can provide. Thank you. Alice Kinsler
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 16:09:48 -0700 | From: “Alan R. Kelchner” <alanalankelchner.com>
I actually was shown a worn out, but completed, example of this in Florida once – stuffed with all sorts of the ladies’ used undergarments (not just hosiery). And here I thought it was a complete oddity. It appeared to have been made somewhere around 1970.
Alan
Alan R. Kelchner Textile Artist http://www.alankelchner.coms
