September 11 – 12, 2004
These restored messages come from the Quilt History List, an online forum where quilt historians, collectors, researchers, appraisers, and enthusiasts discussed antique quilts and related textiles. The archive dates from 1996 through approximately 2016 and is being restored gradually. Sign up in the form at the bottom of the page if you want to know when a new page is added. Original spelling, opinions, formatting, and inactive links may remain unchanged.
Primary topics of this QHL Digest:
- Louisiana and Southern Quilt History — A member asks what’s known about quilts from the Louisiana region, prompting a wider discussion of Southern quilt history.
- New England Bed Ruggs and Early Piecing — Members discuss bed ruggs and early New England pieced quiltmaking, and how far back the practice can be dated.
- Sea Island Cotton and Fabric Cost History — A tangent on Sea Island cotton’s origins ties back to how expensive fabric was for early American quiltmakers.
- Reproduction Cigarette Silks Source — A member asks where to find reproduction or vintage cigarette silks printed with dog and cat breeds.
- Lewis and Clark Bicentennial in St. Louis — A member shares her experience at the opening of the Lewis and Clark bicentennial re-enactment in St. Louis.
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 20:15:33 -0500 | From: Gail Ingram <gingram@>
Oh puleeze forgive me, Maryland! Maybe it’s the wa-ah and such that makes me think of Maryland as only “sort of” South. Or could it be H.L. Mencken, of the Baltimore SUN, who tarred us with his Germanic cultural brush as “The Sahara of the Bozart”?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it was my understanding that Virginia and the rest of the states in the Confederacy “only stayed in the Union because Federal troops made them.”
As I recall, you were the second person to write asking/notifying me you were coming to Nashville, where you can be “in Nashville,” not “on Nashville.” Barb Garrett was first. But down here, dahlin’ the last are first—Celts outrank and outnumber Germans, except maybe in the hillcountry of Texas. And you, deah deah Cinda, are Celtic.
Now just start practicing your ya’lls, go to Teddy’s study group and atune your ea-ah to the sound of Southern speech. Confess you’re sorry Mencken was such a jackass. And come right on “in.”
Humbly, Gail
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 08:21:42 -0500 | From: Carol Elmore <celmore@>
Has anyone in this group seen or studied anything about quilts from the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition (St. Louis World’s Fair, 1904)? Were there any quilts exhibited or displayed anywhere at the exhibition? I know this is the 100th anniversary of the fair and that St. Louis has many special events going on regarding this. Has anyone seen the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition display at the Missouri Historical Societyin St. Louis? Does it have any textiles?
All of the books on the exhibition are currently checked out at the university library here so I can’t consult anything right now. The Missouri Historical Society has a new book out that I’m ordering.
Email me privately or to the group if you think this would interest everyone
Carol Elmore Manhattan, Kansas
Carol Elmore Manhattan, KS
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 09:04:56 -0500 | From: “Marcia Kaylakie” <marciark@>
Did anyone else see the National Geographic special last night on the tribe in the Amazon basin? The women were picking cotton from trees that appeared to be about 7 feet tall and then spinning it into thread. This is what they used for wrapping points to spears and fishing line. I thought about our previous conversation on this topic! Marcia Marcia Kaylakie, AQS Certified Appraiser Austin, TX www.texasquiltappraiser.com ——=_NextPart_000_000A_01C497DE.68C59690–
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 10:25:35 -0400 | From: Joan Kiplinger <jkip@>
Marcia — As Brazil [and that region] is the largest grower of Sea Island cotton today, those might have been SI trees which grow that tall per my previous email. That had to be an interesting program to watch.
Marcia Kaylakie wrote:
>Did anyone else see the National Geographic special last night on the tribe in the Amazon basin? The women were picking cotton from trees that appeared to be about 7 feet tall and then spinning it into thread. This is what they used for wrapping points to spears and fishing line. I thought about our previous conversation on this topic! Marcia > > >
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 09:41:41 -0500 | From: Carol Elmore <celmore@>
I sent a request earlier and stated that the information requested was regarding the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in 1904 but it should have been the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904.
Carol Elmore Manhattan, KS
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 09:28:53 -0700 | From: “Christine Thresh” <christine@>
I read this last night. It is the preface to Anita Grossman Solomon’s book *Make It Simpler Paper Piecing*, C&T Publishing, 2003.
Preface: Paper, Patchwork, and the Role of Innovation by Laurel Horton
“We have this image of our ancestors patching together the tiniest bits of fabric to make quilts in order to keep their families from freezing.
“Research over the past quarter-century indicates that the earliest American quilts were created by well-to-do women..Early quilts were associated with luxury and refinement, not poverty or thrift..
“Existing evidence suggests that, although fabric was relatively expensive, people who could afford it used it to make quilts, not just from remnants but from yardage purchased for that purpose.”
Christine Thresh
http://www.@
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 13:01:14 -0400 | From: Patricia L Cummings <quiltersmuse@>
“Existing evidence suggests that, although fabric was relatively expensive, people who could afford it used it to make quilts, not just from remnants but from yardage purchased for that purpose.” – quote from Laurel Horton
************** I agree with Laurel. That had been my thought, all along. While there is evidence that scraps from dressmaking were, indeed, used to make quilts, I personally don’t think we should look at early quilts as having been mostly salvaged from the still “good” parts of used clothing.
As a friend pointed out, time was as valuable then as it is now. Who would want to use less than the best fabric available to them? As far as the need for warm bedcovers, there were alternatives in New England due to the sheep industry which provided woolen blankets.
However, some examples of quilts with recycled fabric (previously sewn into clothing or draperies) seem to exist, if posts here in the last week are any indication, including reference to the chintz quilt fabric with evidence of stitch marks. Fascinating topic, this.
Pat
From: Carol Elmore
To partially answer my own question that I posed to the list this morning, there were many Native American craft exhibits at the 1904 St. Louis Fair. I did some research in journal literature this morning at the library and found several articles on Native American crafts but found no mention of quilts. I also ordered another article on interlibrary loan that deals with arts and crafts of the St. Louis Fair. I don’t know if there were any tribes that were making quilts as early as 1904. If anyone knows of any quilts or references to them being displayed at the fair I’d appreciate knowing about it. Or if you know about how early Native American quilts were being made I’d appreciate that information also.
Carol Elmore Manhattan, KS
From: tracy jamar <tjamar@>
Does anyone know of a source for reproduction or vintage (end of 19th c., beg. of 20th c.) cigarette silks with printed dog and cat breeds on them? They would be 2″ x 3″. I’ve googled and found sources for everything but cats and dogs.
Thanks for any leads, Tracy Jamar
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 19:36:35 -0500 | From: “Laurie Magee & Tom Blajeski”
what is the subject of the Missouri Historical society book? the Exhibition? Laurie
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 22:15:03 -0500 | From: mswaller <mswaller@>
I am a native of Maryland and have always considered myself a Yankee. I grew up about 25 miles northeast of Baltimore, about 25 miles south of Maryland-Pennsylvania border, aka the Mason-Dixon Line, which was named for the two surveyors who settled the disputed boundary.
My husband is from Salisbury, Maryland; I’ll have to ask him if he consideres himself a Southerner.
Mary Waller, who is now happy to be a South Dakotan
From: “J. G. Row”
I am wondering if early pieced quiltmaking (in New England) could be classified as mostly an urban (village and town) occupation. I think farm people probably wore clothing made mostly of wool and linen which was home produced, and didn’t have the money to buy such an expensive fabric as printed cotton. If we are talking about chintz and imported cottons for pieced early quilts, then the folks who could buy those fabrics for clothing probably were merchant/urban rather than farm/rural families.
Cotton wasn’t grown in New England, and until the latter part of the first quarter of the 19th century cotton crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice before being being made up into clothing or household furnishings, adding cost with every wave and swell.
How many early pieced quilts are there of printed wool, or linen? Probably none. Or homespun as pieced quilts?
But those wholecloth quilts are mostly of wool, aren’t they Lynne Bassett? Are they mostly country made or town/village made?
I have no idea where I am going with this. Just random thoughts surfacing with the waves and swells of my little grey cells. It is too late and I should go to bed.
Judy, aka the Ringoes Kid judygrow@
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 00:54:36 -0400 | From: “Karen Evans”
I believe bed ruggs were a popular choice. And if they were all as thick as the ones at I saw at Deerfield last year, they would be *very* warm….
Laurie,
I think the book you are referring to is:
From the palaces to the pike: visions of the 1904 World’s Fair by Tim Fox, Missouri Historical Society Press, 1997. The subject is just a general history of the fair.
There are several other books about the exposition that I haven’t seen yet are:
History of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition by Mark Bennitt, Arno Press, 1976 [I think this is a reprint ed. of an earlier published book]
Rememberbin the St. Louis World’s Fair by Margaret Johanson, Comfort Printing, Co., 1973.
Books about the exposition I have discovered are very scare. I think the 100th anniversary has caused an increased interest and people have bought up the books.
Carol
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 10:39:18 -0400 | From: “sue reich” <suereich@>
Judy, how early do you mean by early? Until well into the nineteenth century, farming was the main occupation and there were some pretty wealthy farmers. Many of New England’s greatest statesmen, ministers and leaders, even the Yale-educated ones, were farmers by trade. Rural did not necessarily equate to less privileged. In Connecticut, there was no real urban living as we understand it today. Nearly, everyone had farming ties, even those living in Hartford. I have one letter from the 1830s from a member of the State Legislature in Hartford, and the brother of Content Newton (maker of my indigo quilt). He writes home about the poor quality of the wool and other yardage, and refuses to have his clothes made with anything that doesn’t come from his family’s farm. Content was the principle spinner and weaver for the family. This farming family lived in Haddam Quarter in a great-sized saltbox in a rural area then, and now. My indigo quilt was her quilt. It contains 25 of the early indigo prints, obviously imported for the time. > I am wondering if early pieced quiltmaking (in New England) could be > classified as mostly an urban (village and town) occupation. I think farm > people probably wore clothing made mostly of wool and linen which was home > produced, and didn’t have the money to buy such an expensive fabric as > printed cotton. If we are talking about chintz and imported cottons for > pieced early quilts, then the folks who could buy those fabrics for clothing > probably were merchant/urban rather than farm/rural families. > *I have another diary. It is the journal of Anna Marie Resseguie from Ridgefield. Her parents were the proprietors of the Keeler Tavern in Ridgefield. She recorded in the journal as late as 1861. “Mar. 4th Planted cotton seed.” Most certainly this had to do with the high prices of coth for she continously lists the calico and musiln prices. Also, Connecticut ports had ships ladened with cotton bales coming into their states from a very early time period. I’ll check some sources that I have like the shipping records in New London and Mystic but I believe it was late eighteenth century, early nineteenth century, probably earlier. Lynne, what do you think? > Cotton wasn’t grown in New England, and until the latter part of the first > quarter of the 19th century cotton crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice before > being being made up into clothing or household furnishings, adding cost with > every wave and swell. > *In our documentation project, we found a pieced wool quilt that is block printed that is probably early nineteenth century. Homespun was often used on the backing or on the long pieces on the quilts front. > How many early pieced quilts are there of printed wool, or linen? Probably > none. Or homespun as pieced quilts?
> *Often the wholecloth is a mix of wool, linen and cottn threads, and not exclusively wool. > But those wholecloth quilts are mostly of wool, aren’t they Lynne Bassett?
*Once again, everything in Connecticut was essentially rural until mid-twentieth century, think more in terms of navigational routes when you are thinking eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. (Trailblazing in Connecticut, could not be done with the same ease as trailblazing in New Jersey. It was much easier to transport along waterways than roadways.) If you look at the wholecloth quilts in ‘Quilts and Quiltmakers’, some come from far outlaying regions and others come from towns right along the Connecticut River or the Long Island shoreline. > Are they mostly country made or town/village made?
For most of you, Connecticut is a drive-through state and your view of it is from I-95 or I-84. But not far from those super highways are these quiant, small towns and villages whose character has not essentially changed in 150-200 years. Many of these towns were until very recently were surrounded by farmlands. sue reich
>
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 12:48:06 EDT | From: Midnitelaptop@
i think laurel’s statement “Existing evidence suggests………” is a suggestion of the same ilk.. as there’s a suggestion that..there were signals in quilt blocks used by the UGRR. jeanL
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 13:56:39 -0500 | From: “weemsjm” <weemsjm@>
I am not a historian but I can testify about my families quilt back to around 1880’s. They used any and all fabrics with any life left. New fabric went with new fabric and recycled ones went with recycled ( most of the time)or became the batting of new quilts.
I have two quilts made mostly from used suits one intact and the other is the batting for a whole cloth tied quilt. The suits belonged to my great great grandfather and great grandfather. I they were made by my grand mother.
The other side of my family did the same type of recycling. Many of there quilts have 1880-1890 fabrics next to 1940’s fabrics. Some of the fabrics are in old photo on curtain dresses table cloths est..
My family may not be the rule but I am sure there are many others that couldn’t was there old worn cloths. ——=_NextPart_000_0008_01C498D0.53AC8050–
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 17:42:18 -0400 | From: “Katt” <bobkatt@>
Have you tried Ebay? I’ve gotten most of mine that way. And there is a site at http://www.tobacciana.org/ that sells the flannels, although I’ve never looked for the silks there. Katt
—– Original Message —– From: “tracy jamar” <tjamar@> To: “Quilt History List” <qhl@> Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004 3:02 PM Subject: [qhl] is there a source?
> Does anyone know of a source for reproduction or vintage (end of 19th > c., beg. of 20th c.) cigarette silks with printed dog and cat breeds on > them? They would be 2″ x 3″. I’ve googled and found sources for > everything but cats and dogs. > > Thanks for any leads, > Tracy Jamar > > > > — > You are currently subscribed to qhl as: bobkatt@. > To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-qhl-1442617I@ >
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 23:45:29 EDT | From: Ivory22986@
I live in Maryland too But I was born in N.C Maryland was a free state …but most Marylanders say that are Yankee We went to re-enactment at Fort McHenry today ! Ivory
I am a native of Maryland and have always considered myself a Yankee. I grew up about 25 miles northeast of Baltimore, about 25 miles south of Maryland-Pennsylvania border, aka the Mason-Dixon Line, which was named for the two surveyors who settled the disputed boundary.
My husband is from Salisbury, Maryland; I’ll have to ask him if he consideres himself a Southerner.
Mary Waller, who is now happy to be a South Dakotan
Queen of Love and Beauty
From: Anne Copeland
The black cottonwood, Populus trichocarpa, a subspecies of balsam poplar, produces immense amounts of cotton. Each strand has a tiny seed attached. When the cotton is released, cottonwood forests on the western slopes of the Canadian Rockies or in the American Rockies can be ankle deep in this fluff.
Where I grew up in west Texas, we had the Rio Grande cottonwood trees, Populus fremontii var. wizlizenii. I can remember our family going for a ride in the spring and seeing the white cotton “parachutes” thick in the branches of trees and around the ground. A mature cottonwood in the area can produce as many as 25 million seeds in a season, blanketing the ground with its “cotton.” We had a lot of cotton crops in the area too. They stretched as far as I could see down the road.
I used to wonder if anyone has gathered and used all that cotton fiber lying thick and floating around in the air as wild silk, Tussah, is gathered and used. I haven’t located anyone as yet. A good web site for purchasing Tussah and related things and learning more about it is: http://www.auroasilk.com/shop/tussah.shtml
Peace and blessings, Annie
From: “Lucinda Cawley” <lrcawley@>
I’m not sure that I’ve read all the posts re. this discussion (which I think if fascinating). Did anybody mention the quilts which incorporate quilted petticoats? Cinda on the Eastern Shore
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 12:41:21 -0400 | From: Joan Kiplinger <jkip@>
this is a second try; Q appears to not have posted earlier messages. so pardon if a second message appears later.
While browsing through Dressess for All Occasions 1880s-1890s, Connecticut Historical Society 1897, and selecting a dress to make for an 1880s china head doll, I just happened to glance at the title pages, something I never paid attention to when I bought this booklet/catalog in 1987. To my surprise I saw listed in the credits Lynne Z. Bassett of this list — the surprise being I recognized the name, not that Lynne wasn’t worthy of the task in helping to prepare exhibitions for this booklet. 😀 This is just another reminder how close the internet connects us in some way. Connecticut is very dear to those of us in Northeast Ohio who live on the lands of the Western Reserve. If Connecticut hadn’t been so broke from Revolutionary War debts and in need of desparate cash which forced it to sell its Western Reserve to Ohio, we might still be a part of that state. Lynne — this a great reference study as there are indeed dresses for all occasions as well as undergarments and accessories..
Date: Mon, | From: Joan Kiplinger <jkip@>
While browsing through Dressess for All Occasions 1880s-1890s, Connecticut Historical Society 1897, and selecting a dress to make for an 1880s china head doll, I just happened to glance at the title pages, something I never paid attention to when I bought this booklet/catalog in 1987. To my surprise I saw listed in the credits Lynne Z. Bassett of this list — the surprise being I recognized the name, not that Lynne wasn’t worthy of the task in helping to prepare exhibitions for this booklet. 😀 This is just another reminder how close the internet connects us in some way. Connecticut is very dear to those of us in Northeast Ohio who live on the lands of the Western Reserve. If Connecticut hadn’t been so broke from Revolutionary War debts and in need of desparate cash which forced it to sell its Western Reserve to Ohio, we might still be a part of that state. Lynne — this a great reference study as there are indeed dresses for all occasions as well as undergarments and accessories..
From: “Pepper Cory”
Please forgive me if I’ve posted this before but I once saw a spectacular example of recycled fabrics used in a quilt. Someone came to the Lansing Michigan guild and showed an ancient wool quilt–crudely pieced eight point stars on one side and the backside displayed an oddly-pieced red shape plus full-in browns. The hair lifted on the back of my neck when I realized I was looking at a British cloak! Family provenance related an ancestor lifted the cloak from a British officer after the battle of Ticonderoga. Didn’t relate if said officer was alive or dead! By the way, if Beth Donaldson from Lansing is reading this, she might remember that memorable show-and-tell as well. I’ve often seen clothing bits recycled in old quilts. As others have speculated, the economic status of the quiltmaker was a deciding factor in whether she needed to recycle clothing or could piece quilts from ‘cut-offs’ (pieces left after clothing construction) or new yardage. In any case, I thank my lucky stars I’m able to purchase, and have so many great choices, for quilting fabrics today. However, I do have a box of my Mom’s clothing and another of my father-in-law’s flannel shirts that will both morph into remembrance quilts some day. Cheers from the Carolina coast- Pepper Cory
From: “Lynne Z. Bassett”
Dear all,
I am catching up on emails after a weekend spent up in northern New Hampshire, giving a lecture and workshop at the Remick Country Doctor and Farm Museum in Tamworth. It’s a wonderful museum in a spectacular setting, and I recommend you see it if you are ever in the area (they’re open free to the public year-’round).
Here are my responses to the interesting discussion that’s been put forth lately:
From Pat Cummings: “While there is evidence that scraps from dressmaking were, indeed, used to make quilts, I personally don’t think we should look at early quilts as having been mostly salvaged from the still “good” parts of used clothing.”
Here’s a great quote from the diary of Sarah Snell Bryant of Cummington, Mass., June 10, 1819: “…rode to Mr. Mitches store bought some calico for a border to a bedquilt….” On February 9, 1830, Sarah wrote: “…began to piece up some old Callicos for bedquilts.” In March of that year (after having finished the quilt begun in February), she wrote again of putting a bedquilt in the frame, “old callico pieced in stripes….”
I think both from direct observation and from documentary evidence that early New England quilts–whether pieced of calico or pieced of wool–were a mixture of recycled and new fabrics. Some of my favorite whole cloth wool quilts, even, are pieced from recycled clothing. We all know about the quilted wool petticoats that were remade as bed quilts when the bulky petticoats fell out of fashion in the neoclassical era. There are also two whole cloth wool quilts that I know of (one at Historic Deerfield, one at SPNEA) that, if you follow the piecing lines, you can see clearly that they were made out of pelisses (a dress-like coat fashionable in the 1820s). And then there’s the quilt at Old Sturbridge Village that I wrote about for Blanket Statements that is made out of recycled wool sheets. But, definitely, women used new fabrics too.
From J. G. Row: “But those wholecloth quilts are mostly of wool, aren’t they Lynne Bassett? Are they mostly country made or town/village made?”
It depends upon what time period you’re talking about. Prior to about 1820, most whole cloth quilts made in New England were wool. (The mid-Atlantic area preferred silk quilts.) After about 1820 or so, though wool quilts were still definitely being made in New England, whole cloth chintz quilts were much more fashionable and probably more common. And whole cloth white cotton quilts became popular in the neoclassical era as well and continued to be made at least until mid-century. After about 1800, the wool quilts were more of a rural tradition than an urban one. And as Sue Reich points out, just because you live in a rural area doesn’t mean you have a hardscrabble existence. There were plenty of wealthy farmers, doctors, lawyers, bankers, etc. in the rural areas.
From Sue Reich: “Also, Connecticut ports had ships ladened with cotton bales coming into their states from a very early time period. I’ll check some sources that I have like the shipping records in New London and Mystic but I believe it was late eighteenth century, early nineteenth century, probably earlier. Lynne, what do you think?”
Raw cotton was imported into New England in the eighteenth century, and women spun it on their wool wheels. Martha Moore Ballard of Hallowell, Maine, writes of spinning cotton. Her entire diary is on-line and searchable at www.dohistory.com.
Best, Lynne
From: “Lynne Z. Bassett”
Hi Joan,
I’m glad that you enjoy the book! I did not write a word of it, but I did choose all of the dresses for the exhibit (I started out as co-curator of the exhibit, but then got too busy with grad school). The CHS has a lovely costume collection. I used a few pieces from CHS for my current costume exhibit at the Mark Twain House in Hartford (“Modesty Died When Clothes Were Born: Costume in the Life and Literature of Mark Twain”), which runs through October 26 and has a catalogue, too, in case you’re interested.
Thanks for giving me the opening to plug my current costume exhibit! 🙂
Best, Lynne
From: “Steve and Jean Loken”
Hi all, I was in St. Louis for the opening of the bicentennial re-inactment of Lewis and Clark. There are a few textiles I saw in various exhibits. At the arch, there was a L&C exhibit which included two folded quilts in plexiglass cases, in at least one case open on top. I got decent photos of each. My descriptions are from a somewhat trained quilt dater, but not by any means expert. The first was squares of a floral chintz, simply sashed in a shirting. The shirting was interesting, in that it was a stripe used to advantage. It had fine orange (?) stripes with blue figures spaced about 3″ apart inside; stripes were themselves about 2″ apart. The stripe was centered in the sash. I couldn’t see the binding. The second quilt was a broken star, ( B 3807) made in alternating brown prints on muslin. The one print was a gingham (printed) and the other a darker seaweed type on white. Other stars are visible along folds, most are in browns and some blues always with 2 fabrics alternating in the stars. The binding (redone?) is light blue. I’ve just closely examined my snapshot and I think I see a finer cream binding under a fold, so perhaps it’s partly re-bound. In the St. Louis Historical museum on the grounds of the 1904 fair, there is an exhibit about the fair, which was lots of fun. It held a redwork quilt done for the fair, with buildings of the fair and President T. Roosevelt and his wife as well. I was able to buy a pattern of the blocks in the quilt shop in St. Charles. I’m half-way through the 12 blocks now. There are 2 of the buildings still there, including the “birdcage” in wrought iron; very fanciful, and the art museum, which are both on the quilt. If anyone finds a picture of that quilt, I would dearly love to be reminded of the set of the blocks. I couldn’t photograph it, perhaps because of rules or that I didn’t have the camera with me at the time. The pattern doesn’t have the historical setting. These are the only quilt-related things I remember of the entire week’s tour. We were on an Elderhostel sponsored by the St. Charles Community College. The week was huge fun. I see your original request was about the 1904 fair, so I can’t answer that, as the museum exhibit wasn’t truely about quilting, just included that one quilt. But they’re worth a look! Jean in MN
