Hexagon
Anna Ruggles
Probably made in the United Kingdom, dated 1796 and 1840
Mosaic patchwork technique; co on, 90.75” x 88.5” International Quilt Study Center, 2008.040.0140, Byron and Sarah Rhodes Dillow Collection

We can only guess which hexagon rosette contained Anna Ruggles’ (1776-1842) favorite pattern. She appears to have enjoyed fabric, and she made full use of the variety of patterns that were found on printed cottons in the 1790s. By careful fussy cutting (selective cutting of a printed fabric design), she was able to create interesting kaleidoscopic effects in the single hexagon rosettes although she wasted a great deal of fabric in the process.

Despite her obvious sewing skills, Anna appears to have created a design challenge when she surrounded the double rosettes in the center with a ring of single rosettes. This prevented the single rosettes from aligning symmetrically along the vertical axis. Her stair-stepped outer border is a beautiful resolution.

Anna Ruggles, born in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, married John Noxon. Their granddaughter, Harriet Noxon, was born in 1840, though whether she is the Harriet Toppen mentioned in the inscription is uncertain. The inscription, dated 1840, added more than forty years after Anna made the quilt, suggests that the quilt was a signicant gift.

Hexagon
Maker Unknown
Probably made in the United Kingdom 1810-1830
Mosaic patchwork technique; cotton, 108” x 106”
International Quilt Study Center, 2006.056.0002, Gift of Clyde E. and Joan B. Shorey

The collection of cotton prints in this coverlet—the large number of print patterns in different colorways together with many similar print designs—probably were not drawn only from a needlewoman’s scrap bag. The maker may have purchased much of the fabric from merchants who at this time sold small pieces of cloth specifically for patchwork.

The coverlet contains many prints that show the new fabric printing techniques and dye processes being developed during the early decades of the nineteenth century. A number of the single color prints on white show the use of stipple engraved and eccentric engraved printing rollers (see Lane’s Net fragment above). The colorful fabrics incorporating blue, red, green, and yellow are called Lapis prints, named for the medium blue semi-precious stone, lapis lazuli.

The coverlet is finished with a knife edge, also known as a butted edge in the United Kingdom. In this typical British binding method, the maker folds the bedcover’s top and backing seam allowances to the inside and sews the folded edges together.

Hexagon 
Possibly made by a member of Cockey family 
Possibly made in Maryland, United States, 1830-1850 
Mosaic patchwork technique; cotton, 100” x 99.5” International Quilt Study Center, 1997.007.0687, Ardis and Robert James Collection. 

Today, a quilt with an allover pattern of double hexagon rosettes surrounded by a line of solid white hexagons is often called a Grandmother’s Flower Garden, but that name is an early twentieth-century invention. 

In 1826, John Paul Cockey, a doctor from Frederick, Maryland, married Eliza Kelso, daughter of John Kelso, a Baltimore merchant. They had one child in 1830 whom they christened Elizabeth. Perhaps Eliza made this quilt. 

Star, Signature 
Rebecca Scattergood Savery (1770-1855)
Probably made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, dated 1844 
Mosaic patchwork technique; cotton, 118.5” x 114” International Quilt Study Center, 1997.007.0118, Ardis and Robert James Collection. 

Rebecca Scattergood married Thomas Savery in 1791. Both were members of the Society of Friends, the Quakers. Quakers from Philadelphia and other parts of the Delaware Valley that forms the Pennsylvania and New Jersey border had strong connections to Britain through the London Yearly Meeting, which was the international center of Quaker religious life. Quaker women from the Valley frequently made mosaic patchwork quilts into the mid-nineteenth century. The close cultural exchange between Friends on either side of the Atlantic may have helped sustain this British mosaic patchwork technique. 

The six-pointed mosaic patchwork stars contain inked inscriptions of names; some also have delightful ink drawings. With the exception of the Saverys, the names inscribed on the quilt have been traced to Quakers who lived on the east side of the Delaware River in New Jersey. The quilt must have been completed sometime after April 6, 1844, since Rebecca’s grandson William H. Savery, who is named on a block on the edge of the quilt, was born on that day. Perhaps Rebecca stitched the quilt as a tribute to Cyrus Cadwallader, whose name is on the central patch, and who, at the age of eighty-one, was the oldest person to be named. 

Rebecca Savery is known to have made at least six quilts; she inscribed three of them with names and dates. The IQSCM owns two of these; this one and one other made in 1845. The third is housed at the American Folk Art Museum.

Medallion 
Maker unknown 
Probably made in the United States, 1830-1850 
Mosaic patchwork technique, seamed patchwork, and appliqué; cotton, 91” x 91” International Quilt Study Center, 2008.040.0019, Byron and Sara Rhodes Dillow Collection. 

Chintz appliqué and mosaic patchwork bedcovers were both popular styles in the early 1800s. Chintz appliqué’s popularity was due in part to its ability to make expensive fabrics stretch further. Conversely, mosaic patchwork’s luxury was its abundant use of expensive fabric consumed in the many seam allowances that were turned to the back. 

By the second quarter of the nineteenth century, the mosaic patchwork technique was less popular and often only was used for portions of a bedcover. This coverlet’s maker chose a chintz appliqué motif for her center medallion surrounded with pieced and solid borders seamed with the running stitch. She used the mosaic patchwork technique only for the trios of hexagons, which were appliquéd onto rectangular background pieces before they were incorporated into the borders. 

Diamond, Hexagon setting 
Maker unknown 
Probably made in Kentucky, United States, 1860-1880 
Mosaic patchwork technique; wool, 84” x 66” International Quilt Study Center, 2006.043.0095, Ardis and Robert James Collection. 

In 1850, during the height of the fashion for ‘fancy work’, “Godey’s Lady’s Book” published a patchwork pattern that used the diamond shape. This pattern was not named in Godey’s, but was later called Tumbling Blocks or Baby Blocks in other publications. 

By selecting wool fabrics in dark, medium, and light values, the maker was able to achieve a three-dimensional optical effect. With further clever selection of fabrics by color and value, the maker built the blocks into larger hexagon shapes. 

The maker appliquéd the patchwork onto a dark red background and hand quilted the borders. The multitude of thick seam allowances on the back of the patchwork center probably proved too difficult to quilt. Consequently, the maker hand-tied the quilt at the corners as well as the center of the larger hexagon shapes. 

Hexagon 
Maker unknown 
Possibly made in Kentucky, United States, 1860-1880 
Mosaic patchwork technique; wool, 80.5” x 66” International Quilt Study Center, 1997.007.0598, Ardis and Robert James Collection. 

This maker created her “fancy work” style patchwork quilt using brightly-colored wool fabrics that were popular during the second half of the nineteenth century. Her approach to quilting and appliqué are puzzling, however. She appears to have evenly stitched double rows of machine quilting across the entire piece. Actually, she only machine quilted through all layers in the red border; she had machine stitched over the hexagon field before she machine appliquéd it to the red background.