This Point de Paris bobbin lace border for a mat is two inches wide and made of cotton. It is sewn together as a rectangle with the flowerbaskets in the corners being made on the diagonal. The swan and flower basket pattern is very similar to lace made in Belgium during World War I and pictured in a Commission For Relief in Belgium booklet Belgian Lace Made in Belgium During the War.
Eve Van Cortlandt's fine white linen quilted counterpane is one of the earliest dated American quilts in existence. The date, "1760" and her initials, "E V C," are embroidered in blue silk cross-stitch on the quilt lining. Quilted with white linen thread, a delicate pattern of flowers, feathery stems, and low open baskets surround a central quatrefoil medallion. The design is set off by a background of quilted parallel lines just one-eighth inch apart.
Eve was born on May 22, 1736, to Frederick Van Cortlandt and Francena Jay each from families of wealthy and prominent New York landowners. She made her quilt for her dower chest while living in the family home. In 1761, Eve married the Honorable Henry White, a businessman and a member of the King’s Council of the Royal Colony of New York. He became president of the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1772 and remained loyal to the King of England during the Revolution.
When the British evacuated New York in 1783, Henry moved his family to England. Henry White died in London in 1786, and Eve returned to America as a widow, most likely to be near two of her children who lived in New York. Of their five children, two sons were in the British service and remained in London, as did one daughter. Eve died in 1836 at the age of one hundred, having witnessed a century of historic events. Since 1897, the family home in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx has been a museum.
In the donor’s words: “The . . . quilt was pieced and quilted by the wives of the Negro slaves, with my grandmother being there to see that they did it right. The cotton filling in the quilt was raised on the Long plantation. The quilt came to me from my mother who had received it from her mother-in-law. This quilt, when first made and even after I received it, was green, red and white . . . the green has faded out [to tan]. You will find some machine stitching on the border around the quilt, my mother did this a number of years ago as it became worn from use . . . the quilt is very precious to me because of the history related to it.”
The plantation the donor refers to is situated on Little Cypress Creek in Upshur County, Texas. It was homesteaded by M.S. Long Sr., the donor’s grandfather. M. S. Long, originally from Ireland, traveled by wagon train from Tennessee (where he had first settled) to Texas in the 1840s. He brought along slaves who built houses and other buildings, and then cleared lands for crops such as cotton, corn and cane. The plantation grew to well over 1,000 acres and the donor’s grandparents lived there the rest of their lives. It was on this plantation that the quilt was made.
The quilt consists of four 28” blocks and 2 half-blocks pieced in a “Feathered Star” pattern. The blocks are joined by triple 1 ¼” strips with red 8-pointed stars at the intersections. It has a plain-woven white and brown stripe cotton lining. A border strip (2 2/3”) of white cotton is stitched over the original red, green (now tan), and white sashing. Possibly the quilt was cut down to eliminate worn areas. It is quilted, 5-6 stitches per inch.
This “Feathered Star” quilt and a thimble used by the donor’s great-grandfather in Ireland for making and repairing leather goods are in the Collection. The donor was the last in the family and did not wish to see these treasured items lost or thrown away. The quilt is an example of a utilitarian, well used household item made by slaves as part of their work on a plantation.
“I am the owner of an antique quilt made back when American settlers first landed which was almost 200 years ago . . .” wrote Eva A. Warren, when this quilt was donated to the Collection in 1970. Eva’s grandmother, Flora Garner, was born about 1800 as a slave on the Gardner plantation. At a later date one of the Gardeners (Elizabeth) left all her property to those formerly enslaved by the Gardners and their families.
The arrangement of “Princess Feather” plumes emanating from a star, made from one printed fabric, is appliqued on the 40-inch center panel. The same printed fabric was used to frame the center; a 6-inch inner border separated by an 8 ½-inch white border appliqued with fruit and flowers cut from the printed fabric, and, an outer 3 ½” border. It is quilted, 7 stitches per inch, and bound with a straight strip of white cotton. The quilt exemplifies an ingenious use of one printed fabric appliqued to a white ground to create an overall cohesive design.
Further information was provided by the donor in regard to the family history. “They planted cotton, but they had no cotton gins to make cloth, so they had to make the cloth they needed by hand. The cotton was picked from the seed by fingers and they had a flax wheel and a spinning wheel, so they made cloth and put into the cloth lovely colors. The household linen was very pretty and in abundance.”
Olive Martin Gardner was born in 1780 and died on July 29, 1856. Her daughter was Elizabeth Gardener. When Elizabeth died she left her estate to formerly enslaved individuals and their families. One of them, Flora Garner, was the donor’s grandmother. Possibly it was she who made the quilt. Flora’s daughter, Emma Lilly, married Bill Schenck and it was their daughter, Eva Alice born in 1898, who donated the quilt. Eva Alice Warren wrote a book ( Watch What is Lacking in Negro Progress Carlton Press, 1973) that contains information about the Schenck and Gardner/Garner families as well as about her own life growing up in North Carolina.
The quilt was made on the Gardner/Garner family plantation in Shelby, North Carolina. The family’s history in the area goes back to the late 18th century. This early 19th century quilt too, has a long history.
An inked inscription on the lining of Jane’s quilt states, “Jennie C. McHenry from her Mother.” This quilt and several others were donated to the Collection by Miss G. Ruth McHenry, Jane’s granddaughter. It was given to her by her aunt, Kate (Catherine) Price McHenry. Catherine Price McHenry was the daughter of Jane Winter Price, who made this quilt.
Twelve 27-inch blocks were each appliquéd with a large red tulip with buds and dark green leaves and stems. Chains of dark green pointed ovals cover the joining seams of the blocks. The appliqué on this quilt is achieved using blind-stitching. The more often used whip-stitch was used only for the end of the stems and the joining of the buds to the stems. Floral motifs within circles are quilted in the corners of each block. The quilting design was marked in pencil and quilted 12 stitches per inch. The solid red, dark green, and white cottons chosen for this quilt provide a vivid rendition of the “Tulip” pattern.
Jane Winter Price, born in 1818 in Charles County, Md., was the daughter of Catherine Winter Dunnington II (1790 - 1863) and Richard Price (1771-1823). Catherine was married in 1813, and widowed in 1823. In 1838 she, along with her two living children, Jane and George Richard Price, left with others for Ala. On February 27, 1849, Jane married Josiah W. McHenry (b. 1815 in Maryland) in Shelby, Ala. In 1860 they lived in La Pile, Union County, Ark., with their four children, Catherine (b. 1850), Barnabas (b. 1852), George (b. 1854) and Jane C. (b. 1856) and Jane’s mother, Catherine, then aged 70. By 1870 they were living in Homer, La., where Jane died in January 1899. Jane C. was most likely the “Jennie” that is inked on the quilt.
According to family information, shortly after the quilt maker, Sophia Denty, married she moved into a house built in 1729 located in Fairfax, Northern Virginia. The house at the time had an old English garden that Sophia had always admired and it was supposedly the inspiration for the patterns she chose for this quilt top.
Twenty-five 17¼-inch blocks were appliquéd with red and green flowers and leaves in sprays, wreaths, and vases. Embroidery enhances a few of the stems. Two blocks have appliquéd star designs and one has appliquéd pineapples. Plain-weave cottons in plain colors were used. The 8¼-inch border is appliquéd with a meandering vine bearing leaves and buds. The blocks were joined after 1840. The color scheme, red-and-green, and standard designs are typical for many mid-nineteenth-century quilts.
Sophia Barker was born on January 26, 1813, in Fairfax, Virginia. She married James Compton Denty on July 10, 1832. They lived in Northern Virginia with their eight children. Sophia died February 19, 1886 and is buried in the Pohick Church in Accotink, Fairfax, Virginia. Emeline Denty Talbott donated her grandmother’s quilt top to the Smithsonian in 1972.
This border is constructed with Milanese style bobbin lace. The slender meandering scrolls resemble scrolling vines with flowers and leaves. A variety of fillings decorate the flowers and leaves, including raised edges and tallies. The motifs are connected with double, braided bars with picots. The edges are original, made as part of the lace.
H. & A. Seifert manufactured this Jacquard, red, white, blue and green, tied Beiderwand coverlet in Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in 1851. The coverlet has no center seam indicating the use of a broadloom and has self-fringe on 3 sides. The centerfield pattern features to different stylized “Double Rose” motifs arranged in a typical carpet medallion pattern. The side borders depict “Urn and Rose” motifs and the bottom border features an even more elaborate version of this pattern. The woven inscription found in each corner beneath two trees and flowering rose reads, “WOVEN SUPERIOR/ TIGHT WORK/MANUFACTURED ON/ THE LATEST FASHION BY/ H.&A. SEIFERT/MECHANISBURG/ CUMBERLAND COUNTY/ PENNSYLVANIA AD 1851. The weavers used 2-ply, S-twist, Z-spun cotton for the warp and indigo-dyed Z-spun cotton singles as binding warp. The same 2-ply cotton was used in the weft along with 2-ply, S-twist, Z-spun wool. The coverlet measures 103.5 inches by 93.5 inches.
H. & A. Seifert, the manufacturer of this coverlet, was a partnership between brothers, Andrew (1820-1900) and Henry Seifert (1823-1905). More research is needed into whether this partnership was simply between two artisan hand-weavers or if the brothers were investing their capital into the establishment of a factory. The brothers were born in York City, York County, Pennsylvania. They established their business in Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The partnership was extant at least between the years 1843-1851, as there are extant signed and dated coverlets that fall within that range. There was a third brother, Emanuel (b. 1830) who was recorded at living with Andrew in the 1850 Federal Census. It is quite likely that as the youngest brother, his older brothers trained him as a coverlet weaver, and he was likely working in the manufactory where this coverlet was made. H. & A. Seifert was dissolved in 1851, and Seifert and Co. established. It is almost certain that Emanuel joined into the partnership with his older brothers. The Seifert coverlets and the evolving business relationships these brothers engaged in tell and show how rural American craftspeople related to technological advancement and new business models.
A quilted inscription at the base of the flowering tree on this quilt reads “Violet E. L. Alexander / June 10 / 1830.” The central focus of this quilt, a flowering “Tree of Life” motif, is appliquéd on a 40-inch square of white cotton. Other motifs of palm trees, flowers, and long-tailed birds are appliquéd on white cotton triangles to fill out the center section. This is framed by 3-inch and 7-inch borders that are made of roller-printed floral and geometric stripes. The two borders are separated by a 3¾-inch plain white border. The corner motifs and some parts of the central tree are cut from block-printed cotton produced at the Bannister Hall print works near Preston, England.
The quilting pattern, 8 stitches per inch, consists of diagonal lines, ¼-inch apart, over the entire center and on the printed borders. Clamshell quilting is found on the plain white border. The fine quilting and use of costly chintz fabrics printed in England make it a typical example of a medallion quilt, popular in the early nineteenth century, and often found in the American South.
Violet Elizabeth was the daughter of William Bain Alexander and Violet Davidson. Violet was born January 9, 1812. She was one of fourteen children (seven girls and seven boys) who grew up on a prosperous estate in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. On December, 27, 1831 she married Dr. Isaac Wilson, who both farmed and maintained an extensive medical practice. The couple had six children, five sons and one daughter. Two sons lost their lives in the Civil War, two others farmed in the county, and another practiced medicine. Violet died at age 33 of erysipelas, a bacterial infection, during an epidemic in 1845. This quilt was made just prior to her marriage. According to information from the donor, Dr. John E. S. Davidson, the quilt may have been made by his mother, Jane Henderson (Mrs. Edward Constantine Davidson), a friend or relative of Violet.
Note: The name Violet appears and reappears in the family. She may have gone by the name “Elizabeth,” as some sources cite.
This quilt top of unusual design, composed of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century fabrics, was acquired for the Collection in 1974. A piece of paper that accompanied the quilt top bears the notation: “Lappendehen Mtn West Indies familie Huh Taunay” and, “Taunay family heirloom.”
The quilt top is pieced of elongated hexagons around a center square printed with a chinoisserie design. The hexagonal pieces are joined by minute overcast stitches sewn with linen thread. Still evident are traces of paper templates used to stiffen the hexagons during the piecing process. The judicious placement of the dark-colored hexagon pieces creates larger hexagon shapes in the overall design of the top. The 7-inch border is pieced of smaller even-sided printed hexagons arranged in rosettes against a background of white hexagons.
The cotton fabrics used for the top present a sampler of printing techniques available in the early-nineteenth century. Block-printed, Indian-printed and painted, woven stripe and check, copperplate printed, and roller-printed cottons are all represented. The copper plate prints are from 1780 to 1800 and the block-prints from 1790 to 1810. The Indian cottons date from the late-eighteenthth century. The roller-prints are from the very-early-nineteenth century. A few areas have had replacement fabrics, and a few pieces are completely missing. The furnishing fabric border around the outer edge is block-printed, with penciled blue and yellow over blue enhancements. The array of fabrics used and the hexagonal pieced-work technique make this elegant quilt top an important example in the Collection.
William Brosey wove this Jacquard, 2:1 tied-Biederwand coverlet for J. Bassler in 1842. The coverlet features a variation of the "Four Roses" centerfield field pattern, substituting the traditional rose with what appears to be a marigold. The triple borders features a Germanic tree of life (Hom) flanked by addorsed thistle finches (Distelfinken) and interspersed with pairs of rose bushes. The cornerblock design is made up of a grid of nine, eight-petaled flowers with three, eight-pointed stars. This border and cornerblock design was used by an entire family of coverlet weavers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The green-, madder-, and indigo-dyed wool 2-ply, S-twist, Z-spun weft yarns interact with the 2- and 3-ply, S-twist, Z-spun cotton warp and weft to form an integrated weave structure known as tied-Biederwand and identifiable by the ribbed appearance of the fabric. The coverlet has two self-fringes along its side borders and applied faux self-fringe along the bottom. Also along the bottom edge can be found the woven inscription, “J*BASSLER/W*B” and the date, “1842.” The coverlet was woven as one length, cut, folded back on itself and seamed down the center. This is a standard construction feature for coverlets not woven on a broadloom with a fly-shuttle, as loom widths tended to not be wider than the average person’s arm span.
The Brosey family lived in Manheim Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The known weavers in the family included John Brosey Sr. (1789-1863), William Brosey (1818-1884), and John Brosey, Jr. (1829-1879). J. Bassler, the name at the base of the coverlet is almost certainly the customer’s name. It is not know which J. Bassler this might be, but the Lebanon Courier and Semi-Weekly Report reported a barn and corncrib fire in Lancaster County on the farm of Mr. John Bassler on November 18, 1853. It is possible that the J. Bassler named on the coverlet is indeed this same John Bassler of Lancaster County, but more research is needed to confirm this attribution. What can be determined is that William Brosey wove this coverlet as he signed it with his initials, “W*B” just under the client’s name. The Brosey centerfield designs and triple border are unique to Lancaster County suggesting that besides weaving they too were drafting their own designs and punching their own Jacquard punch cards.
David Haring (1800-1889) wove this Figured and Fancy, blue and white, double cloth coverlet in 1832 in Harrington Township, Bergen County, New Jersey. The coverlet has self-fringe along the bottom border. The centerfield design is made up of three columns of motifs. The outer columns feature doubled pairs of flowers including roses, tulips, and possibly pansies. The central column depicts pairs of tulips and Eagle medallions. The border depicts Federal style churches flanked by tulip trees with birds, dogs, and possibly squirrels and flowering urns. The initials "S*D" and the date “March 3, 1832” appear woven into each corner. This coverlet is constructed of two panels, woven as one length, and joined with a center seam. The coverlet was owned by ancestors of the donor. According to the family, the initials are not one person’s name, but rather a marriage cypher—S standing for Smith and D standing for the wife’s maiden name. The date, March 3, 1832 being the wedding date. More research is needed to confirm this detail. David Haring was born in New Jersey and is one of the few coverlet weavers documented as owning a Jacquard mechanism for his loom. The attachment was likely purchased in nearby Jersey City, a center for loom and weaving equipment. James Lightbody, a Scottish immigrant, is one of the few known makers of these attachments and could very well have produced Haring’s attachment. Haring, like many other coverlet weavers was not just a professional weaver but an emerging businessman. State census records record him as engaging in trades and manufactures throughout much of the first half of the nineteenth century. He inherited sizeable land holdings and money from his wife, Leah Verveelen and was able to use this newfound wealth to expand the family’s economic influence. At the time of his death in 1889, Haring’s estate, not including real estate, was valued at over $42,000.
According to information given with the donation in 1945, this quilt originally belonged to Abbie Corey Brackett. Abbie Corey [Corah] married Ichabod Brackett, a hired man on the Corey family farm in Plainfield, Conn., in 1816. “All her father, Squire Joshiah Corey would allow her to take from home, were the two quilts, which she made. He allowed her nothing more. The Coreys were Scotch.” While this may have explained the other “quilt,” a woven coverlet, this particular quilt dates from about 1825-1835.
The quilt top consists of lengths of a single glazed, roller-printed cotton. The “Pillar Print” design is in red and brown, with an olive drab color added by surface roller. The combination of architectural and floral elements was particularly popular from 1825 to 1835 in American household furnishing fabrics. The quilt has a plain-weave white cotton lining and cotton fiber filling. Concentric diamonds and a quilting pattern variously known as “Rob Peter and Pay Paul,” or “Lafayette Orange Peel” or “Dolly Madison’s Workbox,” quilted at six stitches per inch, complete the quilt.
Records indicate that Abigail Corey was born about 1789. She married Ichabod Brackett (about 1790-1862) 3 February 1816. Sadly, after his death, Abigail is listed on the 1870 census as “Nabby Brackett” born about 1787 and living in Dudley, Worcester, Mass., as a pauper. On the 1880 census she is listed as Abigail Brackett and an “inmate” in Dudley. The donor received this quilt and a woven coverlet from a friend of her mother’s, Mrs. Hattie Vinton Wright, who was the great-granddaughter of Abbie Corey Brackett. When the items arrived at the Museum in 1945, they were deemed “excellent examples representing types not duplicated in the collections.”
Even though this appliquéd quilt has no known maker, nor specific place of origin, it is a fine example of mid-nineteenth-century quilt making. It consists of nine 23-inch blocks, the center and four corner blocks are appliquéd with a large variation of the Rose of Sharon pattern. Four other blocks are quilted and stuffed motifs popular at the time; an eagle with a shield and flags, an eagle with arrows and an olive branch, a grape-vine and a basket of fruit. The 12-inch border of the quilt is appliquéd with swags and roses. Also on the border are thirty-six small quilted and stuffed motifs of birds on branches, flowers, and grapes.The fabrics used are roller printed cottons. The background is closely quilted with diagonal lines, 12 to 13 stitches per inch. Many of the motifs found on this quilt expressed patriotism and often embellished quilts as well as other household items in the nineteenth century.
This Figured and Fancy, double cloth coverlet was woven for Sally Loper in Westbury, Long Island, New York in 1817. This is the oldest known dated Figured and Fancy coverlet. The centerfield design is composed of rows of pine trees and tulips. The borders found on all four sides were created from directional fractional reductions of the centerfield motifs. The name of the owner Sally Loper, and the date, December 2, 1817, are woven into the upper right hand corner. The place, Westbury, Long Island, is also woven opposite the name. The coverlet measures 88.5 inches by 81 inches and was constructed from two panels woven as one length, cut, and seamed up the middle. Sarah (Sally) Bishop Loper (b. 1780) was married to Luther Loper (b. 1780). The coverlet passed to their daughter, Elmirah Jane Loper Pine, her daughter, Edna Pine Dunning, and finally to her daughter, the donor, Jane Dunning Dirks.
Two quilted and stuffed blocks help identify this quilt; “M. L. Mc May 24th 1860” (Mary Larson McCrea) and “J Mc” (Rev. James McCrea, her husband). According to family information that accompanied the donation, a close inspection of the quilt even reveals the handprint of one of her children. Other designs in the quilting were inspired by the ferns and flowers gathered near her home.
This pieced quilt artistically embodies two quilting techniques popular in mid-nineteenth-century America: raised and ground quilting. Sixteen 10-inch blocks, pieced of plain white and printed red cottons in the “Crown” pattern, are set diagonally with elaborately quilted and stuffed plain white blocks in floral patterns. The quilt has a 9-inch border edged by two pieced sawtooth bands, the inner one of the same fabric as the pieced blocks, the outer one composed of green printed cotton. It is quilted with feathered vines. The quilting is 10 stitches per inch, all a fine tribute to Mary McCrea’s needlework and design skills.
Mary Lawson Ruth, daughter of Samuel and Margaret Ruth, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1835. The family, like many in that period, moved to Ohio where Mary received her education and taught school at Millwood (Quaker City), Ohio. An account of Quaker City, Ohio, describes the early school, founded in 1810, as a log cabin equipped with a few books and a supply of hickory and beech switches, although by the time Mary was teaching in the 1850s the school presumably had improved.
On July 3rd, 1856, Mary married Rev. James McCrea. A white silk shawl with a white silk embroidered floral border that was worn by Mary McCrea at her wedding was included in the donation. They had seven children.
She was profiled in family information as an “accomplished needlewoman . . . proven by the exquisite stitchery in the quilt and infants’ clothing.” A baptismal gown, also part of the donation, was made for her first child, Samuel P. McCrea, born in 1857, and subsequently worn by all her children. “She made all of the clothing worn by her family including her husband [his clothes].” James McCrea was both a teacher and ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church. Mary died in December 1880 and is buried in the Murray, Indiana, cemetery. The “Crown” quilt as well as jewelry, infant apparel, and family portraits, were included in the bequest to the Smithsonian by Miss Mary E. McCrea in 1941.
This is a blue and white, plain weave double coverlet executed in geometric block weave pattern. The pattern is most commonly known as “Whig Rose.” There is a "Pine Tree" border along three sides created from a fractional reduction and lengthening of the main pattern. The weaver used natural colored linen with olive green and indigo (blue) colored wool. The coverlet measures 82 inches by 79 inches. The coverlet is constructed of two panels each 34.5 inches wide. The weaver would have woven both panels as one length, cut that length in half, and sewn the panels together to create the finished width. There is a five inch long woven fringe with a half inch heading applied to the sides of coverlet, and there is a five inch self-fringe along the lower edge. The coverlet was initially purchased in Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania and it is likely that it was woven in Pennsylvania sometime during the first half of the nineteenth century.
This “Ocean Wave” quilt was begun by Mary Ann Bishop of Wilkesville, Vinton County, Ohio, in 1875 and quilted in 1888. Roller-printed cottons with a few woven checks and plaids were pieced for the patterns that set off the quilted plain, cream-colored cotton centers. A saw-tooth strip of red cotton appliquéd to the 6-inch border frames the “Ocean Wave” pattern. Quilted, at 9 stitches per inch, with straight lines on the pieced sections, the feathered circles and feathered leaves provide a surface texture to the quilt. Two gradually curved S-shaped wooden templates, also donated to the Collection, were used for pencil marking the quilting pattern.
Mary Ann Gotschall was born July 7, 1819. She married Hiram H. Bishop (1818-1897) on January 31, 1842 in Harrison County, Ohio. He received his medical training at Starling Medical College in Columbus, Ohio in the late 1840s. Lyne Starling (1784-1848) was the founder of the hospital and medical school, a new concept at that time of providing medical education and patient care in one facility. During the Civil War, from June 1864 to March 1865, Hiram was contracted as an Acting Assistant Surgeon at the Totten General Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky. In March of 1865, when he left, the hospital had over 6,500 patients and fewer than 100 surgeons.
Mary and Hiram reared four children; John (b. 1843), Naomi (b. 1845), Mary (b. 1848), and Luie (b. 1860). Mary Ann died March 9, 1915, and is buried in the Wilkesville Cemetery. Mary Ann Bishop’s quilt in the “Ocean Wave” pattern is one of three quilts in the Collection that were donated by her granddaughter, Maude M. Fierce, in 1936 and 1937.
An unknown maker crafted this example of contained crazy-patchwork. Twenty 12 ¼-inch blocks are elaborately embroidered and surrounded by a 2-inch black ruffled border. The center of each block has a larger design, either floral or other motif such as a fan or a horseshoe. Birds, ceramics, and Kate Greenaway motifs typical of the era also adorn the throw. Silk, satin, velvet, and ribbon were used for the patchwork, which was lined with black pattern-woven silk. Chenille and silk embroidery threads were used for the many fancy stitches that embellish the throw.
Marion Frick, a dressmaker, constructed this “Log Cabin” quilt in the “Barn Raising” pattern. The quilt has samples of many different silks; plain, pattern-woven, ribbed striped, plaid, dotted, and watered. Possibly she was able to amass the many silk scraps from dresses that she made.
The parlor throw is both hand and machine sewn. The 3/8-inch strips of silk are pieced in 3½-inch blocks. A 3¾-inch red silk border is machine stitched. The lining is red twilled cotton, hand quilted, with an inner lining of loosely-woven cotton. Diagonal grid quilting pattern was used for the lining and the front and back are turned in and machine-stitched through all layers.
Marion Frick was born in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, February 5, 1829, the daughter of John Frick and Anna Elizabeth Gotshall. She never married, but worked as a dressmaker and lived with her sister’s family. She died in October 1908 and is buried in the Lewisburg Cemetery, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.