August 23 - 29, 2006 - QuiltHistory

Fabric Identification, Quilt History Resources, Regional Quilt History

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:

The Gee’s Bend Exploitation Debate — Members argue over whether the Gee’s Bend quilters were exploited or helped, and Matt Arnett writes a long reply defending his family’s work and describing how the exhibit was planned with the women.
Quilt Repositories in the South and Beyond — After Gail Ingram asks for museums with quilts in the South, members recommend the new CSA Field Guide to textile collections, a Plano museum, and the Mary Barton collection in Des Moines.
Iowa Quilts and Study Group News — Members offer Iowa museum tips and news of the April 2007 Iowa Illinois Quilt Study Group meeting, while Karen Alexander announces plans for a Western Washington study group.
Catalogne and Cottonade Words — Teddy Pruett asks for help with a word like catalongue, and members trade spellings, French roots, Acadian Louisiana weaving, and a definition of the bed rug type.
The Third Hand Sewing Clamp — Mitzi Oakes asks about an odd clamp she saw at Calvin Coolidge’s birthplace, and others describe modern versions with magnifiers and mirrors.
Ephemera and Kit Names — Members look for a December 1917 Modern Priscilla, cigarette silk instruction sheets, and the name of a kit with embroidered blocks showing scenes from American history.

Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 01:22:04 -0500 | From: Jennifer Perkins (qltrstore)

I have just spent the most wonderful 2-1/2 days at the State Historical Building in Des Moines looking at the Mary Barton collection. I wish Gail had been along because then you would get a really well written report on all I saw! But since she was busy touring in the South, I’ll have to tell you that if you have the chance to get there, ask to “visit” the collection! I didn’t even get into all the quilts, tops and teaching panels she created, and it took me that long to look through all the quilt ephemera collected in archival boxes and notebooks. If it mentioned quilts or fabric or fashion she collected and organized it. I didn’t even have time to get into the full shelf of boxes of patterns because I figured I have the Brackman books and time was limited. One thing she did which was kind of neat was “dissect” damaged quilts and organize and categorize all the fabrics into pages of a notebook into colors and time periods. She figured out that the fabrics in a log cabin quilt had a lot of salesman’s samples by finding the same or similar print in 12 different color ways and variations of the basic pattern (circles a little larger than the last print in about 5 sizes.) She had notebooks of research on early bedding, beds, cleaning methods, etc. More notebooks on fashions through the years. A notebook comparing pieced 1850’s tile-type patterns in Godey’s Ladies Book with actual flooring pictures and concluding that they had been copied from the floors. She also concluded that ladies didn’t like the pieced patterns very much because not many of them have been found except for the hexagon and tumbling block designs. I must confess that faced with those 3 pages of complicated patterns, I would seriously consider English paper piecing them! I don’t wonder that the ladies stuck to the relatively easy shapes. She kept copious notes and kept referring the reader to other notebooks or to notebooks or quilts she had donated to Iowa State University or the Living History Farms in Des Moines which also has a dandy quilt collection. Then there was the big cupboard of boxes and boxes of fabrics-boxes and notebooks of indigos, pinks, Turkey reds, browns, plaids, checks, stripes, and many more. Huge lace collection. Anybody drooling yet? Michigan has contacted them to put the quilts in the quilt index, but that is a huge undertaking! They are going to need some major volunteers for that one. Well, enough for one night! BTW-if you’re going to be close to Grinnell, IA, there is a 13 piece indigo quilt exhibit which is well done by the IQSC which is worth stopping to see! Jennifer Perkins Harlan, Iowa qltrstore NQACJ

Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 09:26:13 -0500 | From: Andi (andi0613)

Marilyn and all,

Next April’s Iowa Illinois Quilt Study Group meeting topic is “Iowa and Illinois Quilts and Quilters.” Cathy Litwinow is still working on who might lead the Study session (Saturday afternoon). We always get nice surprises during our Show and Share session (Saturday morning). We’ve had great quilts shared with us since we began holding a Friday night Trunk show. Everyone is invited to come; we’re not a membership group (although we use the term “members” to refer to “attendees”) and the more the merrier. Because we meet the first weekends of April and August, and because the first weekend of April next year is Good Friday and Easter Sunday, our meeting date will be the following Friday night/Saturday – April 13 – 14. We meet in Kalona at the Historical Village and at a nearby church. Dessert Friday night and lunch Saturday is provided as part of the registration fee. If you’d like to receive a pre-registration notice, send an email to Sue Wildemuth at ksandbcw.

The August 2007 issue of Pieces of Time: A Quilt and Textile History Magazine will feature Iowa and Illinois quilts and quilters, too. Inquiries about subscribing to PoT or submitting articles can be sent to me: andi0613.

We are all looking forward to learning more about Iowa’s quilts, as the one book there seems to be on the subject is widely regarded as not good. On the other hand, the 2004 book on Illinois Amish quilts is excellent. It will be reviewed in the April 2007 issue of PoT: “Illinois Amish Quilts: Sharing Threads of Tradition,” Janice Tauer Wass, Illinois State Museum Society, 502 South Spring Street, Springfield, Illinois, 62706-5000. ISBN: 0-89792-166-6

I’m sure Karan Flanscha on this list has good information on museum locations other than Kalona, such as the Grout Museum in Waterloo: http://www.groutmuseumdistrict.org/. Iowa also has active historical societies at the state and county levels who might be of assistance. It was one of those enthusiasts who alerted me to the existence of the 1890 Redwork quilt lost in Keota’s basement/museum along with two other signature quilts, so I’d try contacting as many of them as you can before you plan your trip. Best of luck with your book project!

Andi in Keota, Iowa

Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 07:38:45 -0500 | From: Kathy Moore (kathymoore)

In defense of the Gee’s Bend quilters I would ask you all to take a good hard look at the results of the “exploitation” the Gee’s Bend quilters have been subjected to. While there is merit in your concerns there’s another side to that story.

Because of all the interest in their home-made work, these women have been able to purchase houses with roofs that don’t leak, walls that the wind can’t blow through, floors that don’t have holes in them through which you can lose a small child. They now have indoor kitchen and bathroom plumbing, refrigerators and freezers, indoor heat that doesn’t require open flames…and they even have electricity and water that comes into the house. These are just a few basic benefits they have experienced because of this exploitation. I’m not exaggerating. Having lived in Alabama for 13 years and observed closely how they lived, I know first hand the effects of decades of extreme poverty and isolation on Alabama’s African Americans. It is not a pretty picture. I think their definition of “exploitation” and ours are at two opposite ends of a spectrum.

Enough said.

Kathy Moore Lincoln, NE

Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 08:28:47 -0500 | From: Laura Syler (texas_quilt.co)

I would also add the Heritage Farmstead Museum in Plano. Not a huge collection, but a nice one and period correct quilts are displayed in the houses. Also, if you make it to the DMA, swing over to Old City Park in Dallas. They have a nice collection, also many displayed in the homes that have been moved into the park. And if we are adding Carolyn, we might as well make a trip to Karen Erlandsons in Gainesville and her new Retreat House!!! AND…while you are in the Dallas area, Mary Ann Walters of Plano has a wonderful personal collection as well as her quilts for sale. I used many of her quilts in an exhibit I curated for the Plano Art Centre a couple of years ago. I believe the west Texas museum is in the Lubbock area…maybe Canyon? They had horrible flooding there yesterday. The park service closed Palo Duro Canyon due to flash floodings! Oh, how I wish they could send some of that rain our way!! Laura in hot…DRY Richardson, TX

Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 22:52:50 -0400 | From: thodej

this was beautifully written as I was born in Natchez, Mississippi with maiden name of Chisholm like the “Old Chisholm Trail” and live in Monroe, Louisiana. Made me proud to be southern and a quilter!!! not so hot tonight only 80 degrees Kay Monroe, La

Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 09:01:22 -0700 (PDT) | From: Pat Cummings (pat)

What we have to remember, in life, is that there is always the “other side to the story.” Thank you, Kathy, for your insights and observations about the Gee’s Bend Quilters. It is comforting to know that their lives have been improved by their sudden fame.

I have to wonder, (just as Alan did), whether or not their work has changed due to a new self-consciousness (lack of innocence), and the potential need to measure up to someone else’s standards of what “art” is; or rather, what their art “should be.”

As always, I enjoy the richness of this list due to the contributions of list members. It really helps to hear everyone’s input and to begin to piece together the small pieces that make up the whole…just like a quilt.

Best wishes,

Pat Cummings http://www.

— Kathy Moore kathymooreneb. wrote:

In defense of the Gee’s Bend quilters I would ask you all to take a good hard look at the results of the “exploitation” the Gee’s Bend quilters have been subjected to.

Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 21:57:18 -0500 | From: Susan Wildemuth (ksandbcw)

Marilyn —

When you come to Kalona — please check out the Kalona Quilt and Textile Museum — you will love this museum. It is south of I-80 from Iowa City, Iowa.

Also we hope you can plan your trip around an Iowa-Illinois Quilt Study meeting in Kalona — We meet in April and August. You will see lots of Iowa quilts then. Our study session topic for April 2007 will be Iowa and Illinois quilts and quilt makers. Our meeting is scheduled for Friday evening, April 14 and Saturday April 15 2007.

I apologized to the list, but I must ask:

I was born in Albia, Iowa in 1958 and my father’s family hails from Melrose, Iowa — have you heard of it? You don’t know Joann (Parks) Wasko (Ottumwa, Iowa), Patrick Parks (Melrose, Iowa), Robert Parks (Melrose, Iowa) or Walter Carlin Parks do you?

Sue in Illinois (with deep Iowa roots)

Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:35:12 -0400 | From: Candace Perry (candace)

Gail…that was glorious. I love the south, and you reminded me why. My Dutchy soul will keep me tied to PA but I have to admit, I yearn for what you describe. Maybe because my grandmother was a St. Louis debutante named Eugenia… Candace Perry

Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:54:43 -0500 | From: Xenia Cord (xenia)

Hi, Sue – I have the 1917 Dec. issue of Modern Priscilla. Are you looking for the Red Cross page?

Xenia

Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 17:15:46 -0500 | From: Gail Ingram (gingram)

> Gail.I love the south, and you reminded me why. My Dutchy soul will keep me tied to PA but I have to admit, I yearn for what you describe. Maybe because my grandmother was a St. Louis debutante Candace Perry

And, Candace, as you know so well, there is some magnet in Pennsylvania that pulls me there, where my friend Mizriz Carolyn Miller said so aptly, “Gaw..Can you believe these people? They must just say, I believe I’ll go to the Stop and Save and get a carton of orange juice and–oh yes, I think I’ll stop by on my way home and pick up an a 1842 quilt.”

The age and early wealth of the East–and especially Pennsylvania, which developed so early as the way west and maybe seems a little more kin to some of us because so many of our distant kin passed through it–always astonishes people from our part of the country. So many “things” left from the past. In all but the coastal urban centers, most of the Deep South was still pioneering at the first of the 20th century, still sagging under the weight of a lost war, a devastating “reconstruction” that reconstructed nothing, and the economic weight that was the inevitable result of a population that could not afford a good education or transportation system. Pennsylvania’s great diversity also makes it possible to see so many different cultures in a relatively small patch of ground. I love that one can talk about one county’s quilts and be talking about something distinct from the quilts made a county away.

I mean no harm or condescension when I say this, but I sometimes think that the least provincial Americans are those that live in the hinterlands. We know there are other places besides our own that are interesting and important. We read about them, travel to them. We get to know the people in them We find those Russian Orthodox Churches on the backroads of Kansas, of all places, and then learn how they got there and realize they are still flourishing. In exhibits in Lawrence and Manhattan, KS, we discover the work of truly extraordinary landscape painters who would never “make it” in the NYC art scene but whose work will survive much that does make it there. We stand in Mark Twain’s Hartford, CT home and make more sense of “The Great Gatsby,” whose protagonist was drawn to the more sophisticated world of the East out of a sense of restlessness and inadequacy and got lost there. And we drive past inhabited houses with sagging roofs and dirt floors–in the 1980’s–in the backroads of Kentucky and know what poverty means. I think most of us have that moment of surprise, either as children or adults, when we recognize that trees grow all over NYC, where our imaginations had conjured only barren concrete.

This kind of awareness makes us richer, of course, but I think it also makes us better able to think about issues that affect all of us as a nation. It makes us leery of the easy stereotypes.

For instance, if one had actually been to Gee’s Bend or one of its many equivalents in the sixties, it would be harder to condemn the commodification of quiltmaking there. Maybe the picture of folks living in abject poverty and turning its materials (often cast offs from others) into beauty is appealing to those who live in homes where the roof does not leak and the funds for the next grocery purchase are assured, and certainly such a life bespeaks a strength of spirit. Yet, if one traveled there, she would also see the devastation that accompanies that life–alcoholism, thwarted lives brought on by poor education and limited access to the resources of the outside world, the toll that poverty takes on the body because of limited diet and poor health care.

When that Episcopal priest brought the outside world in, standardization of product was natural. People like Scioto Danner had demonstrated that earlier. That standardization did not, however, substantially change the everyday practice of many of the women who worked in the co-op, at least not immediately. Yet I personally witnessed the pride that being recognized for their work created. Being able to bring in a little “egg money” brought hope. We, who have closets filled with unused, fine fabrics, might appreciate those quilts more if we recognized the purchase of new material for a quilt was rare indeed in most of the Deep South for years and in places like Gee’s Bend for even longer. Can we blame them for being excited about being able to buy yardage for quiltmaking? Romantic always looks better in someone else’s life than in our own.

Kathy used the right word when she used “exploitation” to describe the condition of their lives. They were isolated physically and socially. They worked for what people chose to pay them, and I assure you that amount was not reasonable. The minimum wage meant nothing in isolated areas where people has no access to transportation and a more competitive market. In 1974, I hired a housekeeper/baby sitter for my infant son. The woman had been making $3/day for working from 7:30AM to 2:30PM, preparing three meals and doing all the household chores for a family of six. She lived in a little country community and had no transportation into town. Mimimum wage plus transportation changed her life. Maybe the women of Gee’s Bend were “exploited” by the folks who marketed their new quilts, but at least they got recognition and a more reasonable payment, one that improved their lives just a little and made them remember they were valuable human beings.

I think the folks who were most obviously “exploited” by the marketing were the buyers who couldn’t tell when the emperor was dressed or naked. And those folks, I think, could afford the exploitation. Their educations and experiences had given them the means to discriminate and understand markets and art and cultural “artifacts.” If they had not availed themselves of their educations, that was their problem. If what they purchased in time decreases in value, as I suspect it will, so be it. Their descendents can treat the loss as a charitable donation.

I know it is unfashionable on this list to say it, but when I first saw those quilts–before Cunningham had been “discovered”–I was shocked by their vitality and their uniqueness in my experience. By what I thought their peculiar beauty. I knew I would never build a house where they would be at home, but I loved them. I loved their boldness in a world of pastels. Later, I remembered that day and that church hall filled with such eccentric brightness when I read “The Quilters,” when one of the West Texas women said she always used red in her quilts. The land around her was always brown, she said. She put color in her quilts. I think that is what happened at Gee’s Bend. Why the quilts took the specific form they took is another question. But I’ve always been happy I had that day and I’ve always been glad those women could benefit from the products of their labor, just as the women Jay and Sharon Rockerfeller publicized in WV benefited.

Unquestionably Gee’s Bend quilts have become codes for other discussions, for subtexts. Until we clearly identify those issues and address them forthrightly and in a scholarly manner, nothing much can be profitably said about them, in my view.

Understanding the conditions of their makers in a realistic way, however, might help us appreciate them as products of the human spirit and to appreciate that their makers’ lots were improved by their eventual marketing.

Gail

P.S. Cinda, you need to bring yourself south next March. Always remember you have friends in low places here.

Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 19:02:27 -0400 | From: Newbie Richardson (pastcrafts)

Dear list, Following up on Gail’s request for a listing of quilt repositories in the South….. I know where a lot of the out of the way historical societies in the South ( and the North, Mid West, Far West, etc) are – and which ones have quilts! This is a non- affiliated plug for the “CSA Field Guide to Clothing and Textile Collections in the United States” edited by Sally Queen and Vicki Berger, recently published by the Costume Society of America and Texas Tech University Press. ISBN # 13-978-0-89672-572-0 Note the word “textile” in the title. ” Accordiing to the editor “this guide lists 2,604 collections whose holdings include general clothing, costumes,uniforms, accessories, banners, flags, & QUILTS. Entires include extended descriptions of holdings for more than 800 collections and black and white photographs for 245 collections.” Turning to page 3 we find the very first state entry – ALABAMA – with 30 institutions listing collections available to the public – or to researchers. As an example, did you know that the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, has several quilts on exhibit? Of course, you have to go up to the 2nd floor – and they do not really tell you where they are – but they are there on view. (I stumbled on it when I visited my daughter last spring – I would not have had to rely on luck if the Guide had been published then!) This little book is a great resource, guys. Us costume folk like quilts too, don’t cha know!

A.Newbold “Newbie” Richardson The Costume and Textile Specialists Appraisals, Conservation, & Exhibition Alexandria and Richmond, VA 703-684-0863/804-261-4998 www.costumeandtextile.net

Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 21:01:25 -0700 | From: Alan (alan)

But Kathy, I *did* state that it was a boon for the quilters. Go back and read my email. My gripe is with the other people.

Alan

Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 01:31:59 -0500 | From: Catherine Litwinow (litwinow62)

Hi, In response to Marilyn’s interest in quilts in Iowa, I answered off line, but will share a bit about the wonderful quilts in Iowa. My colleagues have all ready mention the Iowa/Illinois Quilt Study Group. the April 15-16, 2007 meeting will be at the Kalona Historical Villages Quilt and Textile Museum. The topic will be Iowa and Illinois Quilts. What treasureswill show up! One of our speakers in Susan Price Miller who has articles in “Uncoverings” and articles in “American Patchwork and Quilting.” Almost every county historical society has a textile treasures and there are numerous guilds that will glad refer you to local quilts. Fons and Porter in Winterset offers some great quilt viewing , their Winterset historical village is lovely (I’m still looking for Clint Eastwood at the feed store–Bridges of Madison County!) There is more than corn in this beautiful state in the Heart of the Heartland and quilters are willing a ready to give you a grand tour of the fabric in fields and fabric. Get of Interstate I-80 at Bettendorf and I’ll be delighted to give all of you a grand tour, starting at my house! Catherine Noll Litwinow ——_

Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 10:20:49 -0400 | From: Julie (quiltappraiser)

Two days ago I came upon the advertising for the stamp in O magazine. It seems fitting this discussion takes place at the same time the stamp is released. I ordered a few books to put aside for myself. I was pleased when I saw the women of Gee’s Bend were profiting form their quilts, or at least the article says they are. Please skip by the article if you’ve already read it. I’ve retyped it so please excuse any typos:

“Designing Women. During the Depression, Arlonzia Pettway’s family made quilts to keep the wind from sneaking through the cracks of their mud-and-straw home in Gee’s Bend, Alabama. In the 1960s, Pettway sold her handmade quilts for $5 apiece. Now, thanks in apart to art preservationists Bill and Matt Arnett, Pettway is part of a collective whose quilts have fetched up to $28,000 each.

In 1997 the Arnetts visited Gee’s Bend, a tiny African-American community tucked into a curve of the Alabama River. Amazed by the town’s vibrant scap-cloth creations, they assembled an exhibition that toured the country, arriving at the Whitney Museum in New York City – where a rave review from The New York Times and more than 200,000 visitors put the former plantation on the fine-arts map. Since then the collective has built a lucrative industry around their remarkable skills.

When a quilt sells, the artist takes home half the profit; the other half is split among the collective. Prices start at $2,000, but if that sounds steep, 39 cents will get you in on the action: This month the U.S. Postal Service releases the designs of Pettway and eight of her peers on a line of stamps.

“One time we was down – way down,” says Pettway, 83, one of the collective’s oldest members, who’s grateful to see her hard-luck community thriving. “It ain’t nothing but a blessing Gee’s Bend came on top.””

Pettway says they are now on top – I think that’s a wonderful thing.

I have so enjoyed reading all of your great input on this subject.

Julie Crossland Hudson, NH

Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 11:46:27 -0400 | From: Judy Knorr (jknorr)

I agree with Gail’s comments about the least provincial Americans living in the “hinterlands”! As an Ohioan born and bred who has spent the last 30 years in the NY metropolitan area I am constantly amazed at the people I continue to meet who have little knowleege of what is west of the Hudson River! (Well, OK, west of NJ!) I can mention places I’ve been and things I have seen across the midwest, south and west and receive bland stares in return. Now, who would ever want to see a Corn Palace?!!!

But, my main disappointment when I saw the Gee’s Bend Quilts at the Whitney was the workmanship. My Grandmother and her sisters made many quilts out of old fabrics, old clothes and old drapes and curtains. The quilts were utilitarian and well used, but they were also well made. The seams were stitched together well and they were straight even after much use and many washings! I’m sure some patterns were made up as I haven’t found them in reference materials. It is distressing to me that the “arty crowd” has a new conception of quilts and it is based on Gee’s Bend! My artist friend who attended that show with me keeps reminding me that “art is in the eye of the beholder” but he likes quilts also and I don’t think he was very impressed with most of these. We both liked the graphic appeal of a few of the quilts.

Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:01:42 -0400 | From: Candace Perry (candace)

Me three! I spent the day at MOMA on Monday, and was a bit — disconcerted, I guess? — at the vast crowds, but it is summer, and it is Manhattan. What did I expect? I also travelled there to see the Dada exhibit with everyone else and his cousin from East Jabib. I just wish that some of these people who want to have their picture taken with Starry Night would come and visit our place in the hinterlands. And we are only the marginal hinterlands, close to eastern megalopolis, but to these folks who are so focused on only exploring the big names in the big name places (I have small museum syndrome)we may as well be on Mars! Hmmmpf. Candace Perry

Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 18:53:30 EDT | From: Mitzioakes

Thanks for all the info on Gee’s Bend. Now I have a question for you (and any of the other listers reading this!). Did you ever hear of a ‘Third Hand’? I visited the birthplace of Pres. Calvin Coolidge today and in the home he was born in there was this odd looking ‘thing’ attached to the kitchen table. I asked the docent what is was and she said was a combination of a pin cushion and a mirror that was used in quilting – the pin cushion was obvious but the mirror was used to look ‘under the quilt to see if the stitches/ties had come thru completely’. Have you or anyone ever heard of this thing? I really wanted to touch it, but that was a no no….By the way there was a friendship quilt on the bed he was born in (much like the one that is on display at the Shelburne Museum this year that has his grandmother’s signature on (Sarah Coolidge)…. Mitzi from Vermont

Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:31:52 -0400 | From: joan kiplinger (jkip)

Mitizi — I have a modern one made by Xacto; has revolving magnifier, several clamps which can be manipulated in all directions. This was used for miniature work. I also have an old one, a bird which clamps to a table; the beak is very long and holds fabric as you are sewing on it, thus freeing a hand which would normally hold fabric. You can Google Xacto and I’m sure a key word of third hand will bring all kinds of variations of the one you saw and for handwork like mine.

Mitzioakes wrote:

Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 22:33:12 -0400 | From: Teddy Pruett (aprayzer)

Hi all, particularly those of you in or near Quebec and/or those of you who speak French.

I am trying to verify a word that is similar to “catalongue”. It is supposed to be a form of bed rug or handloomed runner or something of that sort. If anyone can help with this, please e-mail off list. Thanks!

Teddy Pruett Beam me up, Scotty – Outta this swamp and into the Rockies www.teddypruett.com

Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 10:31:22 -0400 | From: Newbie Richardson (pastcrafts)

Teddy, I am completely fluent in French, and went antiquing with am great aunt and mother in France while I was growing up, so I have some sense of the lingo. I went into a very early ( 1840’s)French dictionary – sort of like the OED – and no such term exists. The only thing that is vaguely similar is the term meaning to “catalogue”. The word “longue” means long – so it may be a regional expression – French does have many regional dialects. N

A.Newbold “Newbie” Richardson The Costume and Textile Specialists Appraisals, Conservation, & Exhibition Alexandria and Richmond, VA 703-684-0863/804-261-4998 www.costumeandtextile.net

Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 09:00:35 -0700 (PDT) | From: Gary Parrett (gparret1)

A few years ago, an African American migrant worker who had made Rochester her home in her later years, willed all of her belongings to the museum up here. Among those items were six quilts which she had made. They remind me very much of the Gee’s Bend quilts in style. Having looked at them, the batting in the quilts consisted of whatever she could find to use, mainly old clothes or pieces thereof. She had made a quilt out of her husband’s clothes after his decease, which also reminded me of the Gee’s Bend quilts. The point I wished to make is that she had said that her stitches were large because her hands were so calloused that she could not hold a needle well. She had worked in farmer’s fields all her life. Also, getting through whatever she used for batting could not be easy to needle.

Karen

Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 11:13:17 -0500 | From: Steve & Jean Loken (sandjloken)

Alan et al, You mentioned in your original post that you were afraid the women of Gee’s Bend were now going to the store to get their fabrics. I can tell you that at least in part, they are still sewing from discarded fabric. A woman in Michigan has become a patron of their work, and now speaks about them at churches up north during the summer and collects fabric from her audience. She then sorts it as to each quilter’s preference – some prefer bright colors, and one just likes blue and grey – and bags it for them. When she drives to her winter retreat in Gulf Shores, AL, she delivers some 300 lbs. of donated fabric to the women in Gee’s Bend and takes more photos for her albums and slide talk. I met her last winter, and saw the albums and it was fun to hear her talk about each woman. She later attended the opening of their show in Atlanta. Jean in MN

Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 13:27:43 -0400 | From: Karen Evans

Is anyone looking for a roommate? I’ll be there on Friday and most likely Saturday nights. I’m clean, quiet, and do not smoke….

Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 13:11:19 EDT | From: DDBSTUFF

Hi all, I found this on line and thought some of you might like to know.

For more info and ordering info for “CSA Field Guide to Clothing and Textile Collections in the United States” edited by Sally Queen and Vicki Berger.

Go to: http://www.americascloset.com/guide.htm

Also, please note that the special introductory price on my book, The Darwin D. Bearley Collection, Antique Ohio Amish Quilts will be going up on the 28th so order now.

It is $65.00 plus $5.00 postage.

It will be going up to $95 plus shipping.

You can see it on the eboards and you can email me at ddbstuff

Darwin (http://www.americasclosets.com/guide.htm)

Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 19:51:48 -0400 | From: Teddy Pruett (aprayzer)

Ah, but you are a good group!! I sent my query late at night, and when I turned on the computer the next morning, I had all the info I needed about the catalogne. They are historically made only in or near Quebec and are a hand loomed textile of heavy cotton warp woven with strips of rags. They can be used as bedspreads or rugs. After AnneLouise sent the basic info and the correct spelling, I was able to do an internet search and find all I needed. Many thanks to AnneLouse, Dawn, and Dana.

Teddy Pruett Beam me up, Scotty – Outta this swamp and into the Rockies www.teddypruett.com

Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 22:23:15 -0700 | From: Karen Alexander (karenquilt)

Three of us held an initial brainstorming session at the LaConner Quilt Museum in LaConner, Washington, today thanks to the instigation of AQSG member Joy Neal of Mt. Vernon, WA, whom I met at the AQSG table at the APNQ show two weekends ago in Seattle. We are excited to announce that the Western Washington Quilt Study Group (WWQSG) will gather for their inaugura l meeting at the LaConner Regional Library, 614 Morris, LaConner, WA 98257 on Sunday, October 15, at 10:30 am. The first topic will be hosted by Joy Neal Quilts of the 20”s and 30”s. Bring quilts and ephemera from this time period to share for the group discussion. Quilts on the subject will be shared first, but any quilts are welcome. Bring your own sack lunch.

Following the meeting, the group will tour the near-by LaConner Quilt Museu m at a special group price of $3 each. The WWQSG meeting is open to the general public and is free of charge. However, RSVP is required. See you there!

Karen Alexander Lopez, WA

Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 09:55:03 -0400 | From: Lloyd E Miller (lemiller)

For what it’s worth. On the sewing clamps or ‘third hands’ with mirrors: the explanation I have heard in a couple of different places is that the mirror helped intensify the candle or lamp light to aid in threading a needle. That would be a more practical application, I would think, than trying to see quilt stitches on the backside of a quilt with a mirror that’s as small as an inch in diameter to perhaps as large as 2 inches, measuring the two examples I have.

Linda Miller in upstate NY

Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:38:00 EDT | From: Mitzioakes

You know, I think you are correct – I have mulling over the mirror bit since I saw this ‘third hand’ last Friday – it just didn’t make sense to me (the mirror was about 2″ in size BTW). If it had been used the way the docent said, I think I would have heard about things like that after being involved in quilts and their history for almost 25 years now, don’t you think?Thanks for your explanation – the most understandable one yet – I will try to let you all know if I get any more ideas about the ‘third hand’. Mitzi from VT

Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 08:38:43 -0700 (PDT) | From: Laura Fisher (laurafisherquilts)

Ctalogne a bed rug, woven from rag strips, usually in horizontal stripes. Probably all were woven in Canada, though I have bought them as coming from Maine, Vermont. Most often I find them woven in two panels lashed together like a rag carpet; typically the stripes do not align horizontally, so it’s a challenge to find them where the colored bands are continuous all across. Less frequently, I have found them in plaids, or all over tweedy! And less typically found are those catalognes, woven in one full width with no center seam. They are mostly woven of cotton, occasionally with strips of wool rag, or even rayon. I would love to know—-were these home wovem, was there a place to which one brought one’s rags to be recylced into catalognes, were there “companies” who made them, were they for one’s own use, sale to the public, made for export? Period when they were made? Still made now? Soooooo much to know/learn!!, Though made for bed use originally, I have sold them mostly to people who want to use them on the floor, because the lighter colors work for a summer cottage look, as traditional rag carpet is darker and somber.

Laura Fisher

Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 12:12:29 -0500 | From: Gail Ingram (gingram)

> Ctalogne a bed rug, woven from rag strips, usually in horizontal stripes. > Probably all were woven in Canada, though I have bought them as coming from > Maine, Vermont. Most often I find them woven in two panels lashed together

These appear to be similar to the cotonnade quilts/covers made by Acadian French in South Louisiana. Are they? Cotonnade covers/rugs were/are made from the fabric cotonnade, home-woven dress-quality fabric. Because the fabric was rather supple, the ones I’ve seen were not really stiff or inflexible. They were woven from the natural brown and the white cottons produced in LA. I’ve seen an an early example woven from soft wool fabrics. The Acadian people brought their weaving techniques and traditions with them to South Louisiana in the Great Migration. Jenna Kutruff has article on these in 1999 “Uncoverings.”

What are the roots of this term?

Gail Ingram

Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:57:21 -0700 | From: Julie Silber (quiltcomplex)

Hi Teddy et al,

Just got on QHL after a few days away. I have a couple examples of catalongue in my collection and would be happy to do a search and get a few photos. You can e-mail me directly at quitlcomplex.

Julie Silber

Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 16:32:33 -0400 (GMT-04:00) | From: Matt Arnett

Hello all. I hope everyone had a great weekend. I’m sorry to be responding to this message so late, but I was out of town and didn’t have access to email. Thank you to the list members who forwarded the comments to me (though I already get them) and asked me to respond.

I’m enclosing Alan’s complete email below as he has complained on another list that he had, in the past, been quoted out of context. So his entire post is below. I’m not sure where to begin because his email is so full of inaccuracies an d misleading information but I’ll try to start at the top and work my way down. I’ll also read some of the other comments when I get a chance and respond only to those that I feel need a response. And thank you to this list for having very enlightened discussions.

>I’m one of the ones that think the > ladies of Gee’s Bend have been exploited. >I don’t remember the man’s name, > but he collects AA “artifacts” – his term, which is suspect in my book.

Alan, the peoples names are William and Matt Arnett. And William, my dad, doesn’t collect “AA artifacts,” as you claim, nor does he use that word to describe artworks. Perhaps in the past 40 years he has used that word to describe Egyptian or Greek “art and artifacts,” but certainly not as it pertains to works created in the last several centuries, regardless of the culture which produced the artwork. But in claiming that those are my father’s words, you have certainly raised the hackles of any unsuspecting o r uninformed reader (something you yourself happen to be).

The rest of your email only gets more confusing and shows how little about Gee’s Bend, the women, and our work you really have any knowledge about.

First of all, we didn’t “happen across the ladies.” We have been researchin g and documenting African American art and artists throughout the south. That research led us to an understanding that quilts were very much a part of this continuum and were in many ways a foundation for much of the work created by African Americans in the south. A wealth of painting, sculpture, yard environments, and quilting exists in the south, and most, if not all, was being overlooked or ignored. We made the study and preservation of this our number one priority. It is true that many of the “artists” didn’t call themselves artists. As a matter of fact most didn’t even know or use that word. The people who were familiar with the idea of an artist, thought that only white people were artists. While they were creating art, and often times for the same reasons that people throughout the world create art, the y didn’t call it that, nor did they identify themselves as artists. Most just made things. Sometimes those things kept people warm (as in the case of quilts); sometimes those things commented on the living conditions of the people; sometimes those things just beautified the creators surroundings; sometimes those things recorded historic events (as most of the people we are talking about were denied education and the ability to read or write wa s often times a death sentence), recording events in this way was the only wa s of documenting important events or people. There were, and remain, a number of reasons why the art was created. More recently, as some of these artists have become known, they have even been able to create art that finds its wa y into galleries and sometimes even museums. In Gee’s Bend, in particular, quilts were made to keep people warm. They were also hung on walls to keep the cold air out. They were also put on the floor to keep the dust from coming up through the cracks. They were also hung outside on lines for everyone to see. Certain times of the year (in th e fall and spring in particular), groups would walk around from neighborhood to neighborhood looking at each others quilts. Here is a quote from Mary Lee Bendolph (which I think points out the bigges t flaw in your argument, Alan. And that is you act as if the women don’t have a voice. You accuse us of certain things, but the most egregious error here is that you are far more guilty of exploiting the women than anyone you accuse of exploitation.) This was done a few years ago by someone on a similar list. When one of the quiltmakers stated that they had been treated “like queens,” and that they were so happy and doing so well, someone said, “we’ll we all know that the women don’t really know what is best for them.” To me, that is far more offensive than anything you accuse me or my dad of doing (especially because the things you state about us are so far off base). The quote from Mary Lee: “I didn’t know nothing about art. I ain’t never heard her (her mother, Aolar) say nothing about art. Never as I know did she ever say anything about art. If she knew anything, she didn’t tell me. But she didn’t tell me everything she knew. But I doubt she knew anthing about art. All they would do was make quilts to keep us warm. I see other people’s quilts like when the spring of the year come. The women would hang their quilts out, and we would just go from house to house looking at the people’s quilts. And I would take a pattern from looking at their quilt and try to make one like it. But it don’t bever be just like the quilt I see hanging on the wire. When people go around looking at the quilts, we wanted them to be pretty an d make them look better than the next one. We didn’t have no museum in Gee’s Bend, but we would go from house to house looking at quilts and getting ideas about how I would like to lay mine out. People go from museum to museum checking out other people’s work. Sometimes they like it, sometimes they don’t. They go home and try to make it, too. I think that was the saem thing we was doing back then. They have a name for itADartADand we didn’t. An d ours was hanging on the outside. When people would go to your house, they want to see your quilts. And they look at the quilts on the bed. They’d tel l you if it looked pretty. That would make me feel good about my quilt. I would go and make more by them looking at my quilt sand saying they was pretty.” Mary Lee Bendolph, quoted in “Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt,” from “Mama’s Song,” by Mary Lee Bendolph.

Alan, you also say the following: “Sometimes they were especially pretty, most times not… All but one I would have looked at in a shop and quickly passed by.”

If you would have passed by them in a shop, it seems like they were fortunate that we went there and looked for them and not you. Had you been the one to “happen across the ladies,” most of the quilts in question would no longer be on the planet. At the rate they were being discarded and burne d up, it is unlikely that many of them would have made it to the year 2006. You can’t have it both ways. Either the quilts are important or they are not. If they aren’t important (which you seem to think) then your argument is really over. End of discussion. I happen to disagree with you, so I’ll continue. But you can stop reading if you choose.

Alan goes on to say that this has “become a boon to the ladies, since they are now able to sell their quilts….now that they are making them for profit, what have the quilts lost in terms of the innocent charm they once had?”

Alan is the only one claiming that the women are making their quilts now fo r profit. If Alan were to go to Gee’s Bend, he would find quilts on beds. The fact that the women now have additional outlets has changed their work very little. Except that they are now active in all parts of their art’s life now. If a woman chooses to sell a quilt, she has many more opportunities to do so. She will also receive a lot more money than she used to, or ever expected to. But most remain true to the materials and techniques they have always employed. Women in the area have had access to “new” materials since the sixties. It wasn’t always plentiful, but it was there. They can now choose whatever materials they like, but most still work with discarded materials and clothes. Again, the women have been quoted about this so ofte n that it does seem to me, at least, silly that I’m doing so here. There are now four books out about or related to Gee’s Bend quilts. Each relies heavily on the words of the ACTUAL people Alan is speaking for. Most of the incorrect information Alan is presenting is actually refuted by the women i n their own words.20

Alan says, “..how has the fact that they’re considered ART changed the way the ladies approach what they do? And now that they’re doing this for money , how much of their enjoyment in the past-time has been lost.”

Actually, when I first went to Gee’s Bend, there were only a few women stil l making quilts. The younger generations were no longer taking up the mantle and making quilts. With bedding available in nearby towns at very reasonabl e prices, quilting was a dying art. So the easy answer is they are enjoying this more than anyone can imagine. There has been a real quilting resurgenc e among the older women who had long ago put down their needles. They have picked them back up and are piecing again and many have reformed their quilting groups and are getting together again. It has brought the women back together. Younger people who had stopped quilting when they were young , now see how important the tradition is and have resumed quiltmaking (Louisiana Bendolph is a great example of this). The youngest children, who now see what quilting has done for their community have asked to learn (something they hadn’t done in at least one generation). So now young girls (and boys, too) are sitting with their mothers, grandmothers, or great-grandmothers and learning to quilt. It has been quite remarkable and as far as I know, unprecedented. In other words, the “past-time” was just that, the past. It is now very much the present, and it looks like the future as well. Though if people like Alan had their way, perhaps the women should just put the quilts back in their closets or start burning them again. I think they are finally seeing rewards from hard-lived lives, so I don’t think that is very likely. (for much more detail about the women’s reaction to all of this or how they make quilts or how they choose their materials, see “Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt,” or countless news articles)

Before the exhibition opened, we had a meeting with the women where we laid out all of the potential ramifications from the exhibit. It could be successful, or not. It could lead to many opportunities, or not. We asked them how they wanted us to proceed. We asked them what they wanted to see happen. We’ve been very sensitive to the desires of the women and the community. We work with them daily, weekly, and monthly. Is everyone happy? Probably not. Do egos and jealousies exist in Gee’s Bend? Amazingly, they do. But at every meeting everyone has a vote. Majority rules (unless it is really close, then other options are discussed). Surprisingly, most of the votes are unanimous. Most all of the women want this to benefit the community first, themselves second. That is one of the things that made, and continues to make, Gee’s Bend special.

There is much misinformation out there about the Gee’s Bend exhibit, the women, and the books (most of which can be refuted by reading the books, seeing the exhibits, or meeting the women). I’ll always try to answer legitimate questions or concerns, and always have. So have the women. The women have traveled all over the country speaking about their art and their community. Go see them speak. I think then comments like Alan’s will fall o n deaf ears. But I guess that’s the nature of our society now. Many people want to sit around and complain about what’s being done without actually getting up and doing something. Alan, we are trying to do something. So are the women from Gee’s Bend. So are many other people. I’m thankful that the majority of the people we have come into contact with appreciate all that has and continues to happen. The women do. And they are the only ones that count. At least to me.

Again, my phone numbers and address are always at the bottom of my emails. Should any one wish to contact me I’m always available (or at least try to be).

Thank you, Matt

Some quiltmakers will be in San Francisco over the weekend of September 21st-24th; Austin, Texas from the 27th-October 1st; Indianapolis, IN from October 4th-8th. For more information feel free to contact me or the participating museums: De Young Museum Austin Museum of Art Indianapolis Museum of Art

Matt Arnett Tinwood Media 512 Means St. NW Suite 305 Atlanta, GA 30318 ph. 404.607.7172 cell. 404.234.8050

Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 17:50:23 -0400 | From: Pepper Cory (pepcory)

Hello friends-I have a quilt like this but in cheddar and lavender. So similar it makes me think the design might have appeared in a magazine or book in the 1930s. I know another cover quilt for Ladies Home Journal (orange and white Irish Chain) inspired hundreds of offspring. Might this have a pictured ancestor quilt? Do any of our quilt historians think they might know where the pattern came from? It’s a Reel variation http://www.rubylane.com/shops/cotatigal/item/RW-182 and looks as though it’s reverse applique (mine is not-). Thanks for looking- Pepper

Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 18:51:24 -0700 | From: Alan (alan)

<sigh>

And just when I had thought it was over.

I’m addressing this to the list in general, because I think I’d get nasty addressing this directly to Mr. Arnett.

Point – someone on this list crossposted a snippet from my opinion, here, about the Gee’s bend quilts, to the QuiltArt list. The snippet was made into something else entirely. I got really snippy about it, and the poster has apologized privately to me (thanks!). Near the end of that conversation, I ended up taking a lot of guff from one particular individual. We agreed to disagree, and made up privately. But it was very evident to the list and all reading it that I was rather upset about the whole deal. I’d sorta yelled and made a fool of myself. But I also asked them to take into account that I’m having physical problems right now and feeling somewhat fragile.

Now, after having followed *that* thread, Mr. Arnett has yet again crossposted my words from QuiltArt back to QHL. He knew full well that the only thing he would get was my anger and upset. That is really quite mean-spirited. My *opinion* has no weight. It was only an *opinion*, based on what I’d read and seen. I wasn’t pulling from thin air. The couple of personal swipes were uncalled for.

As for this latest post. Aside from the fact it pissed me off, I found it rather patronizing (poor alan, he’s sooo misinformed). I read the post, and I found holes I could poke through, but I really am not going to bother. I just wish I’d get left alone.

I wonder, how many threads on how many lists are the Arnetts monitoring?

And as for the regular list members, my sincere apologies. I had no idea this would escalate this far. I honestly didn’t think my *opinion* was that important.

Alan working very hard to not say what he wants to say

Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:46:59 -0500 | From: Gail Ingram (gingram)

>Alan > working very hard to not say what he wants to say

Alan and others,

Been there, done that.

And so I will change the subject. Gratis.

Two questions: First, Are the items referred to as catalogne identical to/ similar to the Acadian cotonnade quilts? Are they quilted, as the cotonnade quilts are in general?

Second, what is the derivation of this name? Is it related to Catalonia, thereby suggesting a connection?

Gail Ingram

Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:09:34 -0700 | From: Alan (alan)

Gee criminey, I don;t know anything about this !

Alan

Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 22:15:00 -0500 | From: Debbie (russhill)

I am working on a Cathedral Window quilt. I did a search but ended up with out the answer I wanted on dating them. When do they date to? 20 Thanks so much. 20 Debbie Russell russhill

Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 11:24:41 -0400 | From: Dale Drake (ddrake)

Gail:

Your email sent me on my own Google search – here’s what I found:

http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/the_breaux_manuscript.html Clothing, Ancient and Modern “At the beginning of the 19th century, men wore as their Sunday outfit: a pair of short breeches called the braguette, a very long waistcoat, and a capot or outer coat with long tails. Nowadays (c. 1900) they wear clothing cut more in keeping with present style. Winter suits are made of a mixed wool-and-cotton cloth called jeture de laine, and for the other seasons clothes made of cotonnade, a rather thick cotton cloth, blue, white, red, and black are worn; on the head, they wear a hat of felt or one woven from the palmetto …. The capot vest and trousers were made of cotonnade. The women wove the material for quilts, striped coverlets, bed-sheets, shirts, and so forth.” Are there any examples of these cotonnade-made quilts online? My mother’s family are Thibodeaux’s from Southwest LA, and we’ve spent vacations the last few years visiting Nova Scotia, where of course I’v

Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 11:41:40 -0400 | From: joan kiplinger (jkip)

The only spelling I can find is cottonade — double t — in my glossaries. In 1911 it was described as cotton cloth for men’s wear imitating woolens and worsted in colors and weave. The Drygoodsman’s Handy Dictionary. In the 1920s it was more a soft drill twill for trousers and worn with Hickory, a striped shirting and slightly lighter version of cotttonade. Grace Denny, Fabrics editions 1923 through 1962. I didn’t check any further.

Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:27:00 +0000 | From: albeaumont

Laura Fisher wrote: “Ctalogne a bed rug, woven from rag strips, usually in horizontal stripes. Probably all were woven in Canada, though I have bought them as coming from Maine, Vermont. Most often I find them woven in two panels lashed together like a rag carpet; typically the stripes do not align horizontally, so it’s a challenge to find them where the colored bands are continuous all across. Less frequently, I have found them in plaids, or all over tweedy! And less typically found are those catalognes, woven in one full width with no center seam. They are mostly woven of cotton, occasionally with strips of wool rag, or even rayon. I would love to know—-were these home wovem, was there a place to which one brought one’s rags to be recylced into catalognes, were there “companies” who made them, were they for one’s own use, sale to the public, made for export? Period when they were made? Still made now? Soooooo much to know/learn!!, “

I can tell you a bit about the catalogne that I won in 1997 when we lived in Kingsey Falls, Quebec, which is a francophone community. I must admit, that while I can function in French, much would go over my head, especially if more than one person was talking at the same time, so I probably missed a lot of information. Some ladies started a chapter of l’AFEAS, (l’Association feminine d’education et d’action sociale ). I don’t know how to find the accents with this computer email thing, so I’m just ignoring them. One of the members and her mother were excellent weavers, and l’AFEAS was given the use of the upper room in the community center to set up looms that had been stored in the priest’s attic. There was a small loom that I got to help set up the warp on. This was an interesting process, since I hadn’t done anything like this before. We wove placemats on the small loom, using a white cotton thread for the warp and scrap strips of a synthetic fabric on the weft. The warp was set up to produce a pattern in itself. The pattern was one that came from another women’s organization, the Cercle de Fermieres. I have been told much later by a weaver that this is a summer/winter pattern. They also set up a large loom that the catalogne which I won was woven on. It took 2 people sitting side by side to operate this loom. My catalogne is 62″ wide, 92.5″ long, with no seam down the middle, since the loom was so big. The warp is white cotton thread, and the weft is cotton fabric strips. I think the fabric may have been purchased to make this catalogne, since there are 35 rows of a white and aqua fabric, then 9 rows of a solid aqua. What is really attractive is that over the solid aqua band, the warp threads make a pattern. We were transferred again shortly after my win, so I don’t know if the l”AFEAS ladies are still weaving. After Teddy’s request for information, I looked up catalognes in the Textile Museum of Canada’s website, and was surprised at how plain the examples looked. My digital camera isn’t working so I can’t easily email a picture. One of the many things that I loved about my friends in Quebec was their technical excellence and that they embraced a challenge so eagerly. If something were easy, there was no point in doing it. After reading Laura’s post, I appreciate my catalogne even more. The Cercle de Fermieres is an organization that I didn’t belong to, but some other friends did. One of its mandates is to preserve Quebec’s traditional craft heritage. At the time I was in Quebec, I was told that the Cercle de Fermieres didn’t accept rotary cutters, since they weren’t traditional. I went on their website today and noticed a link to their 2005 textile competition which included weaving, but didn’t see any catalognes. I think this organization would probably have good information on the state of catalognes in Quebec. I don’t know how interested young women there are in weaving or hand-woven products. My daughter-in-law prefers Ralph Lauren. In the area where we lived, the homes are generally small, probably to make them easier to heat in the winter. I am completely speculating that the large 2 person loom would be too big for many to have in their homes, and that a larger workshop space would be needed. However, I could be wrong on this. The one I won was a fundraiser raffle prize for l’AFEAS. My weaver friend and her mother did make articles for sale but I can’t remember if they did catalognes too. Their dishtowels were expensive, but the best I’ve ever owned. As far as export is concerned, their work would stand on its own anywhere, but I don’t know if they pursued that. This has been a nice trip down memory lane for me. Thanks, Laura.

Best Wishes, Ann-Louise Beaumont in Greeley, CO

Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 10:08:18 -0700 (PDT) | From: Laura Fisher (laurafisherquilts)

p.s. if anyone happens to visit NYC, she or he can see dozens of catalognes in person–stripes matched across the seams, full-width unseamed catalognes, plaids, uncut catalogne yardage — in my new shop FISHER HERITAGE, 305 East 61st Street (are you listening, Julie?!!) I love ’em, have always had some in inventory. Be careful how you wash them, I have seen some that contained wool strips in the rag mix that were unknowingly washed in hot water, and you can imagine the result; it’s impossible to pull them back out to original size again.

Laura Fisher

Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 10:40:26 -0700 | From: Karen Alexander (karenquilt)

Is anyone on the list familiar with (have one?) of the cigarette silks ads instruction sheets that were about 7″x12″ and were sent out by mail on request? I’ve been offered one and would sure like to have some idea of their rarity and value. I don’t collect the silks but I don’t want to ignore some potentially valuable piece of ephemera either — but neither do I want to overpay. <g> Thanks,

Karen Alexander

Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 14:04:20 -0500 | From: Gail Ingram (gingram)

The only spelling I can find is cottonade — double t — in my glossaries.–Joan English dictionaries, Joan?

The term is/was used in Louisiana to describe both the fabric and the woven , quilted product made with the fabric.

I have seen only 4 examples and have never seen examples of cotonnade (fabric) other than in these quilts, made by Acadian people, who still occasionally have great “family” reunions with relatives in New Bruswick an d portions of Quebec. One can drive through New Brunswick looking at the name s on mailboxes and think she’s in Marksville or Lafayette, Louisiana–even Alexandria. My own first Louisiana ancestor came from Quebec via the Mississippi River in last half of the 18th century.

The connection between Quebec Province and the Acadian people of Nova Scoti a and Louisiana, who were deported en masse from Halifax, Nova Scotia, beginning in 1755, is strong. While most (over 60,000 at first) were forced onto ships and sailed to Boston, Maryland, and many to the French West Indies before reaching Louisiana, some 1,000 of them escaped the British an d managed to flee to New Brunswick and Quebec, French provinces. The first groups to reach Louisiana, which was in Spanish hands at the time, were settled along the Mississippi River just southwest and across the river fro m present-day Baton Rouge (St. James Parish). Later, other groups were required to settle further west, the largest numbers settling along Bayous LaFouche and Teche (pro: tesh).

In Nova Scotia most had been small farmers, and they set up small farms in the prairie lands of southwest Louisiana, which provided ready transportation via the bayous. They also fished, hunted, and trapped in the vast Atchafalaya (A (short a) chaf a lie ya) River swamp to the east, stretching between Baton Rouge and Lafayette . These are the ‘cajun people. They raised sheep, grew a little cotton, and continued their weaving traditions. It may suggest their conservatism to know that many of these people spoke English only as a second language and some not at all until the late 1950’s, when the state made the English language mandatory in schools. The French dialect spoken is very much like that spoken in New Brunswick.

So considering the ties between Quebec, New Brunswick, and Louisiana Acadians, it is likely these two textiles are directly related. The Acadian/cajun weaving tradition remained vital into the twentieth century for such home products–probably through WW II and later.

Almost all the cotonnade I have seen has been woven from the natural brown cotton that is still grown in some places in Louisiana and that with the “green” movement has made something of a comeback and with the more common white cotton. Some has been woven from wool and dyed. In two cotonnades, white cotton dyed with indigo appears. In general, there is the sense of beige-browns and whites. Not colorful at all, though weaving patterns vary.

The cotonnade quilts I’ve seen or seen pictured have no patterns. Their top s are composed of pieces of the woven fabric pieced in a seemingly random pattern to form a single unit. (Think Gee’s Bend) The cotonnade fabrics are dress weight fabrics. The batts were cotton, both the brown longer staple cotton and the white. The quilting patterns were elbow or fan quilting. The y were clearly utilitarian and so folklorists and textile students, esp. at LSU and Southwestern LA University, have not discovered many because they wore out. So far as I know, the quilts provide the major resource for studying the fabrics woven by these people.

As in the British cultures, there is the tradition that a mother saw her daughter had 12 quilts, 12 bedspreads, and 6 sheets and at least one rug as a part of her trousseau (called L’Amour de Maman still or simply L’Amour in some families). Considering how large some families were, I bet some of the younger daughters were not so blessed.

Jenna Kutruff has a definitive article on these in one of the issues of “Uncoverings” from the late 1990’s. Mine is presently on loan or I could se e if she makes direct links with Quebec products.

So how do these two kinds of textiles compare?

And, once more, what are the derivations of the word “catalogne”?

Gail Ingram 20

Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 20:28:36 -0400 | From: Ilene Brown (ilene3)

Hi, I have never seen one. I collect the tobacco felts and cigarette silks. I would like to see a copy of it. Ilene Brown of Raleigh, NC

Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:04:16 -0400 | From: joan kiplinger (jkip)

Gail — yes, English glossaries. French would be cotonnade using the French coton for cotton. I vaguely remember cottonade in the 40s-50s, rather a soft drill used for sports wear, slacks, shorts, etc. I don’t recall ever sewing with it though I may have but under a seasonal fashion name. My French dictionary states Catalogne is French for Catalonia or of Catalonia.

From: Julie Silber

Can someone tell me the proper name for the 20th century kit or pattern with embroidered blocks that show scenes from American history: Pilgrim, American Flag, American Indian, Penny Coin, etc?

Thanks, Julie Silber (quiltcomplex)

Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 22:35:18 -0500 | From: Gail Ingram (gingram)

> Gail — yes, English glossaries. French would be cotonnade My French dictionary states Catalogne is French for Catalonia or of Catalonia. >

Joan, that is my point: is there Spanish/Catalonian/Barcelonian influence on these French home-woven textiles? And, of course, are they related?

I seem to recall that in the very early 18th century, there was a controversy between England and the Catalonian textile manufacturers because the latter were turning out inferior (acc. To Brits) and less expensive copies of the Indiennes and selling them to the American market. Am not sure of the source of the cotton/coton but it is unlikely that it was local. They were involved primarily with printing the textiles in that period, I believe. I will have to locate my notes because my research was in history, not textiles, and it was a while back. Before 1744, Alexander Pope’s death.

Silk was produced in area near Barcelona and was a major import. When the British were briefly disengaged from their long battle with France, they bought silk from the region. Also laces, some of which were modest quality.

I think one of the Catalonian problems during this period and later was that all textile production was basically a home industry. In the interior regions–and, I bet, the area near the Pyrranees, wool and linen were produced and woven much the way the cotonnades were produced and woven. At home for home use. The British found the Catalonians a “primitive” people who seemed not to know the means for industrialization of textile production as early as other nations.

The name “catalogne” fascinates me in its origin. I’ve searched what genealogical sources were easily accessible on web and have found several Acadian families whose “dit” name (“called name” / nickname/familiar name) was Catalogne and a list of Acadians that notes several families were Catalonian in origin.

Since large families often took the dit name of their oldest ancestor as their surname for purposes of clarity of identification, possibly some Catalonian family made “catalognes”?

Those who only care about catalogne and cotonnade may now sign off. The rest is just a little discovery I made while trying to trace this name down.

In going back to the information I have on French surnames in Louisiana and French Canada (which Canada mostly was then), I came across something that tickles me. No end.

In the late 18th century, my ancestor the widow LaCroix was declared the “wealthiest” person in Rapides (ra-peeds) Parish, Louisiana. Parish records, references in letters and so forth state her wealth in terms of landholdings and livestock, cultivated fields, etc. Believe me, she was not wearing sable or ermine.

The NEXT wealthy person was also a woman, the widow Wells, among whose descendents is Rebecca Wells, who wrote all that YaYa Sister stuff and one good novel, “Little Altars Everywhere.” It appears tthe widow Wells’ failing was in not having “peafowl” as well as sufficient “fowl” in general. Also swine: she didn’t have as many swine, though it was neck-and-neck in the swine category. Several births of piglets could have turned the tide there.

The LaCroix and Wells properties were very close and in some places contiguous, and I’ve always wondered how an English family turned up in that wilderness along the Red River in the midst of a French population and territory. The Wellses weren’t telling, if they knew, for I asked. Repeatedly. In fact, they seemed rather proud of the indication they were descended from Anglo- blood. Since all of us lived on the Anglo- and Protestant side of the Red River, thanks to the later Scots-Irish incursion, they seemed to think that elevated them somehow. Bless their hearts.

Since by then I bore a Scots-Irish name, their hauteur on the matter did not faze me. My ancestress, after all, had supplied her acres with guinea fowl, pea fowl, turkeys, and a host of plain old egg-laying fowl. You can’t beat that.

WELL, today I discovered that a lot of the Acadians who made it to Quebec or New Brunswick changed their names simply by translating the name into English. Hence, Dupuis became Wells. The Dupuis were well diggers, I bet. And so I’m willing to bet the widow Wells not only did not have foresight enough to provide herself with peafowl and a sufficiency of other fowl plus a few more swine. I’m thinking the widow was really from a family named Dupuis. And that gladdened the LaCroix part of my heart enough to make me dash off a note to a member of the very likely well digging family inquiring re same.

Pope said a little learning could be a dangerous thing. He did not say for whom it could be a dangerous thing.

With one whose blood flows French, German, and Scots-Irish, Gail Ingram