Redwork Girls in Bonnets
Chapter 4
This chapter focuses on those artists who were so inspired by the work of Kate Greenaway that they wanted to produce similar images of children. To the right is a design from The Birthday Book by Kate Greenaway. The January 22nd entry comes with the following poem:
A
very grand lady, come out for a walk,
What a
feather, and large-brimmed hat!
So
very important, yet only a child, -
We
all very well can see that.
Victorian Snow Scene Splasher with Bonneted Lady. Just when we think that we have categorized most Redwork as being done in Outline Stitch Embroidery, along comes the exception to the rule. The scene above is accomplished with straight stitches, placed diagonally, in some cases. Collection of Patricia Cummings. Photo by James Cummings.
Girls
in Bonnets
British illustrator Kate Greenaway, in her prolific pen and ink sketches and watercolor paintings of children, was the first artist to depict so many girls wearing bonnets. Kate Greenaway's Alphabet book, and Kate Greenaway's Birthday Book, to name just a couple of her books, feature numerous profiles of children, some of whose faces are completely obscured by bonnets. Unwittingly, she started a trend that would be copied extensively by other artists!
Designs Inspire American Artist
During the early twentieth
century, American artist Bertha Corbett (Melcher) copied the Greenaway style of drawing little girls in bonnets. In
1900, Corbett self-published her first book entitled, The
Sunbonnet Babies. Her first drawing of a bonneted lass is
believed to have been the result of a verbal challenge from a
colleague who wanted her to prove that faceless figures can
demonstrate emotion. In her primer, the letter “G” accompanies
the line drawing seen here, re-created by the author.
Eulalie Osgood Grover, discovered Corbett and in 1905 collaborated with her to produce The Sunbonnet Babies Primer, the first of a series of books. Later, they prepared a book called, The Overall Boys. Corbett became known as the “Mother of Sunbonnet Babies,” and attracted the attention of Good Housekeeping magazine which printed a column about her in 1907.
The Work of Artist Bernhardt Wall
Bernhardt Wall is another early twentieth century artist who created little girls in bonnets. Under the pseudonym, “Uncle Milton,” he prepared books for children, including Sunbonnet Twins: A Story in Verse and Music for Little Tots1 and Bennie and Jennie: A Story for Little Tots.2 His Sunbonnet Girls' bonnets were distinctive. Over the last century, the artwork of both Wall and Corbett has been adapted for use in Redwork embroidery.
Example of Bernhardt Wall Sunbonnet Sue
Wall often depicted
children as doing some kind of work such as carrying
baskets or
bowls, or toting a milk pail. “My Busy Day” is an “American
Post Card, 'In Holland Series, #87',” published by The Ullman
Manufacturing Company, New York, copyrighted in 1907. The card
presents the image of a Dutch girl in wooden shoes, and traditional
costume and bonnet. She is carrying wooden bowls laden with apples.
Wall may have been at least partially responsible for a trend for creating Dutch girl and boy patterns, later followed by embroidery designers. There are numerous variations of these motifs that are seen throughout the first half of the twentieth century, and beyond. “Laura Wheeler”3 designs are among them.
Unidentified Work: Is Bernhardt Wall the Artist?
Eleven designs of
bonneted girls were offered for sale in one of The Ladies Art
Company Catalog. Presented as “Stamped Outline Embroidery
Blocks for Nursery Quilts,” the designs were described in this way:
“The Sunbonnet Babies are stamped on nine-inch squares...and would
make a delightful quilt for a child's bed”... Three types of
designs were available:
1) those stamped on muslin, 2) those stamped
on sateen, or 3) as perforated paper patterns for chalk transfers.
These Ladies Art Catalogs designs show a bonneted girl performing her housekeeping duties Monday through Friday. On Saturday, she is carrying a basket, and on Sunday, she is perhaps headed off to church. Four additional designs represent activities of the four seasons. In the spring, she and her boyfriend are gaily romping. In the summer, they are enjoying the beach. In the autumn, they are toting a basket of apples, and in the winter, they are tobogganing. An ad for these designs can be seen in Red & White American Redwork Quilts by Deborah Harding, page 33.
Though the Ladies Art Company catalog does not name the artist of those designs, it may have been Bernhardt Wall, the artist who took credit for being the originator of Sue's male companion, “Overall Bill.” Other names that were applied to similar male figures of this type are: “Overall Sam,” "Overall Andy," and “Farmer Jim.”
1930s
“Sues” Abound
The “Sue” figure was depicted throughout the twentieth century and became a staple in the American quilting lexicon, particularly in appliquéd figures such as the vintage one shown to the right. This figure sports a hat and leg and foot in the typical “Nile green” color of the 1930s when Sue was particularly popular. A simple motif which used few pieces of cloth, “Sue” was sometimes constructed from various print feedsack fabrics.
1930s block. Collection of Patricia Cummings. Photo by James Cummings
Reproduction feedsack cloth with small scale print designs, along with solid fabrics that are dyed to resemble vintage 1930s colors, are especially appropriate to use when re-creating Sunbonnet Sue, inasmuch as feedsacks were recycled into dresses and household items often during the Great Depression and its hard times.
Appliquéd motifs of the 1930s often utilize Buttonhole Stitch used in conjunction with black embroidery floss to affix the design to the background cloth. In the figure above, the raw edge has been turned under, and then tiny stitches in black sewing thread have been used to tack down the edges of the motifs.
This 1930s Sunbonnet Sue is skating. She appears on a 39 ¼” x 46¼” baby quilt with similar motifs. Collection of Patricia Cummings. Photo by James Cummings.
Sue in the Late Twentieth Century
Late twentieth century images show us a new side of Sue's character. Whether she is walking on the moon, or “mooning” the boys, she is naughty. In one instance, Sue is wearing a red letter “A” on her dress, just like the adulteress in Nathaniel Hawthorne's romance novel, The Scarlett Letter, written in 1850.
In 1978, Kim Bunchunk hosted an online group who created “Bad Sunbonnet Sue” blocks. Examples of block names are: “Bare Bonnet Sue,” (Sue is skinny dipping), “Sue goes to the Loo,” (“loo” is a European term for commode), “Sue Bathes Her Dog in Nair,” (Nair is a hair removal product), and “Firing Squad Sue,” (who is paying the ultimate price for all of her misdeeds).4 Examples can now be seen at: http://badsuequilts.com
Another Quilt Group Tries to “Kill Off” Poor Sue
In 1983, Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, issue 148, provides a photo of a quilt made by some ladies known as the Seamster's Local #500 of Lawrence, Kansas. Block images show poor Sue and various ways that she has met her demise. Reportedly, some readers were distressed. Apparently, quilters are not ready to say good-bye to the round little girl in a dress.
The Sunbonnet Sue Tradition Continues
In the 1980s, Jean Ray Laury was the author of a series of books called, The Adventures of Sunbonnet Sue. In the next decade, two books helped to encourage the stitching of more Sunbonnet Sues: Sunbonnet Sue visits Quilt in a Day by Eleanor Burns (Howell Press, 1992), and Sunbonnet Sue All Through the Year by Sue Linker (WA: That Patchwork Place, 1994). More recently, Bonnet Girls: Patterns of the Past was written by Helen R. Scott (KY: American Quilter's Society, 2001). This book was followed by Ladies' Day Out with the Bonnet Girls by the same author (KY: American Quilter's Society, 2005).
Today, there is still continued interest in “Sue”, if online activity is any indication. Blocks swaps, directions for making a basic Sunbonnet Sue block, free patterns, photos of finished blocks, and a multitude of patterns for sale abound. Just do a “Google” search for “Sunbonnet Sue” and you are bound to come up with a number of sites. In spite of the fact that some people would like to see Sue hanging from a rope or being flattened by a vehicle, we predict that she will be around for a while longer.
The appliquéd and embroidered design on the left, above, was first published by illustrator, Bertha Corbett Melcher. Notice the artistically rendered, life-like arms and hands.When the block showed up as part of a vintage quilt on eBay, Kim Bunchunk created a line drawing that is free to visitors at: www.Sunbonnetsue.com. The mini-quilt top was constructed by Patricia Cummings. On the right is an adult version of Sunbonnet Sue, one of the many “Southern Belle” type designs of the early twentieth century. Photos by James Cummings.
Twentieth Century Phenomenon: “Days of the Week” Kitchen Towels-Hide A Surprise!
In America, many twentieth century kitchen towels feature the embroidered names of “The Days of the Week,” as well as seven motifs that are related to each other. My personal favorite is a pattern published by Aunt Martha: “Murtle Turtles.”5 Additional examples of days of the week towel motifs can be found at www.colonialpatterns.com
In looking for Sunbonnet Sue type designs for an article I was writing, I stumbled upon “Vintage Embroidery Designs: Sunbonnet Sue, #106,” offered by Barbara O'Hare, an online seller. These are adorable designs. However, the design for “Wednesday” is a surprise!
The words say “Wednesday” and “Sew.” The only problem with the design is that the little bonneted girl sitting atop a high stool is holding knitting needles as the ball of yarn rolls on the floor. She is not sewing. She is knitting! No wonder certain people today have been so confused about the difference between the two completely different processes! Could this possibly account for the advertisement that featured ladies quilting with knitting needles?
Embroidered by Patricia Cummings, 2005
Little girls would learn how to embroider by stitching bureau scarves, pillow cases, and dish towels in the twentieth century. However, in the early nineteenth century, young ladies would learn how to piece hexagon patchwork, in the style of English paper-piecing.
1 Sunbonnet Twins: A Story in Verse and Music for Little Tots (NY: Cupples & Leon Company, 1907).
2 Bennie and Jennie: A Story for Little Tots (NY: Cupples & Leon Company, 1907).
3 “Laura Wheeler,” and also, “Alice Brooks,” are two fictitious names that were listed on mail-order patterns sold by Needlecraft Service, a company begun in 1933, based at “Old Chelsea Station,” New York City.
4 http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Oaks/6813/badsue.html
5 Colonial Patterns, founded in 1930, has many hot iron transfer designs for kitchen towels including my favorite, “Murtle Turtles,” #3766. See: http://www.colonialpatterns.com/images/HIT101/3766.gif
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©Copyright 2006/2007. Patricia and James Cummings, Quilter's Muse Publications, Concord, NH. All Rights Reserved. Please enjoy the designs contained in this pages, and make lots of fun projects, but we ask only one thing, PLEASE DO NOT REPRODUCE THE DESIGNS FOR SALE. Thank you.
If you have any questions, please contact us at: pat@quiltersmuse.com