Textiles

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.

Date made
1740-1790
ID Number
COLL.WAISTC.001001
Border in Alençon needle lace.18th century motifs combined in the third quarter of 19th century.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Border in Alençon needle lace.18th century motifs combined in the third quarter of 19th century.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1770-1790
ID Number
TE.L7007B
catalog number
L7007.00B
An extraordinary scale model of a 24 spindle Slater Spinning Frame; made for exhibition purposes by John W. Shultz of Museum of History & Technology (now NMAH) model shop and used in the Textile Hall displays. Scale: 3" = 1'.
Description (Brief)
An extraordinary scale model of a 24 spindle Slater Spinning Frame; made for exhibition purposes by John W. Shultz of Museum of History & Technology (now NMAH) model shop and used in the Textile Hall displays. Scale: 3" = 1'. The original 1790 Slater Spinning Frame in the NMAH collection has 48-spindles.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1967
associated date
1790
maker
Model Shop, United States National Museum
ID Number
TE.T14067.000
catalog number
T14067.000
The Smithsonian's first label for Slater's Spinning Frame was written by textiles curator Frederick L.
Description
The Smithsonian's first label for Slater's Spinning Frame was written by textiles curator Frederick L. Lewton in 1912 for an exhibition in the United States National Museum in Washington, D.C.:
"This 48-spindle spinning machine, the oldest piece of cotton machinery in America, was built by Samuel Slater, and first operated by him on December 20, 1790, at Pawtucket, Rhode Island. One hundred years later, 1890, it was lent to the city of Pawtucket for exhibition at the Cotton Centenary, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of cotton spinning by power machinery on the Western Hemisphere, and yarn was spun on it by an old man who had tended the spinning frame in the 'Old Slater Mill' when he was a boy. In 1876, it was exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, and in 1885, was lent by the National Museum for exhibition at the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans. Presented by the Rhode Island Society For The Encouragement of Domestic Industry."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1790-1793
inventor
Slater, Samuel
ID Number
TE.T11197.000
catalog number
T11197
accession number
013137
According to the donor, Elizabeth Deuel is said to have made this blue and white, overshot, all-linen coverlet in 1790, in the Saratoga region of New York. Her name and the date are cross-stitched into the lower edge of the coverlet just above the fringe.
Description
According to the donor, Elizabeth Deuel is said to have made this blue and white, overshot, all-linen coverlet in 1790, in the Saratoga region of New York. 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 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. The coverlet is woven in a “Chariot Wheel” pattern and measures 104.75 inches by 80.25 inches.
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
1981.0274.05
accession number
1981.0274
catalog number
1981.0274.05
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1795
ID Number
TE.T12691
catalog number
T12691.000
This blue and white, cotton and wool geometric coverlet panel is an excellent example of the structure known as Summer-and-Winter. There is a lot of apocryphal and mythological information circulating about the origins of this structure.
Description
This blue and white, cotton and wool geometric coverlet panel is an excellent example of the structure known as Summer-and-Winter. There is a lot of apocryphal and mythological information circulating about the origins of this structure. Is it an American invention or a European holdover? It is quite likely we will never know. Summer-and-Winter weave is an overshot weave with stricter rules. The supplementary warp yarn cannot float over more than two warp yarns. This creates a tighter fabric and also gives Summer-and-Winter its light (Summer) side and its darker (Winter) side. This particular coverlet panel was woven by the donor’s great-great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Johnstone of Hartford, Connecticut for her dowry chest in the late eighteenth century. A letter from the donor recorded that the family said the coverlet was woven in the “late Revolutionary days.” Elizabeth married John Ashley, also from Connecticut, and the couple moved to Catskill, New York where they raised their family. Elizabeth would later move to Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1836 to live with son John Joseph Ashley. The pattern depicted in this panel is most commonly referred to as “Whig Rose.” This panel would likely have been one of three that would have been woven as one length, cut, and sewn together to create the full, finished width. The coverlet was likely separated into panels during subsequent generations as it was passed down through the family.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1770-1790
ID Number
TE.T10092
catalog number
T10092.000
accession number
180475
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1770-1790
ID Number
TE.T16250B
catalog number
T16250.00B
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.
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
Late 18th century bobbin lace flounce with floral and garland motifs. The motifs are made with brussels bobbin lace technique and they are grounded with droschel bobbin lace ground. The more open ground is alencon style needle lace.
Description (Brief)
Late 18th century bobbin lace flounce with floral and garland motifs. The motifs are made with brussels bobbin lace technique and they are grounded with droschel bobbin lace ground. The more open ground is alencon style needle lace. An narrow modern, machine made entre-deux has been added.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1770-1790
1770-1790
ID Number
TE.T16250A
catalog number
T16250.00A
date made
1785-1795
ID Number
TE.T11881UU
accession number
113420
Ecclesiastical table cover with embroidery and a border of gold bobbin lace. The center has sacred symbols while the borders are of couched gold threads in s-curves, and floral motifs in silk embroidery in various colors.
Description
Ecclesiastical table cover with embroidery and a border of gold bobbin lace. The center has sacred symbols while the borders are of couched gold threads in s-curves, and floral motifs in silk embroidery in various colors. The outside border is gold and silver bobbin lace in late 18th century style.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1775-1795
ID Number
TE.L7650B
accession number
58000
According to the donors, this Rose Point set of collar and cuffs were made in France circa 1790, and was worn by Princess Caroline Murat at the Court of Napoleon III. She was exiled to America and lived in Charleston for a time.
Description
According to the donors, this Rose Point set of collar and cuffs were made in France circa 1790, and was worn by Princess Caroline Murat at the Court of Napoleon III. She was exiled to America and lived in Charleston for a time. The lace was given by the Princess to the late Rev. J.A. Harrold & his wife. This story is doubtful, as this type of Point de Gaze needle lace was not made much before 1850.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1790
ID Number
TE.E331633A
catalog number
E331633.00A
accession number
91898
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
c. 1790
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T15059
catalog number
T15059.000
accession number
287860
This blue and white overshot coverlet is dated 1795 in the weave along with the initials “E.B.” The overshot patterning was created using a supplementary wool weft which shoots over a plain weave foundation.
Description
This blue and white overshot coverlet is dated 1795 in the weave along with the initials “E.B.” The overshot patterning was created using a supplementary wool weft which shoots over a plain weave foundation. The top and bottom edges are hemmed about 3/8 of an inch, and the center seam is joined with an overcast stitch in which the 2 selvages just meet. Coverlets with seams were woven as single lengths, cut, and joined to create wider textiles suitable for bed coverings. Seams and hems appear to have been redone, which is standard with use and washing. Pattern name is unknown but is the same as coverlet 1979.0723.01, with stars clustered in alternating groups of four or five with tables at their corners. The pattern is similar to Tennessee Trouble and Sun, Moon, and Stars, but as with quilt patterns, names change over time and place. It has a border on all four sides. The border pattern is a fractional reduction of the centerfield pattern. The name of the weaver of this coverlet remains unknown. What is known is that this weaver operated in Albany, New York from approximately 1770-1830 and wove a great number of overshot coverlets with pick-up-woven dates and initials in the lower border. The oldest dated coverlet known to exist was woven by this weaver. It is dated 1771 and currently resides at the National Museum of the American Coverlet in Bedford, Pennsylvania. The National Museum of American History has three coverlets from this weaver. The initials differ on each coverlet, and the initials almost certainly reflect the client’s name rather than the weaver.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1795
maker
unknown
ID Number
1980.0241.01
accession number
1980.0241
catalog number
1980.0241.001
Samuel Slater’s cotton carding machine, built in 1790, was based on the English system of machine carding, which he introduced in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Samuel Slater, considered the father of the American cotton industry, came to America in 1789 from England.
Description
Samuel Slater’s cotton carding machine, built in 1790, was based on the English system of machine carding, which he introduced in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Samuel Slater, considered the father of the American cotton industry, came to America in 1789 from England. He acquired his knowledge of textile machinery in England as an apprentice in the Arkwright system of carding and spinning cotton. His cotton carding machine is only one of two pieces of original Slater machinery still in existence.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1790
maker
Slater, Samuel
ID Number
TE.T11196.000
accession number
13137
catalog number
T11196.000
Eliza Bennis appliqued her initials “EB” and date “1795” in the center of the outer border of this counterpane. Although in fragile condition, this appliqued and embroidered textile is noteworthy.
Description
Eliza Bennis appliqued her initials “EB” and date “1795” in the center of the outer border of this counterpane. Although in fragile condition, this appliqued and embroidered textile is noteworthy. The center panel (21+” high x 28+” wide) is an early Irish printed fabric known as “Irish Volunteers” or “Volunteer Furniture.” The copper-plate design, probably drawn by Gabriel Beranger, is a representation of a Provincial Review in Phoenix Park (June 1782) near Dublin. It was printed by Thomas Harpur at Leixlip, Ireland. This particular fabric may have held significance for Eliza as her husband, in 1779, was instrumental in the formation of a Limerick corps of Irish Volunteers.
Elizabeth (Eliza) was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1725, daughter of Isaac and Alice Patten. Eliza married Mitchell Bennis (1720-1788) in 1745. They had four children that reached adulthood. Eliza is significant in the history of Methodism and corresponded with John Wesley, among others. Journal of Elizabeth Bennis 1749-1779, begun in her 20s, is an accounting of her spiritual progress after she joined the Methodist Society. In her later years she emigrated from Limerick to Philadelphia and possibly brought the “Irish Volunteers” fabric or counterpane with her. She died in 1802. In 1809 her son, Thomas, published a book of her correspondence.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1795
maker
Bennis, Eliza
ID Number
1985.0034.01
catalog number
1985.0034.01
accession number
1985.0034
Esther Wheat's quilt is an example of a glazed wool fabric, not only used for bedding but also petticoats in the eighteenth century.
Description
Esther Wheat's quilt is an example of a glazed wool fabric, not only used for bedding but also petticoats in the eighteenth century. The shiny surface of the quilt top was achieved by calendering, a process of applying heat and pressure with metal plates or rollers to a worsted fabric. In Esther's quilt the high sheen of the fabric enhanced the elaborate quilting of the large feathered heart and two pineapples surrounded by a scrolling vine with flowers. According to the donor, Esther Wheat Lee's great-great-granddaughter, the original plain weave yellow wool lining wore thin and was replaced by Esther's daughter, Olive Lee Doolittle. A thin layer of cotton fiber filling was added before the second lining of red twill weave cotton and wool was quilted to the original lining, but not through the quilt top.
Esther Wheat made this quilted indigo-blue wool bed cover for her dower chest in the 1790s. Esther, a twin, was born in 1774 in Conway, Massachusetts. She married Benjamin Lee in 1799 and died at Canastota, New York in 1847. Esther's quilt was passed down through five generations of women before being donated to the Smithsonian in 1973.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1790-1799
quilter
Wheat, Esther
ID Number
TE.T16380
catalog number
T16380.000
accession number
308057
1973.308057
In 1951 the donor informed the museum that she had a quilt made by her husband's great-great grandmother in 1792.
Description
In 1951 the donor informed the museum that she had a quilt made by her husband's great-great grandmother in 1792. A note attached to the quilt stated that it was made by Martha Babson Lane Soule of Freeport, Maine, and that "she spun and dyed the worsted and designed the pattern embroidered on it." The donor continued in her letter, "In going through some old correspondence we find that the mate to this quilt was donated to your Museum many years ago by my husband's great-aunt Mrs. Caroline Gordon." That quilt had been donated to the Museum in 1925, and more than twenty-five years later this quilt from the Soule family was also added to the Collection.
This quilt is both pieced and embroidered. The center panel, a 38-inch square, is embroidered in indigo-dyed wool, surrounded by a border pieced of 8-inch printed cotton squares and triangles, with a crewel embroidered outer border. Embroidery stitches include stem, cross, herringbone, seed, buttonhole, Roumanian, running, and couching. Considering the style of the quilt and the use of cotton 2-ply sewing and quilting threads in the construction indicate a date no earlier than the very-late-eighteenth century or probably early-nineteenth century.
The crewel embroidered pieces might have been from bed furniture of an earlier date. The center panel appears to be cut from a larger piece of embroidery; the top and side borders are also shortened; only the bottom border, with a large heart, is a complete design. The base fabrics for the embroidered sections and the lining are cotton and linen/cotton with a thin layer of carded cotton between them. The pieced inner border is composed of two fabrics; one resist-printed the other English copperplate printed ca 1775-1785. The chevron patterned quilting is done in a running stitch, 7 stitches per inch.
Martha Babson Lane was born December 22, 1772 in Freeport, Cumberland, Maine. The Lane family is listed among the settlers in that area of Maine as early as the 1650s. Martha married Moses Soule on May 25, 1793. Moses farmed in the Freeport, Maine area, and was a deacon in the church and a caulker by trade.
Martha and Moses Soule had eleven children, three of whom died within a few months of each other in 1807 at ages three, five and eight. Three other children, born later, were given their names; John/James Babson, Nancy and Jeannette.
One son, Gideon Lane Soule (1796-1879) was the first of his four brothers to attend Phillips Exeter Academy. He later became a professor at the Academy and for thirty-five years, from 1838 to 1873, served as a Principal. Under his able direction the Academy experienced increasing growth, prosperity and prestige.
The youngest son, John Babson Lane Soule (1815-1891), after attending the Academy, graduated from Bowdoin College. Although he completed law studies, he spent his life as a teacher, journalist and minister in Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois. He is noted for possibly being the originator of the popular slogan: "Go West, young man!" used in an editorial he wrote in 1851 for the Terre Haute Express which was later used by Horace Greeley so effectively in an 1865 New York Tribune editorial. Martha Babson Lane Soule died on December 20, 1837 and is buried in the Lane Cemetery near Freeport, Maine.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1790-1795
quilter
Soule, Martha Babson Lane
ID Number
TE.T10932
catalog number
T10932
accession number
190856
Under the center basket of this embroidered counterpane is the inscription “Bethiah D. Green” and on the basket at the top is “Begun October 2, 1796.” The date “1798” appears several times in the border.
Description
Under the center basket of this embroidered counterpane is the inscription “Bethiah D. Green” and on the basket at the top is “Begun October 2, 1796.” The date “1798” appears several times in the border. In addition to the many birds and floral motifs, other designs include the head of George Washington; his riderless horse; a milestone inscribed “12 miles to Boston;” and a pig. According to family tradition, this quilt was inspired by an event that Bethiah witnessed in 1789 when George Washington, passing through Weston, Massachusetts, was nearly thrown from his horse when a pig ran across the road.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1796-1805
1796-1798
maker
Green, Bethiah D.
ID Number
TE.E388872
accession number
182022
catalog number
E388872
The Ipswich lace industry used patterns such as this linen pasteboard pricking in the late 1700's. The pattern corresponds to one of the black silk lace samples sent to Alexander Hamilton in 1791 as samples of an important handmade industry in Ipswich, Massachusetts.
Description
The Ipswich lace industry used patterns such as this linen pasteboard pricking in the late 1700's. The pattern corresponds to one of the black silk lace samples sent to Alexander Hamilton in 1791 as samples of an important handmade industry in Ipswich, Massachusetts. In 1789-1790 600 lace makers made and sold close to 42,000 yards of lace in one year. The samples are preserved among Alexander Hamilton's papers in the Library of Congress. A copy made from this pattern was used for the reproduction of an Ipswich lace in the "Within These Walls..." exhibit in 2001.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1780-1789
Associated Date
1789-1790
referenced
Lakeman, Elizabeth Lord
Hamilton, Alexander
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.E386686
catalog number
E386686
accession number
180233
This token valued at a half penny was issued by a merchant to pay his workers in 1794. The inscription reads "Pay at Leighton Berkhamsted or London - 1794" with a sheep on one side, "Lace Manufactory" and a woman making lace on a pillow under a tree on the other.
Description
This token valued at a half penny was issued by a merchant to pay his workers in 1794. The inscription reads "Pay at Leighton Berkhamsted or London - 1794" with a sheep on one side, "Lace Manufactory" and a woman making lace on a pillow under a tree on the other. "Chambers, Langston, Hall & Co” is stamped around the rim. The token could only be used at one of the merchant's stores. Chambers, Langston, Hall & Co were haberdashers at 46 Gutter Lane, Cheapside, London. This type of tokens was possibly issued due to a shortage of official small change coins in the late 18th century.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1794
ID Number
TE.T12692
catalog number
T12692
accession number
238479
This “Monk’s Belt,” orange, blue, brown, and white coverlet was repurposed during its life as the batting for a quilt.
Description
This “Monk’s Belt,” orange, blue, brown, and white coverlet was repurposed during its life as the batting for a quilt. The pattern of this coverlet, known as “Monk’s Belt,” is a checkerboard repeat about five inches long and four inches wide, consisting of two, quarter-inch-wide blocks, with an inch-high horizontal band made up of stripes of blue/yellowish-tan/blue separating each row of blocks. The alternately woven yellow-tan and dark brown weft yarns create the block and stripe pattern. This coverlet was found inside an 18th-century quilt. It is believed to be one of the oldest coverlet in the collection--possibly as early as the 1770s. The coverlet measures 86 inches by 61 inches and was constructed from two panels. There are borders along three edges created from fractional reductions of the main pattern.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1770-1790
c. 1770
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T14718
catalog number
T14718.00B
accession number
281922
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.
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

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