Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

Earth Day is approaching soon and since textiles lovers are big material consumables, we should try to do our part to save the earth. Most of us have the condition Stable Syndrome or “stash accumulated beyond life expectancy.” As you know, to aid the world the first rule is to reduce. So, to celebrate Earth Day, why not see how much fabric you can use from your stash. That’s right, sew away for the day! (If you need to buy a few pieces of new fabric to make use of the stash, no worries, it was already made and needs a place too.) The second rule is to reuse. Kudos to all those vintage textile lovers that are purchasing 20th century feed sacks, blocks or quilt tops to create a quilt. This last weekend, I attended...

Founded in 1984, the California Heritage Quilt Project was to engage in research and educational activities regarding California Quilts. Their initial project was to research quilts made and brought to California before 1945. More than four thousand quilts were documented during the hunt for these quilts, a treasure trove of legacy. Another project the organization tackled was the California Sesquicentennial Quilt. A logistical feat of harnessing 230 quilt artists to create a single masterpiece. Board Member Helen S. Powell agreed to be coordinator of the project. Instead of dividing up the project into individual quilt blocks to be assembled later, lead quilt artists Zena Thorpe and Ellen Heck decided to create a pictorial style quilt. One artist took charge of “Northern California”, the other artist took “Southern California” and they “joined” it around Santa Barbara. Quilts...

A couple of times after I’ve given the Early American Military Textiles presentation, I’ve had someone mention to me another potential textile to include. I’m always happy to add to the research and log of textiles. After the blog series, I was contacted by Ragi Marino to see if I was aware of a “soldier’s blanket” at the Texas Civil War Museum.   Ragi re-created the textile as an AQSG Study Quilt. This interesting quilt is another reminder of why quilts made of military textiles are not always recognized as such. Uniforms weren’t standardized, with soldiers wearing what they had. In the War of 1812, well past American infancy, soldiers were still wearing military garb from other countries with updated buttons and insignias.  In the case of this “blanket” the fabrics were from a later version...

At the Houston Quilt Festival this year there was a grouping of quilts called Tactile Architecture which had several unique approaches to the theme. It made me ponder the use of architecture in quilts. Certainly, we see the use of buildings in the Baltimore Album Quilts using applique to create the buildings. In fact, it was sometimes the buildings which helped trace the quilt's origins.   The Tristan Quilt, also known as the Guicciardini Quilt is one of the earliest surviving quilts and re-creates scenes from the story of Tristan and Isolde. It tells the tragic story of two doomed lovers through a wholecloth quilt using trapunto to depict scenes from the tale, including a castle. Therefore the presence of architecture can be traced down through quilting history.   The techniques used to create the buildings...

Applique is fabric applied or "laid on" to a background fabric. The technique has been around for centuries and used on clothing, tents, animal blankets and other everyday items. One of the older surviving examples of applique is an Egyptian canopy quilt from 980. B.C. Different cultures developed different uses for applique and in the US the development of a “quilt culture” supported a long history of applique. The applique quilt is usually “designed” as opposed to leftover scraps pieced together randomly. Applique quilts can be made of a repeated block or an album with a variety of different block patterns. An applique quilt may even be used to tell a story with different blocks having symbols or representing a family history. The rise of the Baltimore Album Quilt solidified the art form in the US...