of art & design
Kathlyn Sullivan explains Quiltmaking
the history, methodologies and current practices of making quilts
INTRODUCTION
In recent years a running joke for quiltmakers has been “why cut up perfectly good fabric yardage and make all that work by sewing it all back together again?” The answer to those that dare ask is because the end product is a quilt which pleases the eye and satisfies the creative instincts of the maker.
Until the last century, there were few life choices a woman, even one of means, could make by herself. Nearly all of these decisions involved the domestic realm. Bedcovers were one of them. Certainly some quiltmakers would be limited by the availability of suitable fabrics, but making quilts became the canvas and paints to which she had no access, and the justification for using her time to create an item of utility and warmth.
Until 1971 when Jonathan Holstein and Gail van der Hoof curated an exhibit titled “Abstract Design in American Quilts” at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art, where bed quilts were hung on walls as fine art, quilts, if shown at all, were mostly relegated to the lumpy mattresses of historic houses or shown at fairs along with pickles, pies and other domestic accomplishments. After the Whitney exhibit, the trend grew for quilts to be made for the wall as art.
But women knew all along that their quilts were special. Quilts were the art and color in humble, dark cabins. Quilts were labors of love for the warmth and security of loved ones. Quiltmaking allowed women to feel useful. The choice of fabric colors and a design was an escape from the usual daily domestic drudgery. Quilts were the vehicles for the ambitious to be recognized, and quilts provided a means for wordless expression.
This exhibit is designed to show how women from all walks of life chose to design their quilts, their homemade art. The majority, but certainly not all, of the quilts which are part of the 200 quilt Gregg Museum of Art & Design collection, represent this region and were made by North Carolinians. The time period for this exhibit is from 1840-1980 since 1840 is when quiltmaking grew to become part of yeoman farm life, and the late 1970s is the time of the nationwide quilt revival.
It was normal and expected that young girls learn to sew at an early age. Making and mending clothing and household linens were necessary. Those skills passed over into making quilts. Often the very fabrics available for dressmaking were the only ones available for quiltmaking. The 1847 Star of LeMoyne quilt made by Elizabeth Cannon Jenkins of Pitt County, NC (top left) is made of very similar fabric to a two-piece dress of the same period (top right). The making of clothing produced many fabric scraps, and pieced quilt blocks could be made from the remnants. The sash and border fabrics might then be purchased. The early 20th century black mourning print dress (center left), a crude everyday country frock, is lined with feed bags. Similar gray and black mourning print remnants found their way into the Clay County, NC, Scrappy Cross quilt (center right) This quiltmaker used dramatic pieced crosses and a pieced linear set to make her quilt distinctive and visually exciting.
Wealthy plantation families were able to afford bolts of new fabric for both clothing and quilts. The Bridgers Family of Tarboro, Edgecombe County, NC produced two quilts from the exact same fabrics. Both mid-18th century quilts exhibit exceptional workmanship and employ a high degree of technical difficulty. The Mariner’s Compass (bottom left) alternates compass blocks with 81-piece checkerboards. This quilt is effectively framed by pieced triangles. The Carpenter’s Wheel Quilt (bottom right) is also dramatic with its repetitive motifs and diagonal set and sash. The design fills the entire surface by the extension of the sash to the edge and the utilization of partial blocks.
Locally produced fabric in this region was abundant, but until the late 19th century was limited to the muslin goods which were printed elsewhere. The locally produced fabric was dyed in solid colors at the mill or at home. This meant that solid colors were cheaper to buy since transportation costs would be added to the prints which returned from the printing mills in the North.
A mid-19th century red and green floral tulip appliqué quilt (top left) of unknown origin is a lovely example of a fairly simple design escalated to a higher level by extraordinary quilting in both design and technique. The contrast of tight crosshatching with more open design elements in the white areas gives the quilt special interest.
Other quilts are figuratively “over the top” with both design and quilting elements. An antebellum quilt from Iredell County, NC (top right), which descended in the Gaither Family, is from a pattern where the blue fabric is folded and then cut out like a snowflake and appliquéd down. This pattern is found with some regularity in Piedmont North and South Carolina, but this quiltmaker added both appliqué stemmed roses and tulips to her quilt. The tiny overlapping quilting motifs in the teacup pattern and small hanging diamonds in the border display exceptional skill. She also added a tiny, nearly hidden scroll with her initials “DAHG.”(row 2) Like most quilts of the period, this one is quilted in thread which matches the various colored areas.
Another tour de force is from the Arba Community of Greene County, NC and made by Evaline Arthur Hill (1840-1932). The bold medallion design (row 3, left) features a large central star surrounded by rectangular appliqués of flowers and love apples, with Stars of LeMoyne in the corners. Diagonally striped sash and borders give the quilt a visual zing. Little heart appliqués which surround the central star suggest that this was intended to be a wedding quilt. Once again, this is a quilt made with solid colors and matching quilting thread.
Designs adapted from nature were often the theme for mid-19th century quilts. Alibert Brown Gurganus Taylor (1824-1875) of Martin County, NC, called her pattern Sweet Gum Bud (bottom left). The repetitive block is neatly framed by triple pieced sash and borders. The Mariner’s Compass (row 3, right) also uses triple sash and nine-patches to contain a very busy and bold pattern. The maker chose to emphasize the round design with echo quilting. Curved and circular elements appealed to many quiltmakers. Mary Effie Goodwin Seymour (1873-1963) of Wake County, NC, chose a Drunkard’s Path (bottom center) pattern in two colors. She too chose to repeat the pattern with her quilting stitches.
Another visual knockout pattern that employs alternating positive/ negative elements is often called Robbing Peter to Pay Paul (bottom right). This bold blue and gold quilt from the Schlusser/ Pritchard Family of Blacksburg, VA, dates from around 1890. The quilting is simple overall diagonal lines, rather than echoes of the curved piecing. This time period begins a trend toward simpler quilting designs.
Just when quiltmaking was securely in the hands of the middle class, a new phenomenon in needlework hit the country: Victorian Crazy Quilting. Made from lush fabrics of velvet and silk, and embellished with fancy embroidery, painting, ribbons and exotic motifs, they were artistic, sophisticated, decorative rather than functional, and a far cry from the cotton quilts associated with the farm or backwoods. An 1884 example (top left) has it all: blocks with an unusual rounded setting and inserted into rich black velvet, a crazy patch frame and scalloped borders, silk ribbon embroidery, and exquisite floral and decorative stitchery. Ladies’ periodicals of the day would feature embroidery patterns (center image) and often included mail order ads for fancy factory cutaways suitable for this type of work.
It would not be long before crazy patching would be picked up by less sophisticated needleworkers. Lacking access to fine silks and velvets, they chose wool fabrics whose rich saturated colors would create visual interest and contrast for embroidered embellishments. A Tennessee example from the 1890s (top right) was quite possibly made by many hands since it includes many styles of blocks, various initials, and even has some traditionally pieced blocks fitted in. Embroidery is in both silk and wool of varying weights. A motif of a woman in a striped dress with an undetermined spotted animal is featured, giving the entire quilt a folk art feel. Another example (bottom left) displays high contrast fabrics of wool, velvet and challis. Simple shapes were used to make the nine rectangular blocks. A consistent feather stitch in thread of varying colors is the only embellishment besides the maker’s initials (C.A.H.).
At the same time, a new embroidery fad emerged in the form of redwork quilts. Using similar motifs as those found in some crazy quilts, Turkey red cotton thread, which was reliably colorfast, was employed to render images on white cotton. These redwork quilts typically featured flowers or children and animals and were often made for or by youngsters. A bleached sugar bag with a hot iron transfer was often a child’s introduction to hand sewing in a time when the sewing machine was commonplace in the home for the production of clothing. A particularly complex example (bottom right) is embroidered on a large background and uses a wide variety of transfers, including many done on the wrong side leaving backwards lettering. In addition to many transfers meant for other household articles, a number represent patriotic themes dealing with the Spanish-American War of 1898.
Women did not receive the right to vote in the United States until 1920. This fact did not inhibit their patriotic and political fervor, however, and these sentiments were often revealed through needlework. The Star Spangled Banner or Centennial Star quilt (top left) is of Ohio origin and quite possibly a wedding quilt. A difficult pattern to draft and produce, this red, white and blue quilt has quilted hearts throughout. Another stunning patriotic quilt from the early 20th century is pieced of United States flag or bunting yardage (top right). The quiltmaker cleverly utilized the printed red and white stripes to achieve a visually complex pattern.
In 1931 the Kansas City Star newspaper, which published weekly quilt patterns, produced a pattern representing Ararat (center), the local Swope Park Zoo elephant. Assuming the pachyderm to be a Republican Party symbol, the ensuing uproar of readers demanded equal representation. The Star responded with Giddap, a Very Democratic Donkey (bottom left). That pattern remained very popular throughout the Depression and Franklin D. Roosevelt years (bottom right).
The twentieth century brought many more women into making quilts. Goods became more available. Farm wives learned to reuse the bags that both feed and staples were packed in and trade their farm products at the local general store for fabric yardage, spools of thread, and packaged dyes. (The term “butter and egg money” has its origin in this process.) Mill remnants and suiting samples also made their way into quilts. In hard times, all bits were used.
An Indiana Puzzle patterned quilt (top left) found in Burke County, NC is an ultimate example of recycling. Old denim jeans and workpants were cut up along with white feedbags and sewn together into a utility quilt with exceptionally pleasing visual qualities. The string used to sew the feedbags together was carefully unraveled and used as the quilting thread.
In Pasqoutank County, NC, a wool embroidered quilt (top right) was made from out-of-date and discarded suiting samples from the local store. The maker carefully embroidered over each seam and added a decorative winding blade motif at every join in pearl cotton.
When times were tough women also got together to make quilts to raffle as fundraisers, wedding gifts, or as presentation pieces to ministers retiring or moving on to new parishes. The Methodist Missionary Society in Union County, NC made a signature quilt about 1937. It is a simple Rail Fence pattern (center left) in blue and white with embroidered names in each section. Special blocks included one for the society’s leaders and another “In Memory”. Many different women did the embroidery. In sharp contrast to the dark deep hues of earlier quilts, the colors of quilts of the 1930s were primarily pastel. Making quilts was also a way to be thrifty during those depression times and use up dress scraps to try one of the popular patterns. Many Flower Garden, Dresden Plates, Little Dutch Girls and Grandmother’s Fan (center right) patterns lent themselves to pastel colors.
In Forsyth County, NC, Alma Hilton Baker (1906-1994), made her only quilt. She bleached chickenfeed sacks, drafted her own iris basket pattern to appliqué on them, and purchased enough new pastel fabrics for the rest of the top (bottom left). More sacks were used on the back. She quilted while her young daughter played under the frame. She also swore that it would be her last quilt and kept her word. While Alma Baker bleached her feedbags, many others dyed them. The Carpenter’s Wheel top (yellow, third row image) looks bright and colorful because it was never completed, remaining stored away. After a few washings and subjected to light, the home dyes would fade. Women were delighted when feed and flour came in printed bags which could be made into clothing, household goods and quilts.
In North Carolina and the South in general, quilts became synonymous with thrift, using scraps, and a certain lack of sophistication, with thick home produced batting and minimal quilting. Elsewhere, in more wealthy areas, quilts were being designed and made often using patterns created by professional artists and found in women’s periodicals. Some fine examples were printed on the back of batting wrappers. This artist-design movement led to the creation of quilt kits where a person could purchase all of the necessary parts to create a top, usually an appliqué. The fabric would be pre-stamped for cutting the pieces and guiding their placement. The predetermined quilting lines would also be stamped. “All” the maker had to do was finish the project! A 1960s child’s quilt featuring Little Bo Peep (botttom right) is an example of this.
CULTURAL AND REGIONAL DIFFERENCES
In order to fully understand any quilt, it is necessary to consider the social and economic contexts in which it was made. This is particularly true with Amish quilts where rigid rules predominate. Each community differs in its regulations and in some places women are allowed a wide variety of both color and pattern. Unless made for outside sale, the vast majority are of only solid colors. A Midwest Amish Star quilt (top left) is made of solid color cotton and is distinctly lighter in color than the more standardized Amish quilts made with black and other colors. Like many Amish quilts it is beautifully quilted. The Lancaster Amish baby quilt (top right) is made of wool and is a Center Diamond Pattern, almost formulaic in color, pattern and quilting design.
Another wool baby quilt was found in Durham, NC. The red, green and blue are jersey fabric; the brown is a denim; the yellow a polished cotton. The quilt is made in a medallion style, with an unusual center motif accented with a cluster of French knots. The stitching is fairly primitive (center left).
Likewise, a 1970s Swan Quilt (bottom left) for a baby from Western North Carolina is made from polyester knit and wool. The maker used what cloth she had and attempted to create the positive/negative imagery called for by the pattern (center right). It is randomly tied with red wool.
No quilt in this exhibit has as much mystery as a felt-on-taffeta decorative one, purchased in Clyde, NC. It is made up of felt circles with appliqués, some hand, others sewn by machine. There are charming natural figures: a dog, a horse, a house, a mask, and human figures. These are interspersed with other designs: a collection of personal iconography. The background taffeta appears to be an old party dress with painted polka dots (bottom right).
For years, quilts declined in numbers and importance because busy women often had jobs outside the home and resources for commercially made bedding. The Bicentennial celebration, and the awareness of quilts as art rather than just as bedcovers, impacted the craft. Women everywhere wanted to recreate past history and enjoy the festivity of old time quilting bees.
The Whitney exhibit raised the awareness of graphic quilt design. Women challenged themselves to design quilts beyond mere utility. In 1975 artist Sas Colby (1939- ) created her silk wall quilt Rainbow (left image). It is all machine pieced and hand quilted. In 1981 she produced Socks (right image) which is silk and cotton and machine appliquéd and quilted in a one-step process. One of the art quilt pioneers, Sas Colby remains a very successful mixed media artist.
QUILTING TODAY
An entire culture and business continues to grow from the newfound interest in quilts. Projects everywhere spring up to record quilt history and heritage. Museums are built which feature nothing but quilts. National and international contests abound. Books and teachers develop faster and better ways to create quilts. Textile manufacturers produce new fabric lines just for quiltmaking. Men successfully venture into the traditionally female realm. Quilts for the wall are as popular as quilts for the bed.
Today’s fine quilts are made to commemorate almost everything. Yet quiltmakers sew thousands of charity quilts so soldiers feel appreciated, victims feel comforted, and children feel warm and secure. They share their hearts and in doing so radiate color and art, both ordinary and extraordinary.
I wish to thank the donors who have entrusted the Gregg Museum of Art & Design with their treasures. It was a privilege to work with these objects. Special thanks go to the entire Gregg staff for their enthusiasm, dedication and devotion to all things creative.
Kathlyn F. Sullivan, Guest Curator