quiltersmuse.com Blog

After reading my online file about Egyptian appliqué, a woman named “Margot” sent me 10 photos of her Egyptian textile collection, yesterday. She calls herself “an inadvertent collector of Egyptian appliqué” and found her pieces to collect, in Maine and online beginning in the 1980s.

Although she apologized for the “amateurish” look of her photos, I was able to work with them a bit, with a photo editing program, and I believe you will enjoy seeing the images. There is only one that is cropped off at the end, due to a streak of light. They are wonderful!

A lot of symbolic imagery appears in the following designs. At the end of this photo essay, I will list some books in my personal collection that are helpful in identifying the meaning of the symbols. Identification of the symbols would be a good project for home-schooled children and others who are interested in learning more about Egyptian art, always a fascinating subject!

In addition, Dover Publications sells a CD-ROM & Book called Egyptian Designs for MacIntosh and Windows. No affiliation.

I hope you have enjoyed this file. Many thanks to Margot for sharing her collection with us.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

Within the last 20 years, I have run across a number of people who have tried to formulate a list of characteristics of African-American quilts. In one instant, a (white) woman with a quilt shop, instituted classes to teach others how to make an African-American quilt. The quilt would be brightly colored and asymmetrical. She’d made a large quilt that hung on the shop’s wall to use as an example. Just for the record, more recently, I ran across a speaker who attempted to describe the qualities of African-American quilts as if they are homogeneous.

For some time now, folklorists, scholars, and dreamers have been trying to define and describe exactly what an African-American quilt is, and what meaning(s) the quilt had, for its maker. The trouble with that kind of study is that not all African-American quilts are created equal, any more than are English quilts, or Amish quilts, or Dutch quilts. Women, who have made the majority of old quilts, have enjoyed being just a little different than their neighbor. For pieced quilts, this may be the reason so many thousands of different quilt block configurations exist.

More theories are in place than fleas on a dog. Most of them are not backed up by fact. Rather, they are just hunches, opinions, or broad, unsubstantiated conclusions.

“Myth and Methodology: Shelly Zegart Unpicks African-American Quilt Scholarship,” is an article that was first published in Selvedge, an international textile magazine, (London England: Issue 21, Jan/Feb 2008). The author provides an historical account of the names and thoughts of various people who have studied this subject and published their train of thought. This file is free to read/ and to download, on Shelly’s website.

Without further adieu, I will leave you to access this important file, one worth your time.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

Sarah Nunn McCrea made a quilt about 1830, an educated guess on my part as to the date. She was born in 1779 and died in 1859. She married William McCrea (1776-1858) and proceeded to have a son named Samuel McCrea (1816-1899). He married Emeline Swazey, an ancestral relative to the late Patrick Swazey.

I purchased this 73 3/4″ x 85 3/4″ monochromatic quilt with a backing of linen sheeting that may have been not only homespun but home woven, according to the late Virginia Stevens who collected the quilt in New Jersey from her friend, another descendant in the family line.

Mrs. Stevens looked through all of her quilt books for the name of this quilt pattern, but finding none (because quilts were not customarily named particular names, that early), she decided to call the quilt, “Star of Delaware.”

This quilt was made for utilitarian use as were most bed-size quilts of the time, one would suspect. Here is a photo of one of the quilt’s blocks, a design that is replicated across the surface of the quilt. I have drafted the pattern and have made one block, hand-piecing it.

One block from the original Sarah Nunn McCrea quilt

The quilt took skill to piece and quilt. If it had been rendered in more vibrant colors, it would be more pleasing to the modern eye. However, it stands as testimony to one woman’s ingenuity and steadfast devotion to finishing a project. As any other old quilt, this one was a “labor of love,” from a much different time. I am happy to caretake a “Piece of the Past,” that has a more extended meaning than would first meet the eye.

Keeping the quilt tradition alive: a quilt block drafted by Patricia Cummings and hand-pieced by her (not yet quilted)

Dancer and screen actor, Patrick Swayze, died yesterday at age 57. Rest in peace.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

The last time I visited with a dear friend of mine, she left a quilt with me that she calls “Yellow Work” Quilt. Most likely, it was made in Pennsylvania. The color is a good tip-off to that. She accompanying paperwork states that the quilt is from circa 1930, and measures 76″ long x 75″ wide, approximately twin size today.

Whole view of Cheddar Color Embroidered Quilt

Like Redwork, Bluework, Greenwork, Purple Work, Variegated Work, etc. this quilt has line drawings that were rendered into designs with the use of cheddar color thread. All of these kinds of embroidery use the same technique: Surface Embroidery with Outline Stitch Embroidery being the predominant factor.

The surface represents some designs that are clearly from the Kate Greenaway era before the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century. (Kate died in 1901). This kind of embroidery is still popular today and is the topic of my e-book: Redwork Renaissance Revisited, available to purchase as a mail-order product from our website.

Here is a close-up of the quilt just shown:

All photos, on our blog and website, copyrighted; property of James Cummings, photographer, et.al.

Many of the motifs on this quilt are botanical, as are the designs in the borders. The quilting is “Baptist Fan” style, sometimes called “Methodist Fan,” depending on who was behind the needle! I certainly treasure the chance to enjoy seeing this beautiful piece of work, from a time when quilters really did a lot more handwork than we are seeing today, oftentimes.

Blessings to my friend. She has hinted that she may just reclaim this wonderful quilt, at any time, so I guess I should get busy studying all of the details!

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

NEW ENGLAND QUILT MUSEUM
Lowell, Massachusetts

For Immediate Release

The museum calls this quilt the “Grandpa Quilt.” This mid-20th century necktie/portrait quilt was created by an unknown maker. photo by Fletcher Boland

The New England Quilt Museum is pleased to announce their first exhibition of the Fall season, “MASTER PIECES: Haberdashery Textiles in Antique Quilts.” Featuring quilts made from menswear, some of it recycled clothing, this remarkable exhibition brings together over 40 intriguing graphic works made from simple utilitarian fabrics long overlooked in the study of antique quilts. The guest curator for the exhibit is noted antiques dealer and author, Laura Fisher, of FISHER HERITAGE in New York City.

The antique quilts on exhibit are made of menswear fabrics recycled from suits and shirts, neckties, pajamas, military uniforms, work clothes—even woolen underwear and socks. Some also resulted from the artful salvage of menswear swatch sample books and fabric mill remnants.

Popular for about a century, these quilts are compelling and often whimsical. Simple squares arranged in a diagonal pattern prove on close inspection to be made from scraps of patterned jersey socks. A shimmering kaleidoscope of diamonds in rust reds and yellows is pieced from 1950s rayon neckties. Thin lines going in every direction look like a contemporary drawing but are actually random scraps in a crazy quilt pieced of circa 1915 striped silk shirting. The narrow serpentine strips in the blocks of a 1905 Amish quilt are cuttings from woolen long johns. Bright, dimensional pinwheels are embroidered on an unlikely foundation of tailor’s wool suiting swatches, as are a flock of vividly colored birds on branches.

Visually stunning and strikingly modern, these antique textiles make distinct graphic statements out of the most everyday materials.

In addition to the quilts themselves, the exhibit will feature historic advertisements, swatch books, and catalogs from menswear businesses, dating from the 1900s through the 1950s, including several items from the vaults of Brooks Brothers, the chief sponsor of the exhibition.

The tradition of making unique, often very personal quilts from re-purposed menswear textiles gained popularity around 1850, and lasted through the 1950s. Today, the tradition revives in memory quilts made from old T-shirts and clothing that has personal sentiment. Recycling these materials is now considered environmentally aware, adding further appeal to their inherent design potential.

Laura Fisher will be speaking about the exhibition’s content at the opening reception on September 26. In addition, historic textiles expert, Pam Weeks, will deliver a lecture about textile production in New England mills on October 17.

Support for this exhibition is provided in part by Brooks Brothers and by P&B Textiles.

Fabrics inspired by one of the quilts in the exhibition, in the style of the early 1900s, have been produced by Marcus Fabrics and are currently available in the Museum shop, with proceeds to benefit the museum.

The opening reception is sponsored by School House Quilters.

About the New England Quilt Museum

The New England Quilt Museum, 18 Shattuck Street in Lowell, MA, preserves, interprets, and celebrates America’s quilting past and present.

Museum hours are 10 AM – 4 PM, Tuesday- Saturday; and Sundays 12 – 4 PM, May through December. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for students/senior citizens; Museum members are admitted free.

Visit http://www.nequiltmuseum.org or call 978-452-4207 for more information.

This announcement is brought to you, courtesy of Quilter’s Muse Publications.