Inside the Wrapper

The True Tales of the Mountain Mist Quilt Patterns

Every quilt tells a story.

The Mountain Mist quilt patterns are at the heart of this story.

Beginning in 1929, the Stearns & Foster Company printed a free quilt pattern inside the paper wrapper of each roll of Mountain Mist batting. Some patterns were copied from old quilts and popular new designs of the day. Others were original modern Mountain Mist designs or inspired by current events.

The company had a quilt made from each new pattern. These quilts became the centerpiece of advertisements and the stars in quilt shows and department store windows.

As a result, the Mountain Mist quilt patterns have been American favorites for decades.
In 2012, the International Quilt Museum was honored to acquire the Mountain Mist Quilt Collection. We invite you to explore the quilts and stories “Inside the Wrapper.

About the Guest Curator

Linda Pumphrey is the guest curator for Inside the Wrapper: The True Tales of the Mountain Mist Quilt Patterns. As a quilter, she feeds her passion with a career spanning more than 25 years in the quilting industry. Recently back with the brand that started her career, she is Senior Account Executive for Fibrix, makers of Mountain Mist batting.

In addition to being an active member of the quilt industry and nonprofit sector, Pumphrey is an award-winning quilter. Her love of quilting grew from her mother and her grandmothers, a legacy that spans five generations of quilters. The Pumphrey Family Gallery, located on the first floor, is a testament of her family’s love of quilting.

Linda Pumphrey has served as a member of the International Quilt Museum International Advisory Board since 2010. She is the Acquisitions Committee Coordinator for the IQM

Old Made New

“We shall emphasize the fact that ours … is the exact copy of a very old quilt.”

Sales manager Frederick J. “Fritz” Hooker traveled for weeks at a time throughout Kentucky and Tennessee and in the southern parts of Illinois and Indiana. He interviewed “old-time” quiltmakers and photographed or purchased their quilts. Patterns from some of these quilts were offered inside Mountain Mist batting wrappers beginning in 1929. However, the company’s designers took liberties in order to align them with standard batting dimensions and assigned new names to old favorites.

“The best way to make friends with the quiltmaker, and at the same time attract newcomers to this fascinating needlework, [is] to offer patterns of exceptional and artistic design, with complete and easily understood directions and at moderate prices.” –Frederick J. Hooker, 1945

This was Frederick J. “Fritz” Hooker’s marketing strategy to increase sales of Mountain Mist batting. Before publishing a quilt pattern, he asked experienced quiltmakers to test the instructions and give their opinion of the design. Consequently, patterns offered by Mountain Mist are some of the most popular designs of the twentieth century.

Hooker’s marketing plan also included educating retailers on ways to increase sales through store displays, quilts shows, and demonstrations. The company made extensive use of magazine advertisements, too. Hooker’s concepts were so successful the company continued to print patterns on batting wrappers into the 1990s.

Hooker hired Margaret Hays, an art teacher from Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1929 for $200 per month to draw patterns from old quilts, choose color schemes, and write instructions. In just six months Hays developed 21 Mountain Mist patterns, including two original designs she submitted.

“You can of course still get information about the Mountain Mist patterns by writing here, as the name I bequeathed … still holds.” –Phoebe Edwards, 1938

Phoebe Edwards Lloyd began work as Hooker’s assistant in 1929. She tracked pattern sales, wrote articles about quilting, and worked closely with the professional quilters who made the sample quilts and provided pattern designs. She also helped develop nearly 50 Mountain Mist quilt patterns. After she left the company in 1938, a series of company employees used the name Phoebe Edwards into the 1990s in correspondence with quiltmakers and as authors of Mountain Mist publications.

A professional quiltmaker made a quilt from each Mountain Mist pattern, though these women were not acknowledged when the quilts were shown in department stores or quilts shows. As one who took every opportunity to promote his product, Hooker featured some of these women in magazine advertisements as professionals who endorsed Mountain Mist batting. Were it not for these advertisements, we might not know the names of these women.

Inside the Wrapper

George S. Stearns and Seth C. Foster began manufacturing cotton batting in 1846 in Cincinnati, Ohio. In the late 1920s, Stearns & Foster Company began packaging its batting in brightly-colored paper wrappers that illustrated traditional pieced and appliqué quilt patterns. Under the guidance of sales manager Frederick J. Hooker, the company immediately began an innovative marketing plan to print free patterns and detailed instructions for these designs on the back of the wrapper. The company eventually offered 132 patterns.

For a short period of time a small envelope with samples of the suggested solid-colored cotton fabric came attached to the pattern. Mountain Mist patterns also came with suggestions for quilting designs. In the early 1940s the company perforated their wrappers with quilting designs, giving consumers another reason to purchase Mountain Mist batting. The company offered all of its patterns by mail order so that, for a few cents, a quiltmaker could purchase any pattern that suited her.

Because one didn’t know what pattern was inside the batting roll, Stearns & Foster sold the Mountain Mist quilt patterns by mail order as well. The Mountain Mist Blue Book, which had several similar names over the decades, included a list of the patterns and quiltmaking advice from Phoebe Edwards, the pseudonym adopted by a series of Stearns & Foster employees over the decades. Customers sent their order with payment in coins or stamps and received an envelope containing the pattern in the mail.

Store Windows

Stearns & Foster encouraged local shops and department stores to set up window and counter displays as a way to market quiltmaking materials, suggesting that they turn their stores into “Quilt-Headquarters.” The company loaned quilts made from Mountain Mist patterns so the stores could create appealing displays that drew people into the store.

In addition, a free booklet provided the stores with all of the materials needed to create a show, including a planner, ready-made newspaper ads, display cards and instructions on how to display the quilts. The marketing scheme was a great success. For example, King’s Dry Goods in Kearney, Nebraska, reported the biggest dry-goods sales in its history when it staged a show in 1933.

The Stories Live On

The true tales of the Mountain Mist quilt patterns live on because of the generosity of individuals and the mission of the International Quilt Museum to collect, research and exhibit quilts.

The Mountain Mist quilt collection almost did not survive. Over the decades, the quilts faded in sunny store windows and suffered wear and tear when shipped back and forth across the country. In 2008, after the Mountain Mist brand was sold, the collection was stored in a Florida warehouse with their final fate undetermined.

Thanks to the generosity of the Robert & Ardis James Foundation, in 2012 the IQM acquired 157 quilts and other items. In 2014, Linda Pumphrey, a marketing executive for the Mountain Mist brand, donated 84 printing plates and many boxes of important company records. These records are housed in the University of Nebraska Libraries Archives and Special Collections.

The following materials have been instrumental in preparing this exhibition. To learn more, we encourage you to explore them on your own:

Pumphrey, Linda. “Stearns & Foster Company, (1846-1900): The Inside Story.” Uncoverings 2009. Lincoln, Nebraska: American Quilt Study Group, 2009, 103-134.

The Mountain Mist Blue Book of Quilts: Celebrating 150 Years of Perfect Quilting, 1845-1996. Cincinnati: Stearns & Foster Company, 1996.

Waldvogel, Merikay. “The Origins of Mountain Mist® Patterns.” Uncoverings 1995. San Francisco: American Quilt Study Group, 1995, 95-138.

Wilens, Patricia, ed. Mountain Mist Quilt Favorites. Oxmoor House: Birmingham, Alabama, 1998

Works in the Exhibition

New York Beauty
Maker Unknown
Circa 1870
United States
Hand pieced and hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of Robert and Ardis James Foundation, 2012.015.0127

This quilt is most likely one Fredrick J. Hooker, batting sales manager, purchased and was the inspiration for the Mountain Mist New York Beauty pattern. The squared-off points of the triangular teeth in the pattern are a distinctive feature of this quilt.

The New York Beauty reflects the influence of Mountain Mist patterns in the quiltmaking community more than any other design. The pattern’s traditional names were Rocky Mountain Road and Crown of Thorns. The Mountain Mist sales and design team renamed the pattern, though why they chose the name is not known. Today, New York Beauty is the most commonly-known name for the design.

The pattern design team stayed true to the inspiration quilt, particularly in preserving the one-fourth-inch wide triangle points.

Cabin in the Cotton
Made from Mountain Mist Pattern 38, copyright 1933
Maker Unknown
Circa 1933
United States
Hand-pieced and hand-quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0033

Cabin in the Cotton is Mountain Mist’s version of the ever-popular Log Cabin design. Note the calico prints, which are unusual for quilts in the Mountain Mist Collection. Fritz Hooker carefully managed the look of the quilts made for the company. His team supplied the fabric, thread, batting and pattern to the professional quilters who made the quilts For most, they chose solid-colored fabrics. This choice was part of the marketing plan—Hooker felt that solid fabrics would not become outdated or hard to find.

Zig Zag
Made from Mountain Mist Pattern D, copyright 1931
Maker unknown
Circa 1931
United States
Hand pieced, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0113

Zig Zag was the fourth design published by Stearns & Foster and was originally titled Double X. The Mountain Mist printed pattern promised the maker will be “more than pleased with the cheerfulness of the design.”

Snowbound
Made from Mountain Mist Pattern 46, copyright 1933
Maker unknown
Circa 1933
United States
Hand pieced, hand appliquéd, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0043

An unusual feature of this quilt is that the Nine Patch block variation is appliquéd and not pieced.

The Snowbound pattern was inspired by the 1866 poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. Whittier was born and raised on a farm near Haverhill, Massachusetts, and felt a strong kinship throughout his life with the hard-working, rural poor. He was dedicated to his Quaker faith and staunchly supported the battle against slavery.

Sunflower
Made from Mountain Mist Pattern P, copyright 1930
Designed by Margaret Hays
Maker Unknown
Circa 1950
United States
Hand appliquéd, machined pieced, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0124E

“We were unaware that…we were following very closely a design for which someone else already had patterns.” –Frederick J. Hooker, 1929 letter to Margaret Hays

This Mountain Mist design has strong resemblance to Marie Webster’s Sunflower design published in the January 1912 issue of Ladies Home Journal. The first Mountain Mist version was so similar that, in 1930, Fritz Hooker asked Margaret Hays to redesign it. As examples of how to alter the design, he sent her sunflower motifs taken from botanical drawings he found in the Cincinnati Public Library.

Windblown Tulips
Mountain Mist Pattern J, copyright 1930
Made by Kathy Patrick
1983
Nicholasville, Kentucky
Hand appliquéd, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0119

Mountain Mist’s Windblown Tulips is a nearly exact replica of the 1911 Wind Blown Tulips design by Marie Webster, an independent designer and businesswoman. During the 1930s, the Stearns & Foster Company used designs by prominent quilt artists to develop new patterns, though they did not acknowledge their sources.

Jack and Jill—Up the hill
Mountain Mist Pattern 60, copyright 1936
Maker unknown
Circa 1936
United States
Hand whipstitched, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0052

The Mountain Mist pattern team suggested piecing this crib-sized quilt with a sewing machine. On the pattern wrapper they wrote: “If you do not have time for handwork, the piecing may be done on the machine, since it is all straight line seaming, with no troublesome curves.”

Jack and Jill—Jack fell down
Mountain Mist Pattern 60, copyright 1936
Maker unknown
Circa 1936
United States
Hand pieced, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0052.1

The two Jack and Jill quilt patterns are among a limited number of children’s quilts in the Mountain Mist pattern line. Frederick Hooker announced plans to create a line of children’s patterns for their Princess Brand batting boxes. He withdrew his plans because Princess batting was selling well and, therefore, did not merit the investment.

Roses are Red
Mountain Mist Pattern 66, copyright 1937
Made by Martha Wilson
1943
Sturgeon, Kentucky
Hand pieced, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0061

Martha (Mrs. Blaine) Wilson, a professional quiltmaker, made this quilt for Stearns & Foster Company. Wilson had enough quilting work from the company and other customers that she hired relatives and neighbors to quilt for her, though she went to lengths to keep her customers’ names secret. She even served as postmistress for her community to prevent her local competitors from seeing her customers’ names.

Roses are Red is similar to designs by Anne Orr, the needlework editor for Good Housekeeping magazine from about 1921 to 1938, which to today’s viewers look like pixelizations of images. Orr’s best known quilt designs, however, were based on needlepoint patterns.

Printing Plate
Roses are Red, Mountain Mist Pattern 66
Copyright 1937
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of Linda Pumphrey. 2014.032.0045

Iris
Made from Mountain Mist Pattern R, copyright 1930
Designed by Margaret Hays
Maker unknown
Circa 1930
United States
Hand appliquéd, machined pieced, hand quilted
2012.015.0125, Mountain Mist Collection. Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation

An Iris block, which was very similar to a Marie Webster design, was one of 16 colorful quilt blocks printed on the first Mountain Mist batting wrapper in 1928. However, as the Mountain Mist design team began developing patterns to go with each block, they decided to develop a completely unique Iris pattern. Margaret Hays’ original Iris design quickly became one of the most popular patterns in the Mountain Mist collection.

Chanticleer
Mountain Mist Pattern G, copyright 1930
Designed by Margaret Hays
Made by Mrs. Charles A. Poole
Dated 1940
United States
Machine pieced, hand appliquéd, reversed appliquéd, embroidered, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0117

This children’s quilt includes a rooster, hen and in the outer border, baby chicks emerging from broken shells. Frederick Hooker thought it would be interesting to have a quilt of a humorous nature added to the pattern collection and thus asked Margaret Hays to design this quilt. The rooster was copied from German sketches Hooker found at the public library in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Shadow Trail
Mountain Mist Pattern 50, copyright 1934
Possibly designed by Fritz Hooker
Maker unknown
Circa 1935
United States
Hand pieced, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection. Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation 2012.015.0045

Shadow Trail leads one down green forest paths where blue shadows lurk, in a graphic geometric design. This original design is one of the modern designs that the Mountain Mist design team brought to the marketplace. These contemporary designs offered an exciting and promising adventure in quiltmaking to the newcomer and veteran alike.

Guide Post
Mountain Mist Pattern B, copyright 1930
Designed by Margaret Hays
Maker unknown
Circa 1930
United States
Hand pieced, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection. Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation 2012.015.0112

Guide Post was the second pattern launched in the Mountain Mist pattern series. The printed pattern offered two options. Design No.1, seen here, highlighted the large white diamond in the center of intersecting diamonds. This option also suggested a Canary and Pumpkin color scheme. These were colors of the popular Peter Pan brand of solid-colored cotton fabric. Design No.2 showed only a hint of the large diamond in the design.

April Showers
Mountain Mist Pattern 82, copyright 1941
Designed by Lois Ritchie
Made by Mrs. H.A. Coulter
Barnsville, Ohio
Dated 1941
Hand appliquéd, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0076

The flower motifs in April Showers are drawn from other Mountain Mist floral quilt patterns and combined to create this new design. The motifs were borrowed from Iris, Zinnia Border, Dancing Daffodil, Forget Me Not and Windblown Tulips.

Iris Bed
Mountain Mist Pattern 88, copyright 1943
Made by Mrs. H.A. Coulter
Barnsville, Ohio.
Dated 1943
Hand appliquéd, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0080

An Iris quilt block similar to Iris Bed appeared on the first color-printed Mountain Mist batting wrapper in 1929. However, the design team did not develop a pattern for it. In 1943, Mountain Mist designers revisited the design, which was similar to a 1910 Marie Webster design. The designers made enough modifications to create a unique design.

Printing Plate
Iris Bed, Mountain Mist Pattern 67
Copyright 1943
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of Linda Pumphrey. 2014.032.0005

Zinnia Border
Mountain Mist Pattern 67, copyright 1937
Maker unknown
Circa 1937
United States
Hand appliquéd, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0062

Rickrack made its first appearance in a Mountain Mist pattern on the Zinnia Border quilt. The pattern states, “The unique attractiveness of this flower pattern comes thru the use of medium size Rick Rack braid, which creates the illusion of thickly clustered petals.”

Mountain Star
Mountain Mist Pattern N, copyright 1932
Designed by Margaret Hays
Maker Unknown
Circa 1932
United States
Hand appliquéd, machine pieced, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0121

Designer Margaret Hays, who lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, typically submitted several design options by mail for Frederick Hooker to review. In the case of Mountain Star, Hooker chose the more difficult to construct option. In September 22, 1929, correspondence to Hays, Hooker stated: “Another reason I prefer No. 1 is due to the numerous rays.” Each star block contains forty rays for a total of 480 rays in the 12 block quilt.

Wings Over All
Mountain Mist Pattern 89, copyright 1943
Made by Mrs. H.A. Coulter
Barnsville, OH
Dated 1943
Hand appliquéd, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection. Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation 2012.015.0081

Approximately 50 percent of the Stearns & Foster Company’s male employees entered the armed forces during World War II (1941-1945). The company added two Mountain Mist patterns honoring the men and women serving in the military: Sea Wings to Glory and Wings Over All. Each pattern provided options for the three theaters of service ribbons in the inner borders: American, European or Pacific. This quilt shows the Pacific theater ribbon.

During World War II, the Stearns & Foster Company made cotton wadding products that had vital uses in the military medical services. At one point during the war, 80 percent of the company’s production was for the war effort.

Hollywood
Mountain Mist Pattern 44, copyright 1934
Maker unknown
Circa 1934
United States
Hand pieced, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0042

The Mountain Mist Hollywood pattern says, “In answer to the demand for really new pieced quilt patterns, we offer this highly interesting original design that included applique stars to heighten the effect.” The pattern title, which was copyrighted during the Golden Age of Hollywood, may have been inspired by the popularity of movies during the 1930s.

Printing Plate
Hollywood, Mountain Mist Pattern 44
Copyright 1934
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of Linda Pumphrey. 2014.032.0010

Bicentennial Star
Mountain Mist pattern 130, copyrighted 1976
Designed by Betty Alfers
Maker unknown
Circa 1975
Probably made in West Virginia
Hand appliquéd, hand pieced, machine pieced, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0139

Following the divisiveness of the Vietnam War, the Bicentennial in 1976 was an opportunity to bring Americans together around a national celebration. Businesses also used the historic milestone to create and sell products with American and patriotic themes. Mountain Mist’s quilt pattern, designed by a company employee, was called the “official U.S. Bicentennial quilt” in the Cincinnati Post on June 3, 1975.

Morning Glory
Mountain Mist Pattern 35, copyright 1933
Made by Martha Skelton
1985
Vicksburg, Mississippi
Hand appliquéd, reverse appliquéd, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection. Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation 2012.015.0030

Martha Skelton entered this quilt, earning second prize, in the 1984-85 Mountain Mist Quilt Contest. Contest rules called for entrants to submit a quilt made from a Mountain Mist pattern. Morning Glory is one of the favorites in the Mountain Mist pattern collection, and first prize also went to a Morning Glory quilt, made by Darlene Scow of Salt Lake City, Utah. Out of all the Mountain Mist appliqué patterns, this is the only one that calls for reverse appliqué.

Star of the Bluegrass
Mountain Mist Pattern 100, copyright 1948
Designed by Margaret Rogers Caden
Maker unknown
Circa 1948
United States
Hand pieced, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0088

A quilt titled Unknown Star, which was made from this original design by Margaret Rogers Caden from Louisville, Kentucky, won grand prize in the 1933 Century of Progress Quilt Contest sponsored by Sears & Roebuck Company. In 1948, Stearns & Foster obtained the rights to the pattern, which Caden had renamed Star of the Bluegrass in honor of its Kentucky origins.

Oklahoma Dogwood
Mountain Mist Pattern 101, copyright 1949
Designed by Harriet Smith
Made by Mrs. H. A. Coulter
Barnsville, OH
Circa 1949
Hand pieced, hand appliquéd, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0089

Oklahoma Dogwood is an original design by Harriett Smith. Little is known about her, except that her quilt won a blue ribbon at the Long Island Fair and was shown at the Women’s International Exposition of Arts and Industries at Madison Square Garden in the 1940’s.

The Mountain Mist sales team, on the lookout for new patterns for their collection, scouted expositions and state fairs across the United States. The company added Oklahoma Dogwood to the pattern line in 1949.

Famous Women Friendship Quilt
Made by multiple makers
Quilted by Essie Lawson
Circa 1978
United States
Hand appliquéd, machined appliquéd, embroidered, hand quilted
Mountain Mist Collection, Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. 2012.015.0134

Rules for the 1978 the Mountain Mist Quilt Contest instructed entrants to
“Design and make a preshrunk 12” x12” (finished size) square showing your choice of a famous woman and / or her accomplishments … Winning squares will become the property of Stearns & Foster Co, and will be sewn together into the Famous Women Friendship Quilt.”
Elaborately detailed blocks feature influential women throughout history, ranging from the Biblical figure of Eve to author Laura Ingalls Wilder and abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

The Mountain Mist quilt contests began in 1974 and continued through 1988. Early contests were block contests; later on, entrants had to enter a quilt.

Works in the Exhibition

Featured Media

Gallery Photos

This exhibition was made possible through funding from the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. The Nebraska Arts Council, a state agency, has supported this exhibition through its matching grants program funded by the Nebraska Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. Visit www.artscouncil.nebraska.gov for more information. Additional support provided by Friends of the International Quilt Museum. Additional support provided by Friends of the International Quilt Museum, Moda United Notions, Mountain Mist, Aurifil and AccuQuilt.

Past

Event Date

Friday, July 1, 2016 to Sunday, October 23, 2016

Inside the Wrapper

Inside the Wrapper

Inside the Wrapper

Guild Members