Textiles - Overview
The 50,000 objects in the textile collections fall into two main categories: raw fibers, yarns, and fabrics, and machines, tools, and other textile technology. Shawls, coverlets, samplers, laces, linens, synthetics, and other fabrics are part of the first group, along with the 400 quilts in the National Quilt Collection. Some of the Museum's most popular artifacts, such as the Star-Spangled Banner and the gowns of the first ladies, have an obvious textile connection.
The machinery and tools include spinning wheels, sewing machines, thimbles, needlework tools, looms, and an invention that changed the course of American agriculture and society. A model of Eli Whitney's cotton gin, made by the inventor in the early 1800s, shows the workings of a machine that helped make cotton plantations profitable in the South and encouraged the spread of slavery.
"Textiles - Overview" showing 6 items.
Sarah Hoopes' Sampler
- Description
- This sampler features nine rectangles that are outlined by cross-stitch and satin sawtooth bands. The center and corner rectangles contain flowers and strawberries with some worked in crinkled silk. The flower and strawberry motifs on this sampler indicate nature and a perfect fruit: the strawberry has no rind or pit to throw away. The verses and inscription are in the remaining four rectangles, reading from the top center, to the right center, to the left center, back to the lower part of the right center, and then to the bottom center, resulting in jumps from one rectangle to another where words did not fit the space. The words are worked in green and yellow thread, except for the name “Phebe Hoopes,” which is worked in the only black thread used on the sampler. The inscriptions are:
“Waz[s]h Lord ANd
PUrIFY MY Heart
ANd MaKe It CleaN
IN EVerY Part ANd
WheN It IS CleaN
LOrd KeeP It SO
FOr That IS MOre
ThaN I CaN DO
The LOSS OF TIMe
IS MUCh The LOSS
OF Truth IS MOre
The LOSS OF ChrISt
IS SUCh That NO
MaN CaN ReStOre
POOR State of JaCob
Here It SeeMS TO Me
The CattLe FOUNd
AS SOFt A Bed AS He
Yet GOd APPeared
There HIS JOY ANd
CrOWN GOd IS NOt
ALwaYS FOUNd ON
BedS OF DOWN
The Bed WaS
Earth The RaIsed
PILLar StONe
WhereON POOR
JaCOb ReSt HIS
Head ALONe
HeaVeN WaS HIS
CaNOPY The Shades
OF NIGht WaS
HIS DraWN CUrtaIN
TO EXCLUde The
LIGht ThIS WOrK
IN HaND MY FrIeNdS
MaY HaVe WHeN I aM
IN The SILeNt GraVe
Sarah HOOPes
DauGhter OF Abram
ANd SUSaNNa HooPeS
Her WOrK doN
IN The 14th Year OF
Her AGe 1799
ReeSe HOOPeS
DaNIeL HOOPeS
ALICe HOOPeS
Phebe HOOPeS
AP EJ(?) PH SH”
- The four verses that Sarah Hoopes included reflect the emphasis of her time on piety and the brevity of life. Even though Sarah’s sampler came to the Smithsonian in poor condition, it is important to the study of these compartmented verse and flower samplers that were worked only in Philadelphia. The sampler is stitched with silk embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of warp 51, weft 46/in. The stitches used are cross, satin, stem, and outline.
- Sarah Hoopes was born on December 25, 1785, to Abraham (1755-1807) and Susanna McNees (1752-1834) Hoopes of Newtown, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Her father was a shoemaker. She lists the names of her two brothers, Reese and Daniel, and her two sisters, Alice and Phebe, on her sampler. There are other initials under Phebe’s name. She died unmarried.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1799
- maker
- Hoopes, Sarah
- ID Number
- TE*T11163
- catalog number
- T11163
- accession number
- 203959
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Linen Overshot Coverlet 1790
- Description
- Elizabeth Deuel is said to have made this single-woven, all linen coverlet in1790, in the Saratoga region of New York State. Her name and the date are cross-stitched into the lower edge of the coverlet just above the fringe. A search of the 1790 census of the area produced no one with the surname Deuel. More research is needed to determine where Miss Deuel lived, and if she was the weaver or the owner of this coverlet. In the 18th century, it was common for household textiles to be marked with the initials or name of the owner and the date. The average colonial home did not have a great number of household textiles, and they were considered important possessions. This coverlet was woven in two sections that were then sewn together.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- late 18th century
- 1790
- weaver or owner
- Deuel, Elizabeth
- maker or owner of coverlet
- Deuel, Elizabeth
- ID Number
- 1981.0274.005
- accession number
- 1981.0274
- catalog number
- 1981.0274.05
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Jemima Gorham's Sampler
- Description
- Two block alphabets, one with 26 letters and one with no "J"; "V" and "U" reversed; numbers to 12. Landscape with gentleman and two ladies; gentleman wears short coat, knee breeches, and wide hat, and carries a walking stick. One lady wears flowered dress; the other wears striped dress and both wear caps or hats. Hill, tree, and flowering bush on lawn, and small leaping dog. Overhead, clouds and trumpeting angel. Border has wide free-style meandering vine with various flowers. Brown guidelines under center scene and floral border. Just below verse, five rows of staggered cross stitch cover seam where two pieces of ground fabric join. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, crosslet, petit point, chain, stem, outline, queen. THREAD COUNT: warp 26, weft 32/in.
- Inscriptions:
- "Let f[s]potlef[s]s innocence and truth
My every action guide
And guard my unexperienced Youth
From vanity and pride
- Jemima
Gorham born
august 28 1775
made this sampler
in Bristol 1790
at Mrs. ushers
School"
- Background:
- Jemima was born on August 29, 1775, to Isaac and Sarah Thomas Gorham in Bristol, Rhode Island. She was the oldest of nine children, and her father died at sea at the age of 48. Jemima married Nicholas Peck as his second wife on October 1, 1797, and died on November 7, 1798, in Bristol, shortly after the birth of their daughter, Jemima Gorham Peck. A year later Nicholas married his wife's sister, Sarah Gorham, on October 5, 1799.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1790
- maker
- Gorham, Jemima
- ID Number
- TE*L06956.A
- catalog number
- L06956A
- accession number
- 113420
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ann Louisa Ghequiere's Sampler
- Description
- Five block alphabets of 26 letters, numbers to 14. Each row of alphabets and numbers different color. All these rows separated by narrow geometric crossbands. Border of geometric strawberry vine and single row of herringbone stitch on all four sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, crosslet, long-armed cross, satin, herringbone, eyelet, four-sided, rice, queen, hem. THREAD COUNT: warp 28, weft 28/in.
- Inscriptions:
- "EDUCATION
- Youth like f[s]oftened Wax, with Eaf[s]e will take
Thof[s]e Images that firf[s]t impref[s]sions make.
If thof[s]e are fair, their Actions will be bright,
If foul, they'll clouded be with Shades of Night.
- Ann Louisa Ghequiere [f]inished in her 9th year."
- Background:
- Ann Louisa was born about 1792 to Charles and Harriet Halley Ghequiere in Baltimore, Maryland. She married Dr. Martin Fenwick of West River, Maryland, on August 21, 1815, at St. Peter Pro-Cathedral in Baltimore, Maryland. The marriage was performed by Archbishop John Carroll, with whom her father had been friendly for many years. They had four children—;Harriet, Louisa Claire, Chloe, and Henry. Ann Louisa died on February 22, 1864 in West River.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1799
- maker
- Chequiere, Ann Louisa
- ID Number
- TE*T14210
- catalog number
- T14210
- accession number
- 59228
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1795 M. Campbell's Reverse Applique Quilt
- Description
- Embroidered in dark brown silk cross-stitches and eye-stitches along the top right edge of the center of this quilt is "M. Campbell 1795." This quilt is a rare dated and signed example of the use of reverse appliqué which is found in the center panel and the eight border motifs. In reverse appliqué, the positions of the pattern and background fabrics are reversed from those of onlaid appliqué. The silhouette of the pattern is cut out of the background fabric, and openings are filled by applying a contrasting fabric from underneath. It was not often used in American quilts. The remainder of the quilt top is of geometric pieced work.
- Block printed cotton fabrics of floral prints, stripes, and small geometrics, mostly on brown or tan grounds, were used for the appliqué and piecework. The lining is linen and the filling cotton. All appliquéd motifs are outline quilted along both the inside and outside edges. The white backgrounds, center border, and printed fabric blocks in the outer border are quilted in a diagonal grid and chevron patterns, seven stitches to the inch. M. Campbell's skillfully worked quilt is a notable example of the reverse appliqué technique.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1795
- quilter
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1981.0007.01
- catalog number
- 1981.0007.01
- accession number
- 1981.0007
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Augusta Ann Phillips's Sampler
- Description
- Three block alphabets; one double of 26 letters and one script alphabet of 26 letters. Numbers to 21. All rows separated by simple geometric crossbands. In lower half of sampler two-story brick house with two chimneys and double door on stepped terrace, flanked by two pairs of flower baskets. Border of single row of cross-stitch on all four sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, rice, Algerian eye, four-sided, crosslet, stem, outline, French knot. THREAD COUNT: warp 27, weft 31/in.
- Inscriptions:
- "The rof[s]e, The Sweetly Blooming rof[s]e
Ere from the Tree itf[s] torn
Itf[s] Like the charmf[s] which Beauty Show
In Livef[s] exulting Morn.
- Auguf[s]ta Ann PhilliPs June
The 18 1794"
- Background:
- Nothing is known about the life of Augusta Ann Phillips.
- Date made
- 1794
- maker
- Phillips, Augusta Ann
- ID Number
- TE*E309069
- catalog number
- E309069
- E 309069
- accession number
- 63668
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center