Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

Prior to the Van Loon family settling in Amsterdam, the family (one of the founders of the VOC known in the US as Dutch East India Company) traces their origins to a small village in the Netherlands. In the middle of the 17c part of the family moved to Amsterdam where the family would become “regents of the city.” The canal house turned into a museum was bought by the family in 1884 and it is still owned by the family. For those quilters who enjoy Dutch Heritage fabrics or glories of Chintz in quilts, you will certainly understand the fascination of our visit to the family house turned museum. The family had access and dare I say the pick of the crop of the fabrics they imported to the Netherlands and the house remains decorated...

In Amsterdam there is a charming, more than four century old canal house (yes, over 400 years old) where the original architect of quilts lives with her artist husband. Up three flights of narrow stairs, (it was tempting to count the steps, but instead I focused on simply making it to the attic workshop without falling), a quilt artist extraordinaire works in her lair creating 3-d quilts. In the early 1970’s, Lucie Huig-Dunnebier began quilting creating three dimensional quilts. Since then she has explored various dimensional elements: raised graphics, pockets to hold treasures, windows with shutters to hide lovers, and more, pushing the dimensional boundaries of a quilt. Some of her crib quilts hung one way reveal the day colors with the sun. The same quilt hung upside down reveals the moon and the stars in...

Because I was teaching in the Netherlands, The Triplett Sisters recently had some wonderful adventures in Amsterdam. One of our first stops was a curious museum which honored all types of bags. According to Susan B. Anthony, “Every woman should have a purse of her own.” The Museum of Bags and Purses acknowledged that men should also have bags, since the oldest item in the collection was a man’s bag with secret pockets. It was wonderful to see the wide variety of handbags, but frequently we fail to recognize the needlework skill involved in many of these purses. Today’s blog will focus on “thigh pockets” purses hidden under the fabric of the dress. A slit in the dress allowed the wearer access to the items in the pockets. These pockets were from the 17th century to...

I have a confession. For several weeks now, I’ve had writers block. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what I needed to write about, it was that I didn’t really want to write about me. I much prefer writing about other’s amazing quilts or exhibitions. So, I’ve kept putting off this blog. I decided to resolve the issue by including some fabulous antique quilts for eye candy. It will make be feel better and I hope you’ll at least read the blog to know what exciting things are coming in the fall season.   First up is another trip to the Netherlands, where I will be teaching a brand-new quilt pattern I created with 5 unique paper piecing designs. I’m thrilled to teach the workshop in Overloon, but I’m even more excited to announce that Paper...

I was interested to attend the Kauai Quilt Show sponsored by Kauai Quilt Guild and the Nene Quilters to see if the traditional “Hawaiian” style of quilts was represented. As early as 1820 the Hawaiians learned to quilt from missionaries. The distinctive style is usually created using applique of a botanical nature, frequently in one or two bold solid colors. One early written record of the traditional style Hawaiian quilt is “Six Months in the Sandwich Islands” by Isabella Bird who visited Hawaii in 1870 and described a “floral center with surrounding arabesque.” During the westernization of Hawaii, cotton fabric had become available and as the resurgence in applique mid-nineteenth century occured, it also reached Hawaii. A second traditional Hawaiian style of quilts is known as a “flag quilt” which uses the flag and or royalty,...