June 20 – 24, 2000
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:
- “1900 House” and Living-History Realism — Members react to the PBS series “1900 House,” debating how realistically the family was prepared for period-appropriate technology.
- Dating a Quilt by Its Fabric — A member works out the earliest possible date for a New Jersey quilt by identifying the prints used in its fabric. (see the article on dating quilts)
- Correcting the “Brown Spots Are Rust” Myth — A textile conservator explains that age spots on quilts are more often caused by mold, mildew, or dye deterioration than by rust. (see the article on quilt folklore)
- Hand-Quilting Techniques: Bargello and Pad-Stitching — Members compare invisible bargello quilting to the tailoring technique of pad-stitching.
- When Did Polyester Batting Begin? — A member asks when polyester quilt batting first came into common use, prompting others to weigh in with what they recall. (see the article on quilt batting)
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 08:55:12 -0400 | From: maria@ (Maria Elkins)
Regarding databases of quilt books
I recently put together a list of my quilt books similar to what you are talking about. I didn’t have the time to go through every book myself, so my solution was to HIRE a teenager (my daughter who tends to be a perfectionist). Summer time is a great time to find a teenager to do these kinds of jobs. I paid her $5 per hour. She was thrilled. I was thrilled and now I know what I have 🙂
Note: if you have them do the updating directly into the computer, first make a copy of your file on a backup disk, just in case…
Maria
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 09:19:05 -0500 | From: “Sehoy L. Welshofer” <sw4quilt@>
Judy and all – I keep a data base of all my own quilts – those I’ve made, not bought. I use File Maker Pro 5.0 to do this. You can control how the information is entered, in what order, etc. It also allows me to put an image of the quilt right on the page with the data. I can print out individual records or a list with whatever specific information I want. It’s a good way for me to keep track of all the little differences in the way I handled each quilt. It’s amazing how quickly I can forget what kind of batting I used in a particular quilt – but it’s in the data base! <G>
Sehoy
Visit Web Threads, the Newsletter for Net Savvy Quilters at:
http://www.welshofer.com/WebThreads/
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 15:30:59 -0400 | From: Christine_Grant@
Hello.
It is true – you never know when a quilt will appear in a movie, or which film is likely to include a quilt. How about “Blues Brothers 2000”. The young boy, Buster, is shown sleeping under a handsome Log Cabin quilt in his ‘bedroom’ in the trunk of a car.
Enjoy the summer solstice everyone.
Chris
Cornwall, Ontario
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 22:30:12 EDT | From: Feathrwate@
After I’d said I would help a little with a traditional crafts emphasis at our local childrens’ center, I was told the quilting would follow a session about the above book, and that we would then be making blocks from the “Underground Railroad quilts”. I really wouldn’t undermine the speaker, but how might I proceed with the children, not wanting to present this information as fact? It would be interesting to have a South Carolina forum to study this whole issue, right where presumably it got started..
Linda Harral
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 11:49:24 -0400 | From: Newbie Richardson <pastcrafts@>
To pick up on the thread from last fall…I find fault with the fact that the family got very little training in how to use the “appliances”
of the period.
I cooked on a wood stove in our New England house for years. I was taught how to tell whether the stove was the “right” temperature at a very young age. It’s like learning to drive a stick shift: practice, practice! Also, the family has no network, they are isolated – we all know that would not have been the case for real. (Except in the pioneer homesteads – then everyone pitched in with the “heavy” work). Finally, there would have been a hired girl to help out. Middle class city dwellers had hired girls, diaries are full of the tales of woe when one does not work out – or leaves! the problem with the premise of the show is that it is done out of context!
IMHO! Newbie
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 11:30:16 -0500 | From: grapes <grapes@>
DH and I have been watching the 1st 2 episodes. Most of our discussion has been about how unprepared the family is for living during that time period. No training, and a very fairy tale/fantasy view of what life would be like. All fun and games and swirley dresses. Mom had no idea of diet during the period or health standards. For someone who is a vegetarian we were surprised she had not studied dishes and menus before the move. As a Vegin she should practice this in her daily life to ensure daily dietary needs. She would have already been familiar with the foods eaten by a 1900 family and realized that it might not be for her.
Even from my childhood (I am only 42) I recall that we did not bathe every day and surely only shampooed about 2 times a week. That was the standard then. DH and I had been discussing that we would have begun acclimating our skin, scalps, etc. to be used to the new environment (less washing) prior to the move so that we would have been much more comfortable.
As for the people who set up the house, they NEVER should have moved the family in until that stove was fixed and running properly. That alone would have saved a lot of stress on the family.
Just my .02 cents.
Jo in Tx
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 13:24:32 EDT | From: JQuilt@
i think the real problem is getting the hot water boiler to heat the water for a bath..more than it is the stove for cooking….
i agree that everything should have been working in a1 condition…when the family moved in…
when i lived in the boonies in vermont..i heated and sometimes cooked with a wood stove and it was not a delite…if i wanted to stay in town, for a movie, after work… it meant coming home to an stove with the fire “gone out” and in the winter that was really a pain..
jean
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 15:54:34 -0400 | From: Barb Garrett <bgarrett@>
Hi Linda and others –
I talk about the concept and specifically this book in my quilt history talk in the section I call “Romanticized Quilting Myths”. I first talk about the “black centered log cabin theory” — which has been around awhile — and then talk about the book. In essence what I say is —
Some of you may be familiar with a book called HIPV published by the popular press last spring. While not published by the company as a history book, many took it as such. The authors have now clarified that it is the oral history account of how one family used quilts in the Underground Railroad Movement and does not represent a universal code or usage of quilts in that Movement. At this time research is being done to try to substantiate the use of quilts in the Movement and the publication of this book may help spur that research. Reactions have been interesting — One teacher in NJ told me she was very surprised by my attitude about the book — those were her words — because there is a teacher in her elementary school who is getting large grants of money because she is developing a MAJOR unit on quilts in the UR based solely on this book and how dare I contradict what she is doing. Interestingly, another member, who I later learned is very intensely involved in local quilt history, overheard our conversation and agreed with me that the authors have now modified their position. The teacher was stunned that 2 people would dare to express this opinion.
Linda, perhaps it would be possible to talk to the speaker well before the program and see if you can both be coming from the same point as the authors — that this is an oral history passed down in one family as to how that family used quilts in the Underground Railroad. She may only be aware of the tremendous popular publicity the book has received and not know that it isn’t what the press has made it into. Then you aren’t undermining her, hopefully she will be glad to know the truth, and you will be relaying to the children the true intent of the book.
Barb in southeastern PA
As seen on Simply Quilts! — Friday, June 23 at 9:30 am
Visit my newest line of Historical Doll Quilt Patterns at http://www.hickoryhillquilts.com/with.htm
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 14:42:32 -0700 | From: “Robins-Morris, Laura A” <lrobins@>
It wasn’t a quilt, but I noticed something in the movie Key Largo (Bogart and Bacall) that many folks might miss. It was toward the beginning of the movie and it was a shirt that a character was wearing. The man was supposed to be a local native (was his name something like Indian Joe?) and I sort of remember that he was piloting a boat, or was he the murderer? (I’m terrible at remembering movies.) But what was interesting was his shirt. It was sort of busy and plaid/checkered (black and white move) and in the colorized version (I hate those!) it was kind of all one color, sort of an ugly chartreuse. But what I realized was that the shirt was all Seminole piecing. (For those who might not know, Key Largo is in Florida, where the Seminole Indians live, and where Seminole piecing originated.) I’m sure the film colorizer didn’t have a clue about the shirt, and probably wouldn’t have bothered taking time to add that detail anyway. And unless you’re interested in textiles, you probably wouldn’t notice the shirt at all. I imagine the actual shirt was quite spectacular. It’s interesting that the wardrobe person, or whoever, added that little detail of authenticity to the movie for such a brief scene, when you couldn’t even get the full effect in a black and white movie.
At least I thought it interesting!
Laura in Seattle
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 18:07:45 -0400 | From: “John Cawley” <cawley@>
I have a question for our Australian QHLers. A fellow member of the Bayside Quilters here on the Eastern Shore of MD will be spending a month in Perth (Sept.-Oct.). She’s been asked to teach a class at a local quilt shop and is wondering what she might offer that would be particularly American and/or of special interest to Australian quilters. She is an experienced teacher and acomplished quiltmaker and she would be very grateful for suggestions. This will be a one time only, one day workshop. Is anybody on the list from that area? Thanks.
Cinda on the Eastern Shore
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 16:12:35 -0700 | From: “lynda chenoweth” <lchen@>
Hi,
I have a quilt made in New Jersey, perhaps by a Dutch woman, around 1876-1880. I know it could not have been made prior to 1876 because it has 1876 Centennial fabric in it. The quilt is a herringbone design and is comprised of ten strips of diagonal fabric strips in front. It has quilting only on the back and I think I have figured out how it was put together. I will describe this the best I can but what I really want to know is if anyone is familiar with the technique of construction, what it is called (if it has a name), and whether or not it might be a European technique.20
This is how I’ve decided it was put together. The lengths of diagonal fabrics were made from pieced fabric strips. The backing (a lovely palm frondish fabric with chocolate brown) was also prepared in strips that matched the width and length of the finished diagonal fabric strips. A thin batting (silky to the touch) was lain between the front and back strips. The front strip with it’s diagonal fabric pieces was then sewn through the batting to the backing by flipping it up to the first diagonal under seam, sewing with a running stitch along the inside of the diagonal under seam (thereby attaching it to the backing through the batting), then bringing down the next diagonal fabric element and pulling it taunt, flipping it back, and sewing again along the diagonal under seam through the batting to the backing. This technique was repeated until the entire front strip was attached (along it’s interior seams) to the backing. Once the strips of front, batting and backing were completed, she machine-sewed the front strip side-seams together (keeping the batting and backing away from these seams), and then whipped stitched the backing seams together after tucking the seam lines under. The result is that you have evidence of the backing completion every ten inches where there is a fold under and whip stitching. The front is smooth at the strip seams. There is no quilting seen on the front (not even in the “trenches”), but the diagonal sewing (quilting) used to affix the inner seams of the front strip through the batting and to the back can be seen on the back. Once together, the quilt was bound with a thin cinnamon pink, floral binding.
I hope I’ve described this in a way that it can be visualized! I’ve never seen a quilt constructed this way although one friend suggested it might be an early “lap quilting” technique. HELP!! I want to know if anyone knows anything about this approach. Many thanks!!
Lynda in Sonoma, CA
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 21:13:59 -0500 | From: “Karen S. Bush” <Birdsong@>
I agree with everybody on the family being ‘plunked’ right into the house, and one day with a Living History museum to show them the way! geeze… I know if it was me and I got that phone call to ‘move in’….I’d Demand to find out how many cooks and ‘tweenies’ I had before I moved in!! haha..kb http://www.geocities.com/karenbushquilts/index.html
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 22:26:26 -0400 | From: “KYRA E HICKS” <KHICKS1@>
Judi,
Thanks for the address and lead for the store in California. Can you check the phone number – this one listed seems out of order. I’ll drop them a snail mail note.
Betty & Johns
Pattern Palace
P O Box 1905
Arcadia Ca 91077
818-447-6015
They deal a lot with paterns from the 30’s and 40’s. It might be worth a call or a snail mail letter. The pattern I have is called Kuddle Up With Koko. There are 11 blocks in the series. Does anyone else know about the Little Brown Koko quilt patterns from the 1950s?
Thanks!
Kyra Hicks
Khicks1@
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 22:35:48 -0400 | From: “KYRA E HICKS” <KHICKS1@>
Hello! I am looking for information about museums with quilts in their collections. Specifically, I’m interested in identifying museums with African American-made quilts in their collections. The most recent resource I have found to date is Karen Oshin’s “Quilt Collections” book from 1987.
Thanks for any assistance,
Kyra Hicks
Khicks1@
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 01:06:31 -0400 | From: “J. G. Row” <Judygrow@>
Lynda,
About 10 years ago I took a workshop on bargello quilting, and this method of “invisible” quilting was taught to us. We were warned that when doing this by machine, it was very easy to pull the quilt out of shape unless we reversed the direction of the stitching for each row. It was not an easy technique to pull off, nor was it very pleasant to do! I gave up very early on!
It is interesting to know that it was done so early .
Judy in Ringoes, NJ judygrow@
> It has quilting only on the back and I think I have figured out how it was put together. I will describe this the best I can but what I really want to know is if anyone is familiar with the technique of construction
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 23:05:14 -0700 | From: Margaret Geiss-Mooney <mgmooney@>
As a textile conservator with a textile science background who conserves a lot of quilts here in the West, I must remind everyone that those “little brown spots” aren’t necessarily due to rust. They could be staining due to mold/mildew, insects, fibre/dye deterioration, ground-in dirt/soot, etc. So if it isn’t rust, a rust remover won’t “remove” the spots. And leaving behind in the quilt another foreign contaminant such as spotters, bleaches, oxalic acid or even just lemon juice will cause additional irreversible damage to the quilt.
Margaret Geiss-Mooney mgmooney@
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 14:30:24 +0200 | From: Ady Hirsch <adamroni@>
Hi Xenia
I just saw you article on the 9-patch challenge in McCall’s Quilting (I think). I’m impressed – the quilts are beautiful, and all so different. In fact, everyone in my group liked the idea so much, we’re thinking of starting a 9-patch swap ourselves.
Happy quilting
Ady in Israel
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 16:22:56 EDT | From: Xroadclown@
I haven’t seen the article yet, but I can’t wait. I’m in a “vintage” reproduction 9 patch swap group, and ideas are always appreciated!!!
melanie
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 19:11:31 -0500 | From: Jocelyn <Jocelynm@>
> a session about the above book, and that we would then be making blocks from the “Underground Railroad quilts”. I really wouldn’t undermine the speaker, but how might I proceed with the children, not wanting to present this information as fact?
Linda,
I’d tell whomever’s organizing this event that HIPV is controversial, and not regarded as fact by many experts, and that you can’t be a part of an event that represents it as fact. The speaker may be someone who’s totally unaware of this.
I agree with you that I wouldn’t want to contradict the speaker…but I sure wouldn’t ‘play along’ and present it as fact.Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 03:11:07 PDT
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 15:52:23 -0400 | From: Debby Kratovil <kratovil@>
Any quilters on this list live in the north Atlanta (either east or west) area? I’m looking for guilds, quilters, shops, museums featuring quilts, etc. Am moving into the area in August. You may reply privately. Thanks!
Debby
Debby Kratovil
Paper Piecing Patterns & More!
http://www.his.com/queenb kratovil@
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 16:58:09 -0500 | From: grapes <grapes@>
Today I left an estate sale with a $5 bag of what I thought were 30’s-40’s scraps to use on the quilt I found in DMIL attic last month. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had 96 sets of Butterfly wings and about 30 single wings. There was also a completed block with a black body and black lower wings basted on. The upper wings are about 6″ long and 3″ wide at the base. They come almost to a point and have two curves on the outer edge. I cannot find this pattern in my 3 pattern books or EQ4 library. However I really think I have seen it before. Any guesses as to where I might locate one on the web or a mag? I have posted two photos of the block and wings in my album at photo point.
Here is the URL:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u352870&a6854031&p23213971 The next page has a close up of the block. Please check it out and let me know if you can tell me anything about it. Thanks, Jo in TX
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 19:17:38 -0400 | From: Newbie Richardson <pastcrafts@>
Lynda,
The technique is very similar to what good tailors and dressmakers call “pad stitching”. For those who do not know that term, it is what is used to affix interfacing (sometimes very light batting) in the collar and lapels of well made garments. In this instance the stitches are caught to the top fabric by very carefully taking a stitch through the underpart of the weave – so it does not show on the front of the garment. the advantage is that the fabric is given extra body with out sacrificing the drape. It is still far superior ro the fusibles used in mass manufacturing. techniques like this is what make a suit cost $1000 rather than $199! perhaps your quilter was a tailor?
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 20:35:57 -0400 | From: “John Cawley” <cawley@>
Last night I sent a plaintive email to Phyllis Twigg asking her opinion about buying quilts which are in poor condition. I usually don’t buy anything that isn’t in good shape, but yesterday I saw a heart-stopping Chimney Sweep quilt with blocks of turkey red, Prussian blue, ombre stripes, etc. with fabulous quilting. Sadly the mignonettes in many of the reds have been eaten away, but it still called to me as an example of a very early quilt (fabric, color, binding-back turned to front to form 1/16″ binding, quilting, size-100″ square). Except for the blown reds the condition was about what you would expect given the age and the price was only $100. I am not ever going to be able to afford a pre-1850 quilt in perfect shape. Phyllis commented that obviously I already regretted having it passed it up or I wouldn’t be asking her opinion. She mentioned the “4′ rule” that someone told her about deciding whether to rip out a mistake in a quilt we make ourselves i.e.. if it looks ok from a distance of 4 feet don’t bother. This morning I called her on the phone and readily confessed that the thought that someone else had stopped in the shop after me and bought “my” quilt was bothering me a lot. Anyway, we talked about what I wanted the quilt for (as an example of the era with a wonderful variety of fabrics). In very short order Phyllis told me to get off the phone, go back to the shop and buy the quilt. I did; I love it; it’s beautiful; I’m happy and that’s why I think everybody need a friend like Phyllis.
Cinda on the Eastern Shore
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 07:12:37 EDT | From: DDBSTUFF@
Hi everyone;
I know a while back there was some discussion about when the use of polyester quilt batting began. I just had a good friend ask me that question and I could not, for the life of me, remember. I thought it was the fifties or early sixties but I need help on this. Could someone furnish me this information.
Thanks,
Darwin
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 07:45:52 EDT | From: JQuilt@
there’s a picture and a small article about butterfly quilts of the 30s. in the book Quilt Designs from the 30s.published by Dover Books.
jean
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 05:51:20 -0400 | From: Marsha MacDowell <macdowel@> (by way of List Mom
First of all, my apologies to list for mistakenly hitting the button before previous posting was composed. Anyway, I did want to let list members know that we have approximately 30 African-American quilts in our collections. Nearly all were collected in Michigan during a project about ten years ago to document African-American quilting in the state. Along with the collection we have photos of quilters, tape-recorded interviews, and some Ephemera. Most all of the quilts were made in Michigan but some were brought to Michigan during the great migration of southerners to Michigan in the mid-twentieth century. We also have one Liberian quilt.
Marsha MacDowell
Michigan State University Museum macdowel@ http://www.museum.msu.edu
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 15:25:22 -0500 | From: grapes <grapes@>
Well Patty with Qulting Post shed some light on the mystery:
“RE:Jo-Butterfly blocks
Hi, what a surprise. I have the pattern for those butterflies and I’m currently making a quilt with repro fabrics. The name of the pattern is Queen
Butterfly and it shows wings, top and bottom, on both sides of the body.
I can’t tell you exactly how old the pattern is but believe it came out during the 40’s. Hope this helps. What a lucky find! Happy Quilting Patty” I think I am going to divide them, I have top wings only and they make 10″ blocks, I couldnt possibly use them all in one quilt. I am going to try and find complimentary fabric for bottom wings and buttonhole them onto blocks. It wil be next spring at least. And thanks so much for all who looked and comented, if any of the rest of you have anything to add please jump in.
Jo in TX
Buttonz wrote:
> I have no idea what this pattern is either , but I sure love the looks of them. Now I see how some of these repros have come about…. Love this fabric and let us see what you do with them, do you know how you are going to set them… this is so exciting.
> Leween
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 20:40:10 EDT | From: KareQuilt@
Margaret wrote: <<those “little brown spots” aren’t necessarily due to rust. They could be staining due to mold/mildew, insects, fibre/dye deterioration, ground-in dirt/soot, etc.>>
How do you go about “testing” the stain to determine what it is?
Karen A.
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 21:14:37 EDT | From: KareQuilt@
This was posted on Quiilters Unlimited On-line newsletter June 23. QUILTING VIDEOS ON THE WEB – From the Creator of “Simply Quilts” on HGTV comes a new quilting experience. It will soon be available on the Internet. For the beginner, intermediate and advanced quilter, this new medium of visual demonstrations can enhance your techniques and expertise of this creative art form. Free online videos that clearly illustrate step-by-step instructions will be offered each week, and you can view them as many times as you like. There are also unique products offered to improve the projects. All you need to do is download RealPlayer and visit their video pages. You are invited to view their website: www.easymade.com or e-mail Stephanie Kleinman: skleinman@
Anyone had QHL familiar with downloading RealPlayer and have you had success with using it once it is downloaded?
Karen A.
