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Quilts: California Bound,
California Made 1840-1940
Exhibit curated by Sandi Fox
For the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising
In Los Angeles California
Written by Kimberly Wulfert for Blanket Statements, Spring 2003,
The American Quilt Study Group's
quarterly newsletter
Pioneers traveled by wagon, horse, foot, boat,
and eventually trains, to get to California's gold. Captain John Sutter, a Swiss
immigrant, came to Monterey in 1839. By 1844, he had built a way station for
people to gather, rest and restock supplies before crossing the Sacramento
River. He named it Sutter's Fort. Some families settled there while others
continued on. January 29, 1846, the first documented quilting party took place
nearby in New Helvetia, California. Documentation suggests 22 women attended the
quilting, but quilts from that day have not been found.
Some quilts came west with the pioneers. Others
were made once they arrived in California. Women could buy calicos and chintz
that came by way of the Pacific Ocean. Ships docked in the Monterey Bay, south
of San Francisco, and mules carried supplies inland. The 19th century California
quilts looked much the same as those made in their home state. In the new
century, quilts took on a more distinctive California flavor.
Sandi Fox, curator, author and scholar of quilt history, held an exhibit at The
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) in downtown Los Angeles. Quilts:
California Bound, California Made 1840-1940 ran October 1 - December 6,
2002. Thirty-eight quilts and four dresses were on display. Museums, Historical
Societies and private owners from around the state loaned quilts for this
exhibition. Sandi led personalized tours, sharing additional information about
the quilts and her experiences putting this exhibit together. I feel fortunate
to have seen it twice, and share what I observed here. The provenance is from
the exhibit book.
Setting the stage
Each gallery was painted in a different Amish
toned color corresponding to the era of the quilts hung within it. The earliest
quilts of cut-out chintz and chinoiserie were hung on burgundy walls;
mid-century red and green appliqués were laid against mustard walls; scrappy
and Civil War era quilts stood out on teal walls; Victorian style crazies and
cigar ribbon quilts hung against a rich medium brown; western style and cowboy
quilts of the early 20th century were shown well on olive green walls; while Art
Deco and Redwork style fundraising quilts were at home on gray walls. Floors of
dark wood and lighting, set quite low at six or seven lumens, gave a feeling of
"old" to this contemporary cement and glass building in downtown Los
Angeles. Nineteenth century dresses added another feminine touch to the gallery
rooms. They stood stuffed, headless, and puffed out with petticoats; enabling
one's mind to imagine the strong courageous women who helped settle California
land were standing there, too. There were many special quilts in this exhibit.
Each one had a unique character, and often more than one.
The quilts
German-born Rosina Catherine E. Hummel Widman,
orphaned at nine, immigrated to Ohio with her aunt. At 16, she moved to
California with her new husband William. He was eager to get to the gold in 1850
and determined they could arrive faster by combining boat and land travel. To
get from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, they mounted mules to cross 26 miles
of dense jungles, through the Isthmus of Panama. On this route, San Francisco
would be reached in six to eight weeks, whereas sailing around Cape Horn took
five to eight months.
In spite of what may seem to us a difficult
journey, the newlyweds planned to make this Buds and Leaves Quilt while
traveling. Rosina packed just enough red, green and white fabric for the quilt,
with her marking pencil and a tiny knife for sharpening it. William drew around
the templates and cut the fabric for her to appliqué, which she did in the
broderie perse stitch. She also stuffed the flower buds. This is not the typical
quilt made by migrating pioneers. In fact, research tells us very few were
actually made while traveling west. Once in San Francisco, she set the blocks,
thoroughly quilted it, and embroidered her initials in script. Rosina became a
dressmaker and likely a very good one, indeed.
Stars and Swags Quilt is a variation of the pine
burr pattern, Rockingham's Beauty. Delicate chainstiches were used to appliqué
the border elements. They were meant to be decorative, as indicated by their
size and color. Echo quilting finishes the border background. Crosshatching of
triple lines decorate the orange center block of each burr, and diamond pieces
are outline quilted. The Kentucky maker pieced it in 1860, before she headed
west. It now lives in Sutter's Fort Museum. This pattern was repeated in endless
variations in California.
Made in New York around 1895, the Storybook Quilt
was the most ornate of the crazy quilts in the show. Appliquéd upon the usual
velvet, silk, and cotton crazy blocks were mini-scenes of people interacting
with another person, animal or an object. The maker, Eudotia Sturgis Wilcox,
worked a scene from the book Uncle Tom's Cabin, of Tom with Little Eva. Heidi
and her Grandfather are depicted in their Swiss costumes. Little Women and other
book's stories provided inspiration for this reader, quilter and grandmother.
Her appliqué shows exquisite skill. These figures wore fancy three dimensional
clothing, embellished with trims, beads and lace. Their faces, legs, arms and
hands were made from tan or white glove leather. Tiny facial features were
painted on with watercolors and ink. She had access to many prints and types of
fabrics. Popular motifs of that time were appliquéd on: playing cards, various
fans, flowers, a horseshoe, patriotic symbols and baskets of flowers. Various
embroidery stitches adorned the seams between predominately solid colored
background fabrics.
An American soldier (name unknown) made this
colorful Star of Bethlehem out of silks and cottons during his convalescence, ca
1901. He was injured in the Spanish American War. Just inside the red, white and
blue bordered edges he appliquéd tiny individual woven American flags, possibly
ribbon, to form a quasi-inner border. Between the flags and the star, he used
fancy stitches to appliqué Civil War corps badges on to it. These badges
identified an Army troop division. He added international silk flags and other
symbols cut from silk: the Maltese cross, Christian cross, crescent, stars, and
arrows, with tiny numbers sewn on each one. Most unique however, not just to
this Soldier's Quilt, but to any quilt, are the four cardboard backed
sepia-toned photographs of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Grant,
mounted on it. Originally mass-produced as political mementos, this quiltmaker
glued each picture on to a slightly larger piece of white silk, which he
appliquéd on top of the pieced star. Tiny quilt stitches in dark thread
outlined each diamond of the star. A descendant of John Sutter came to own this
quilt through marriage.
Many of the quilts in this exhibit were signed in
some fashion. Stenciled and inked signatures were on the oldest friendship and
presentation quilts. Elaborate stenciled and drawn pictures covered a mourning
quilt made by Mary Pancoast Allen, dated 1847. A T-square quilt, made for a
poster bed, contained over 80 signatures dating from 1841. Thirty-one
Pennsylvania and New Jersey Quaker families wrote their condolences to Mary on
this primarily Turkey red French Provencal and chrome yellow print quilt.
Exactly who was lost is unclear. A portion of the messages might be seen in a
friendship autograph book. One verse reads "When 'neath this quilt thy form
reclines, Please think of him who penned these lines." The pieced pattern,
named snowflake by Ladies Art Company, #277, offered many areas for the fancy
inscriptions and drawings. The print chosen for narrow sashing between 55 blocks
on point was a complex robin's egg blue on white stripe. The main square was an
appliquéd sunflower variation with leaves, applied with a tiny broderie perse
stitch. Mary's name and a verse were written in the center of a delicate and
elaborate inked semi-wreath of sprigs and flowers. It reads "I will not
mourn my griefs below, Nor all their baneful train, But hope at last to meet
above, My early Friends again." Mary's descendants brought this quilt west.
Another style of signature quilts in the exhibit
was embroidered fundraisers. The Hollywood Bedcover was made with dark blue
floss and pictured 205 celebrities famous before 1931. Outline stitches
embroidered faces or whole figures, often in costume with their co-star. Some
blocks included the name of the movie the image was based upon. The unidentified
Los Angeles maker used promotional materials and posters from movies made
between 1926 and 1930 to design her blocks.
Around this same time, the Mount Wilson
Observatory Quilt was made by another unidentified quiltmaker. He or she
may have lived in Pasadena, which quickly grew at the base of Mt Wilson, as the
observatory was built. George Ellery Hale built his solar observatory nine miles
up Mt. Wilson, after visiting this hilltop in 1903. Sandi wonders if perhaps
this quilt was made for the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago.
Ninety-three pale yellow stars are appliquéd with tiny buttonhole stitches to a
blue background made of blocks approximately 12" X 12". They were hand
sewn to look like one large piece of fabric with stars and quilt stitches
overlapping the seams. The observatory building and the solar tower telescope
were made from a shiny silver synthetic-looking material. Cording was added to
the sides of the building and the dome roof to imply the structure. The roof
appears opened for telescopic viewing, as indicated by another color of fabric
placed at the top. The moon, Saturn, and the Big Dipper, are represented in the
quilting.
Exhibition
considerations
The early 19th century Chinoiserie Quilt was one
of the oldest quilts exhibited. With a strong English influence and many early
chintz fabrics, Sandi explains it may have come from England or the United
States. Made in the central-medallion style, it had 12 borders. Cut-out chintz
appliqué made four of the borders and the center. Pieced borders were
half-square triangles made from a variety of early dress and furnishing prints,
including a sepia pictorial toile. Narrower solid borders were made from madder
or indigo monochrome block prints. A tiny diaper print in mustard gold was used
in the center panel and formed the final border. It must have been a beauty.
It had seen better days, however, and had to be
carefully conserved and repaired to be in this exhibit. The Southern California
Council of Quilt Guilds, comprised of about 80 southern California guilds, meets
quarterly to discuss quilt and guild related issues. They donated $3,000 dollars
towards the conservation of three quilts in the exhibit. A local expert, Sharon
Shore, was chosen to do the work. Sandi will not allow new fabric to be put on
top of old, only crepeline, a see through stabilizing fiber. This fragile quilt
was stabilized from behind with a natural colored archival material called Linda
cloth. Areas completely worn through were barely noticeable. It was placed on a
slanted wall using a special method to hold it. Some stains remained on it, as
Sandi does not recommend working a stain out completely because of the further
damage to the fabric.
The quilts were hung with no rod visible. Sandi
explained her method for hanging quilts sturdy enough to be hung. Velcro Brand
tape, (she said other brands can stain the fabric) 2" wide, is machined
stitched onto a 2 ½" width of cotton twill. A special hand stitch with a
fine needle goes through all layers of the quilt and the twill, which is placed
¼" to ½" down from the top. The Velcro never touches the quilt. The
matching Velcro strip is stapled to a wood strip, with the ends painted the same
color as the wall, making this method invisible to the eye and safe for the
quilts, as it keeps them from touching the wall. For removing the strip, she
recommends clipping every other stitch. Or, cover it with a strip of cotton, and
fold to the inside for temporary storage.
The book, titled as the exhibit, served as the
only catalogue. It tells about California's history from 1840-1940 while sharing
the story behind each quilt. Each item is accompanied by clear photographs, full
shots and close-ups, in the 'Sandi Fox style' seen in her other books. Published
by FIDM Museum & Library, Inc, it is available through the FIDM store at
800-409-3436, ext. 3275 or www.fashionmuseum.org.
For a video tour of the exhibit, Huell Hauser toured with Sandi, discussing
particular quilts, and showing most that were in the exhibit. PBS offers a video
of this program, "California Gold."
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