April 20 – 23, 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:
- Treadle Sewing Machines — Several members share their experience learning to use treadle and hand-crank sewing machines, including tips for beginners.
- Quilting on the Westward Trail — Members debate whether pioneer women quilted during covered-wagon migration west, sharing stories, poems, and a series of relevant books.
- Bucilla Kit Dating Question — A member asks for help dating a Bucilla ‘Rose Wreath’ quilt kit, no. 2868. (see the article on dating quilts)
- Precut Fabric Bundles and Kits History — A discussion of precut fabric shapes (like butterflies) and fabric bundles sold for quilting, and how they were historically distributed.
- Appraiser and Block Repair Help — A member seeks a certified appraiser near Seattle, and another asks for advice replacing a damaged block in one of her own quilts. (see the article on quilt restoration)
From: louise-b
Donna Kohler was on a recent segment of Simply Quilts with her machines. She has a quilt in Ricky Timms book that was made using a treadle. She takes them to workshops also.
I have made one king-size top last year using a Singer 201k treadle and did not find it that hard to do. I have several other treadles including one with Pheasant decals and a National/Eldredge chainstitcher sewing machine. Decals on the older sewing machines can be wonderful – florals, owls, pheasants, art deco, etc. Look at: needlebar.com – for Singer decals or some of the other brands.
If you are interested in treadle sewing machines, look for: Treadleon.net – for people who use treadles and handcranks.
Louise — in mid-Missouri
Date: Fri, 23 Apr | From: Margareta.Faust@
Hello, First, thank you to everyone who advised me on storing quilts in my new pine cabinet!
Here’s a thought that struck me as I worked with my 64 (!) butterflies from the 1930s, bought on eBay, cut out but not appliquéd: The butterflies are nearly all different, cut out from dress fabrics (ie not feedsack) in several patterns and several colourways. Naturally, one would first think that they were cut out from a bundle of fabric samples, maybe by a seamstress or someone working in a textile factory? But I wonder if such bundles of same fabrics in different colourways were not sold directly to quilters AS KITS for quiltmaking – much as since the 1980s? The butterfuly template looks rather homemade to me, just cardboard – no sign that it would have been part of a commercially marketed kits. But anyway – I’d be glad to hear your opinions. Margareta
From: “Judy Kelius (judysue)” <judysue@>
I’m sure they were. In fact, precut butterflies were sometimes sold as well= (as well as other popular 1930s-40s applique motifs) – I once had a set of= dyecut 1930s butterflies, still in the original mailing envelope. One time= I also purchased a huge box of 1940s fabrics (25 pounds+!), lots with juvenile motifs, that were obviously cutaways and rejects from a garment factory that specialized in children’s clothing – some of the pieces even= had pockets sewn in place! There were several colorways of most fabrics. We= usually associate 1930s floral applique quilts with kits, but many of the pieced quilts and less elaborate appliques were also made from kits.
From: mswaller
I have two treadle machines and one hand crank. They are very easy to use! I hear women convincing themselves about how hard they are to learn to use but my best advice is, “Just shut up and do it!”
You have very good control of both treadles and hand cranks. Hand-cranked machines provide ultimate control for paper piecing and setting in seams. Using a hand crank is VERY easy.
I ‘know’ Donna Kohler from my time on the TreadleOn list. If you ever get a chance to meet her or hear her speak, I encourage you to go.
Mary Waller Vermillion, South Dakota, USA
Date: Fri, | From: “Steve and Jean Loken” <sandjloken@>
OK Joan, can you give us the story behind a west-to-east migration? I wonder why a group of people would leave Kansas City and head northeast to Ohio in the late 19th century. Was it a religious thing, like joining like-minded souls? Or was it too hard in Missouri to survive? Curious minds want to know, Jean in MN
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2004 12:17:05 | From: Midnitelaptop@
well my knees are still cranky…buy my heart couldn’t be happier…i received some wonderful messages yesterday.. the robert louis stevenson poems reminded me so much of my childhood…i remember when my younger brother was sick with rheumatic fever…we played soldiers on his “counterpane”…and my mother would read to us from “The Child’s Book of Garden Verses”…. the posts about the “wagons west” have inspired me to start reading “Covered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails”. series…i’ hope to buy them from amazon…one by one chronologically and economically… i received a post from The Mummy who Plays Tennis(she knows who she it) that was inspiring and funnnnn…
i have one more block on my quilt to repair and then it will be in great condition again.. tell me what makes certain pieces of block that were made with bleached muslin turn yellowish/tan and the rest of the pieces in the block stay white?
to move my mind down from knees to ankles….i did a wash today and am now the proud owner of 4 pair of pink(used to be white) socks… pink(used to be white) embroidered pillowcases and pink(used to be white) bath & face towel…i know that you all know what i did…
thank you all from the bottom of my happy heart..please treat yourselves to a handful of M&Ms..just keep the bowl of them across the room, for the exercise… jeanL
Date: Fri, 23 | From: “Elizabeth” <lizabeth@>
I certainly agree with Nancy and Kim regarding the diaries. It’s a great method to see how life was on the trails. I researched women’s diaries of the westward movement in graduate school (eons ago) and am now in the process of creating a data base (which will eventually become published) with individual information from the diaries, one of which would be if quilting occurred along the trail within that diary.
I have a collection (over 100) of women’s (and some by men) diaries on my website at:
www.over-land.com/diaries.html
They are in alpha order by author, and also a sentence or two describing the diary. Some great reading!
Elizabeth The Overland Trail www.over-land.com Portales, NM Beginning Quilter
From: Anne Copeland <anneappraiser1@>
Beverly Dunivent is a certified appraiser in Olympia, Washington, but Seattle is very near for her to travel. You can reach her at 360-357-8610, bevquilts@. She is one of my best friends and my appraisal partner and coauthor of our research article on kit quilts that was published in the 1994 Uncoverings. On top of that, she is a talented quilter! How’s that for a recommendation? Peace and blessings, Annie —-__JNP_000_665f.7ca7.11ee–
Date: Fri, | From: “Sally Ward” <sallytatters@>
< Not one mentions quilting on the trails.
Does this mean that they didn’t quilt, or at least piece, or that it was so ordinary that they didn’t bother mentioning it? If piecing a bit of fabric was, to them, as everyday as flipping through a magazine to us – would they record it?
The curator at a museum of Roman artefacts here in the UK once described trying to reproduce a particular dish from a recipe found at the excavation site. They had no success until they realised that it required yeast to work. They concluded that the writer had presumably not included that in the recipe because it was just ‘so obvious’ that it should be there. So..did the diaries generally record just the interesting bits, or the mundane as well?
Sally W
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2004 | From: Joan Kiplinger <jkip@>
Jean — It all boils down to a matter of preference. My grandmother’s grandfather, a third generation Scotsman living in the Peoria IL area, grew bored with his surroundings as a young lad, so he and some brothers and friends set off to see the hills and scenery of the East; they were fascinated with tales of New York. On the return trip from that state, they stayed for awhile in the town of New Philadelphia OH; not sure of the reason why they landed there. All loved that area. Some of the brothers stayed. It was there, of all places, that gram’s grandfather met Margaret Lane, a Cherokee Indian who had been raised since childhood by a Quaker family. How this came to happen is not known to us but she was a lovely lady according to a much faded photograph taken later in her life. They married and eventually returned to Peoria and raised a family. They then moved to the Kansas [state] area to join some of the family which had purchased farms near Kansas City but moved later back to Peoria. The tales of NY and Ohio were passed on to the sons and my great grandfather decided one day to visit those places. And that is how the trek East occurred. I don’t know who the other wagons belonged to and if they all had the same destinations but apparently the beauty of wooded land in Northeast Ohio on through to NY was appealing to many persons. My relatives stopped first in N. Phily, stayed and never made it to NY. During the Depression, most of the family dispersed to Milwaukee and Cleveland to find good-paying jobs and of course, stayed on. As for the Indian attackers, it was not the bow-and-arrow type, merely warnings to stay off their territory. Have no idea where this occured but I would imagine it was of short duration. But all in all, quite an experience for a young girl.
Re the book series on women/covered wagon travels, I may have read one of those; it was from a woman’s diary kept in the 1870s traveling eastward from the state of Kansas. The parallel was my attraction to reading the book; being a city girl I wanted to know more about these hardy souls who endured and endured.
From: Dana at Material Pleasures
Hello, All this talk of covered wagons and migration has gotten me thinking of the series on HBO, DEADWOOD. Starts out about the time of Custer’s defeat at Little Big Horn and the big Gold Rush to the West (1870s)…Deadwood (an actual town)is lawless. Word of caution…the language is fowl and makes me cringe, othertimes colorful and amusing. Some scenes are graphically brutal, and prostitution was a big business back then, so there are some graphic scenes of that nature. I do not know much about costumes but they look pretty authentic to me…not many quilts (I don’t think I have seen any, as a matter of fact). But the writer has added historical as well as fictional characters and events (Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Seth Bullock, mentioning of the Pinkertons, the McCalls, that writer/reported or searched Africa for Dr Livingston…sorry can’t remember his name). You can read a little about it here http://www.hbo.com/deadwood/behind/therealdeadwood.shtml
You see the wagons coming into town, long trails of them in the first episode…one broken wheel at the front of the line caused a dead stop until it was fixed. They were fearful of Indians, especially since they were settling on what the President had designated as Indian territory…but it had gold on it…
I happen to like the show, and I like that it has some historical significance. Here in the Northeast it’s on HBO Sunday nights at 10pm (right after the Sopranos…another fun filled, violent, fowl mouthed show I can’t stop watching! Can’t say much about the historical significance of that show…there is no such thing as the Mafia.)
My best, Dana
Material Pleasures Affordable Vintage Linens, Lace, Textiles, Buttons & More! www.material-pleasures.com
April 27th to May 2nd Auction Event at BondedSale.com Bid with Confidence My auctions at http://www.bondedsale.com/auctions.asp?74392,0,1
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2004 11:49:24 -0700 | From: <chrisa@>
Does anyone know the date or date range for the Rose Wreath, no. 2868 Bucilla quilt kit? I found one at an antique fair, box and all, but there is no date anywhere to be found.
I was struck by their use of wadding instead of batting in the instructions. They called it “sheet quilt wadding used for padding”. I was under the impression the English used this term wadding, not the US.
Another bit of interest in the instructions; they recommend dry cleaning “as washing is apt to make the padding lumpy…rubbing tends to pull padding apart and leave bare spots.” No kidding! I am not very familiar with vintage kit instructions. Was dry cleaning often recommended?
Thanks for any help, Kim Wulfert www.antiquequiltdating.com
From: “Maureen
Hi all:
Just to let you know that the location of the Selected Bibliography of State Quilt Documentation Projects and Regional Quilt History Books has moved. The new URL is http://www.booksandoldlace.com/quilting
There have been significant updates to the list, including a more comprehensive and current review of Dissertation Abstracts. These additions are frequently very specific and comprehensive analyses of quilting in a geographic location, but a number are also more general in scope and address quilting as a social movement. Dissertations and theses are sometimes available on Interlibrary Loan from your local library but can also be purchased from University Microfilms International www.umi.com.
In addition to the new listings for dissertations, theses, and published books, you will aslo find the table of contents of The Quilt Journal: An International Review, 1992-1995. This journal was published by The Kentucky Quilt Project, Inc. and edited by Jonathan Holstein, Eleanor Miller and Shelly Zegart. It is a wonderful addition to quilt scholarship and research.
Additions and corrections are always welcome, particularly exhibit catalogs and brochures which can be hard to track down. Those who contribute citations are added as contributors to the bibliography.
Best regards from the Pacific Time Zone!
Maureen Battistella Ashland, Oregon
Date: Fri, 23 Apr | From: “Jocelyn Martin” <jocelynm@>
But I wonder if such bundles of same fabrics in different colourways were not sold directly to quilters AS KITS for quiltmaking – much as since the 1980s?
Margareta, Indeed they were- but as scraps left over from cutting out manufactured garments! My mother remembers my grandmother buying such bundles from Sears. She said that one time, it was very apparent that the pieces they got were the scraps left over after cutting a full-sleeved blouse (the triangle between the bell sleeve and the body). My grandmother drafted a new pattern to use those big triangles, because she didn’t see any point in cutting them into smaller pieces and then sewing them back together. <G> When I was 10-11, I remember going with my mother to Mode O’Day sales, in Ottawa Ks, where you could buy their scraps and leftovers, often enough for making one garment. As a preschooler, I went with her to Nellie Don, another manufacturer in Kansas City.
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2004 15:02:59 | From: Gloria Hanrahan <gloria@>
“As a preschooler, I went with her to Nellie Don, another manufacturer in Kansas City.”
I remember that name, growing up around Kansas City. I had forgotten.
My grandmother and mom worked at a tie factory in Kansas City (in the 30’s) and the scraps from the wool ties were bundled and sold. I have a top made by my grandmother with these. All on the bias.
Gloria
From: “Susan Wildemuth” <ksandbcw@>
Begging the pardon of the list — would someone from the list who specializes in the study of Pennsylvania quilts please e-mail me privately — someone has sent me an e-mail with questions about an 1805 family quilt —
Thanks– Sue in Illinois
Date: Fri, 23 | From: “Velia Lauerman” <velialive@>
Hurray to those who love the challenge of the treadle. the crank is so neat too. It’s like playing the piano with both hands. Maybe chewing gum and walking . Once it is tried the pleasure continues and another completed quilt to leave with posterity. Once a student of mine declared that this quilt was cut with scissors. DAH ! there are some of us who don’t use rotary cutters. What ever Works and what we enjoy . Going back to the by gone days has real value. Velia
