Broken Circle (New York Beauty).
Maker unknown
Possibly made in Pennsylvania or Maryland, 1880—1900
Cottons, 79” x 83.5”
2003.003.0153, Jonathan Holstein Collection

Reminiscent of the regular, jagged edges of motorized gears, the quarter-circle fans of this quilt echo a major theme of the Modern Age: mechanization and technological progress.
Block-style quilts such as this are symbols of the Modern Age in another way: their proliferation was largely due to the growing availability of inexpensive fabric and sewing machines after the Civil War. The long seams joining the blocks together were much more efficiently and quickly done on a machine than by hand.

The basic fan design of this block has long been a challenge to the expert piecer, whether working by hand or machine. When the block is sashed with complex pieced strips, it is known today as New York Beauty or Rocky Mountain. This simpler version, a block isolated by broad blue bars, was called Broken Circle or Suspension Bridge in the 1933 Ladies Art Company catalog—a standard pattern source during the late 1800s and early to mid-1900s.

Sampler Album
Maker unknown
Possibly made in Pennsylvania, 1900—1920
Cottons, 80” x 68” 
1997.007.0338, Ardis and Robert James Collection

Quilt patterns at the turn-of-the-twentieth century are well represented in this Sampler Album. The forty-two blocks are an ambitious design workbook that illustrates the plethora of patterns quiltmakers could choose from newspapers, magazines, or mail order catalogs. With innovations such as cheaper wood pulp paper for newsprint and the invention of mechanized type came an increase in newspapers and magazines. Editors realized that quilt patterns would make their publications more popular with women readers, and some periodicals even gave quilt patterns as a premium for buying a subscription. 
Do you think this quilt was made by a young girl? The simple patterns are what might be classified as “beginner” blocks today. The maker’s needlework skills were far from expert. By the 1890s, a generation of girls raised with a sewing machine in the house acquired fewer hand sewing skills. On the other hand, it’s also possible that an adult with little talent or experience made the quilt during a time when needlework skills were at a low ebb and the impressive patchwork and quilting styles of earlier decades had become the exception.

Stars
Hattie Ellen (Broadbent) Vermillion (1872—1960), possibly with contributions by Easter Ann (Keicher) Vermillion (1842-1925)
Madison County, Indiana, c. 1938
Cottons, 86” x 76.5”
1997.007.0527, Ardis and Robert James Collection

The rapid pace of technological change today often makes us look to our past for comfort. Documenting family heirlooms is one way of connecting with the past, and the popularity of television shows like “Antiques Roadshow” demonstrates our interest in our ancestors. Past generations were also fascinated with their own history and sometimes documented heirloom objects. Often they left out vital pieces of information that make it difficult to piece the story back together.

An unsigned note that accompanied this quilt states, “Grandmother Vermillion's quilt. Blocks pieced by Easter An Vermillion, died Jan 1925. Quilted by Hattie E. Vermillion." We do not know who wrote the note. Does “Grandmother” refer to Easter or Hattie? 

Easter Keicher married Chancey Vermillion in 1863 in Madison County, Indiana. They had seven children. Their eldest son, Willis, married Hattie Broadbent, daughter of a locally prominent doctor, in 1890. Easter was known as a fine quiltmaker and passed along her quiltmaking and crochet skills to her daughter-in-law, Hattie. 

The note states that the blocks were made by Easter, but evidence in the fabric points to Hattie as the likely sewer. Many of the prints and colors are more consistent with the late 1920s and 1930s, after Easter had died. 

Other evidence also argues for Hattie having made the quilt. According to her great-grandson, who has read many of her Bible entries and personal letters, the penciled markings that read “May 28, 1938” and “May 31, 1938” are in Hattie’s hand. The family does not know what the dates signify. Perhaps they indicate a finishing date for the quilt. Another penciled inscription that is not in Hattie’s hand reads “MURL.” Once again, the family does not know who may have written it nor to what or whom it refers

Log Cabin, an original setting
Maker unknown
Possibly made in York County, Pennsylvania, 1870—1890
Wools, wool-cotton mixtures, 90” x 75.5”
1997.007.0127, Ardis and Robert James Collection

Because standard Log Cabin blocks are divided diagonally into halves—one dark and one light—a seemingly endless array of overall patterns may be created. A simple change in a quilt’s setting completely alters its appearance by creating a wholly different overall pattern. While typical settings, such as Barn Raising, are among the most common, the Log Cabin block may also be used to make one-of-a-kind arrangements, as this quilt demonstrates. The maker combined several of the most common settings into an interesting amalgamation. Elements of Barn Raising, Streak of Lightning, and Light and Dark are all present. Can you find all three? Use these drawings to help identify the different settings.

The fabrics create a secondary group of patterns. The fabrics have a shared aesthetic, suggesting that they might have come from the same manufacturer. There are only a small number of individual designs among these fabrics, but each is printed in two to four colorways. Each colorway is placed so that the fabric placement is mirrored along both the horizontal and vertical axes (quadrilateral symmetry), a design decision that gives this unique setting even greater cohesion.

Crazy Quilt
Maker unknown
Possibly made in Mt. Clemens, Michigan, dated 1884
Silks, 76” x 63”
1997.007.0552, Ardis and Robert James Collection

Many people in the late 1800s and early 1900s felt uncomfortable with the pace of change in American life. Looking to exotic, less industrialized, Asian cultures for escape and inspiration, they borrowed images and ideas from the East. Several of the motifs in this quilt go beyond the characteristic Japanese fans and cranes to give it the exotic appeal that was an essential characteristic of Crazy quilts. A detailed depiction of a dancing gypsy, with head scarves and a tambourine, adds a lively, reckless character. In contrast, standing prim and proper is a Japanese geisha, proof that depictions of Japanese characters were popular even prior to the 1885 debut of Gilbert and Sullivan’s hugely successful operetta, “The Mikado.”

Patterns for Crazy quilt embellishments were widely available from magazines and stamping companies. A great number of the typical motifs are represented: owls, swallows, dogs, moons, and a host of naturalistic flowers. More interesting, however, is the amusing assortment of everyday objects embroidered on it. Can you find: a sled, a pair of scissors, a baby’s pram, a pair of glasses, a knife, fork and spoon set, a violin, and a multi-blade pocket knife partially opened?

The quantity and variety of silks represented in this quilt is amazing. They range from taffetas to brocades to satins to pile fabrics that resemble fake fur. During the 1880s, sources for silks were plentiful—through mail order, dry goods stores, and from recycled garments. Recycling was fictionalized in an 1884 Godey’s Lady’s Book story entitled “The Career of a Crazy Quilt.” In it, a young woman has become obsessed with obtaining as wide a variety of silks as possible. In a letter to a friend, she confesses, “Papa was in a fearful rage this morning because I cut the lining out of his spring overcoat . . . I wish I’d never begun this crazy quilt.”

Hexagon Star
Maker unknown
Possibly made in Kentucky, 1860-1880
Wools, 81” x 66”
1997.007.0178, Ardis and Robert James Collection

While block-style patterns dominated American quiltmaking between the mid-1800s and mid-1900s, other patchwork formats also persisted during this period. Mosaic patchwork—or piecing small repeating shapes together with the aid of paper templates—remained popular in a few regions and among people who liked more old-fashioned styles. This technique also surged in popularity in the late-1800s, around the same time as the Crazy quilt fad. 

The earliest examples of mosaic patchwork, from 1700s England, were typically made from lighter-colored silks. Later, during the third quarter of the 1800s, dark-colored silks predominated. Their availability, and the paper-piecing technique, spread widely throughout the United States. Some quiltmakers also used woolen goods to create mosaic quilts, particularly in states further inland such as Kentucky, where this quilt is thought to have originated. The fabrics in this paper template-pieced quilt include delaines and challis—dress-weight woolens—some in solid colors and others printed in a variety of geometric figures, dots, florals, and paisleys. Heavy woolens would have been unwieldy for wrapping over paper templates and forming crisp edges, but these lighter-weight dress fabrics were easily manipulated.

Hexagons
Mary Ann Grosh Stoner (1834—1899)
Paradise Hill, Ohio, dated 1887
Cottons, 77.5” x 65.5”
1997.007.0907, Ardis and Robert James Collection

Mary Ann Grosh was the third of nine children of Joseph Conrad and Magdalena Greiner Grosh. In 1838 the Grosh family loaded up its belongings and left Warwick, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in a large covered wagon pulled by four horses to begin a new life in Ohio. Mary Ann was four years old at the time. In 1860 she married Jacob Stoner, a carpenter, in her parents’ home.

 According to family tradition, Mary Ann made this quilt for her second daughter, Anise Barbara Stoner, in honor of her marriage to Justus Fox on September 6, 1884. The date 1887 is quilted into the center hexagon of the quilt, which might suggest that its construction took place over a period of at least two or three years. 

The large number of different printed fabrics in a quilt is often an indication of a charm quilt, one in which each fabric is used only once. There are only a handful of repeats in this quilt, which suggests that the maker, indeed, intended this to be a charm quilt.

The fabrics include a variety of print styles and colors from the 1870s and 1880s. Mary Ann also included a few earlier prints from the 1840s, which she may have inherited from her mother. Strategically placed in one corner is a piece of fabric printed with the date “1776,” a souvenir of the nation’s Centennial celebration of 1876. 

Burgoyne Surrounded
Probably made by Addie I. Fish Woodhouse (1861—1943)
Probably made in Newark, Wayne County, New York, c. 1928
Cottons, 88.5” x 72”
1997.007.0485, Ardis and Robert James Collection

The Burgoyne Surrounded design interprets historic weaving patterns found on woven coverlets from the early 1800s. Like quilts, these coverlets were highly desirable for furnishing a bedroom in the Colonial Revival style. Harkening back to early America through the display of antique-looking textiles was used as an antidote to the stresses of modern-day America.

The pattern name commemorates the surrender of British General John Burgoyne to American forces on October 17, 1777, following the battle of Saratoga. The large American force surrounded and captured Burgoyne’s troops, which had taken refuge on the heights of Saratoga, north of Albany, New York. This decisive victory was a turning point of the American Revolution.

Eulalie E. Woodhouse’s name and the dates 1891-1928 are boldly emblazoned on this vibrant quilt. It features Eulalie’s maiden name even though she was married and widowed before it was completed. According to her granddaughter, Andrea Coleman, Eulalie was not a quiltmaker. Coleman believes the quilt was made for Eulalie by her mother, Addie Fish Woodhouse. Addie may have started it in 1891, when her family moved to Newark, New York, from Phelps, New York. Perhaps she completed it in 1928, when she was 67 years old, as a gift of love and support for her recently widowed daughter. 

Sawtooth Diamond
Maker unknown
Possibly made in New Jersey, 1890—1910
Cottons, 89.5” x 89.5”
2004.016.0032, Linda Giesler Carlson and Dr. John V. Carlson Collection

This striking four-block quilt is almost identical to a pattern published in the October 1894 issue of The Ladies’ Home Journal. There are only a couple of small deviations from the published pattern, mainly in the placement of the triangular “teeth” surrounding each square. Can you find where the red and white colors have been reversed from the drawing? 

The maker of this quilt may have been inspired by The Ladies Home Journal article, which reported that a “revival of patchwork quilts is at hand.” By 1893 The Ladies Home Journal printed 712,000 copies per month and enjoyed the largest circulaton of any periodical in America. Numerous women chose to get “busy placing the blocks together in new and artistic patterns, as well as in the real old-time order,” as the article encouraged them to do. As people recognized that “old-fashioned” was now the new fashion, the Colonial Revival movement gained momentum. 

The Ladies Home Journal columnist Sybil Lanigan told her audience that “a well-made quilt will last in constant use for many years.” This quilt has been washed and used by its owners, but it remains an eye-catching and dramatic example of quilts made in the era when women began to embrace Colonial Revival themes. Ornate silk Crazy quilts lost their favored status as quiltmakers returned to the more functional patchwork quilts, intended to be used on beds to provide warmth and comfort as well as beauty and up-to-the-minute “colonial” fashion

Rose Bower
Nancy Cabot, Chicago Tribune pattern
Rose Modjeska (1877—1962)
Downers Grove, Illinois, c. 1935
Cottons, 85” x 72”
1997.007.0638, Ardis and Robert James Collection

Like many people of the Modern Age, Rose Pagers of Chicago was born to immigrant parents. Rose’s parents, from Bremen, Germany, were among the roughly 5 million Germans who came to America between 1850 and 1930. In 1900 Rose married Alexander Modjeska, a Russian immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1882. 

Rose likely saw this quilt design in the newspaper. It is a Nancy Cabot pattern called “Rose Bower,” published in the Chicago Tribune on October 20, 1935. One design change—the use of a black sateen foundation instead of the suggested “pastel green” background—produced a dramatic impact. Rose made other changes to the pattern that add to its charm. She added French knots to accent the flower centers, used bias tape for the stems, and designed a quilted wreath for the center area. She also added rose buds around the central open area. Like many quilters of the era who adopted commercial patterns, she added touches to make it her own.

The Nancy Cabot column—one of the most popular quilt pattern sources of the 1930s—had an unlikely beginning. Twenty-six-year-old Loretta Isabel Leitner, the young secretary to the Sunday editor of the Chicago Tribune talked her boss into letting her organize a column. She adopted the pen name Nancy Cabot and her column grew to include over 2000 patterns. These patterns were syndicated and appeared in, among others, the New York Daily News, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Grit, and Progressive Farmer.

Dresden Plate
Kit source unknown
Louise Thonstad (1885—1974)
Deadwood, South Dakota, 1930—1940
Cottons, 97” x 76.5”
1997.007.0681, Ardis and Robert James Collection

Louise Thonstad, who was born in Norway in 1885 and immigrated with her family to the Dakota Territory, made this quilt around 1935. Louise lived most of her life in Deadwood, South Dakota. 
Like countless other women of the Modern Age, it appears that Louise purchased a kit to make this quilt. How can we tell? Often, as is the case with this quilt, the fabrics provide the first clue. The fabrics in this quilt are a veritable sampler of Depression-era prints. There are no older, vintage fabrics, such as one would expect to see if the fabrics were from a scrapbag. Also, while a wide variety of fabrics are included, there is repetition from plate to plate. Further, some of the fabrics are printed in different colorways of the same print. Die-cut quilt pieces were often cut from stacks of scraps left over from ready-to-wear garment construction, so finding the same print in different colors is a clue that points toward a kit origin.

Louise added an individual touch to her Dresden Plate quilt. She carefully cut circles out of one of her fabrics, each with the same printed flower in the center. She then appliquéd the circles to the white centers of the plates and outlined them with a running stitch of black cotton embroidery floss. It was not unusual for quiltmakers to modify or embellish kits to suit their own needs or tastes. 

The Dresden plate pattern was popular during the Depression era. It was included in nearly every catalog of kits along with Lone Star, Grandmother’s Flower Garden, Double Wedding Ring, and others. The name comes from the fine china produced in Dresden, Germany.

State Flowers
Ruby Short McKim pattern series
Eda R. Sharpe (1885—1981)
Noblesville, Indiana, dated 1932
Cottons, 83” x 78.5”
2004.021.0001, Purchase made possible through Robert and Ardis James Foundation Acquisition Fund

In 1932, Eda Sharpe of Noblesville, Indiana, finished this exceptional quilt using the “State Flowers” set of quilt patterns designed by syndicated quilt columnist Ruby Short McKim. Eda’s local newspaper, the Indianapolis Star, published the quilt blocks that year at a rate of one per week beginning in September 1931. At the end of the series, the newspaper hosted a contest and exhibition of its readers’ completed quilts. 

McKim was particularly known for her series quilts that were a standby in the popular newspaper quilt pattern market. A prolific designer, McKim was one of the many newspaper contributors who helped feed the nearly insatiable appetite for quilt patterns in the early to mid-1900s.

There is no record that Eda entered a contest with her State Flowers quilt, but her work is meticulous and she might well have won if she had entered. The quilt exhibits her high level of sewing and quilting skills such as intricate, even quilting stitches, mitered corners, and a scalloped edge bound with a double binding in green and lavender. 

A Century of Progress
Ida M. Stow (1875—1957)
Park Ridge, Illinois, dated 1933
Silk crepe, 91.5” x 76”
1997.007.0947, Ardis and Robert James Collection

Ida Mae Schulte Stow and her mother, Carolyn Schulte, made this quilt in 1933 in response to the Sears Century of Progress Quilt Contest call for entries. The Sears Contest was not the first quilt contest, but it was the largest in terms of number of entries (over 24,000) and size of the grand prize ($1000). Ida and her mother took up the challenge to make a special quilt on the theme of the “Century of Progress.” In addition to the grand prize, a $200 bonus was promised to a progress-themed winner.

Ida’s design, including the typefaces she used, was based on the modern Art Deco aesthetics of the 1930s, rather than traditional forms. Her choice of colors was also significant— blue and gray were the official colors of the Century of Progress. The official fair logo in the center represented the world in its progress around the sun. Her quilting designs denote one hundred years of achievements and advancements—from sailboat to ocean liner, biplane to zeppelin, and Conestoga wagon to automobile. Unfortunately, the only prize Ida received was an Honorable Mention ribbon. 

Displeased with this result, Ida wrote a letter to the contest judges complaining that the Century of Progress theme quilts were being overlooked. She protested that, 

“I understand that the Century of Progress quilts or those featuring the progress of the last century are not being considered or given recognition over colonial designs.” 

Apparently, 1933 was still too early for judges to favor “unusual” patterns over time-honored ones, even though Sears had announced the bonus prize to encourage the submission of original designs. Instead, the judges chose, for the most part, traditional pieced and appliqué patterns that exhibited extremely fine hand work

Deer in Wedgewood
Bertha A. Meckstroth (1875—1960)
Glencoe, Illinois, dated 1932
Blue linen and white cotton, 68” x 68”
2003.003.0361, Jonathan Holstein Collection

Although kits and patterns were a prevalent source of new quilt designs in the 1930s, some women with artistic skill chose to make one-of-a-kind quilts. A cloth tag on the back of this quilt connects it to one of the most original, but least known, quilt designers of the twentieth century. The information on the label reads: “Bertha A. Meckstroth, Glencoe, Ill., Casa Tranquilla. 1932.” Bertha Amelia Meckstroth lived in this suburb of Chicago with her sister Anna Sears, widow of the founder of Sears Roebuck & Co., in a Spanish-style villa they called “Casa Tranquilla.” 

Born in 1875 to German-immigrant parents, Bertha entered Radcliffe College in 1902, at the age of 27. There she studied art and sculpture. She set up a studio in the early 1920s and began to make quilts, but as she was a sculptress at heart, she found herself drawn to trapunto, reverse appliqué, layered appliqué, and embroidery which created what she termed “sculpted cloth.” 

By 1933 she had made more than 140 quilts. She was invited to display her quilts and lecture at the Illinois Pavilion at the Century of Progress Exposition on July 15, 1933. Despite the public showing of her work, Bertha’s designs never gained wide acceptance. No magazine editors paid to use her design patterns nor did she enter contests to receive compensation and adulation. Her work was all but forgotten until the early 1980s when she was rediscovered as one of the twentieth century’s most unique quiltmakers and designers.

This quilt is probably one of Bertha’s “Wedgewood” quilts—a series based on Wedgwood china, a distinctive style that features white decoration on a blue ground. Without the identification label on the back, it would have been difficult to link the quilt to Bertha Meckstroth since photos of her work published since her death do not include any examples of her Wedgewood series.