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Specialization 2: Charles Swainson, Calico Printer
 Popular chintz furnishing fabric probably printed atBannister Hall printworks near Preston, Lancashire, EnglandIn the last post we looked at early specialization in cotton manufacturing, focusing on...
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Specialization 3: South Vs. North
 The Waltham Mills of Waltham, Massachusetts about 1815About 1813 Francis Cabot Lowell, Patrick Tracy Jackson & Nathan Appleton purchased a paper mill and began cotton mill operations, introducing...
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Specialization 4: Why Do I Go On So?
I'm concerned when I see poor scholarship displayed as textile history by museums. The decades-long completely inaccurate "history" of coded quilt patterns as part of the history of slavery may be a...
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Reels, Hickory Leaves and a Soul Knot
 A popular pattern both pieced and appliquedAs a pieced design the pattern's been published oftenwith a variety of names as shown in my Encyclopedia ofPieced Patterns& BlockBase. Ruth Finley called...
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Early Silk Quilt
 Center panel in a silk quilt signed Catherine BradfordBelow her name: an eagle?The panel may have been finished years before the patchwork field of triangleswere added.Catherine Penniman Bradford's...
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Valentines
 I've been drawing patterns with hearts.Folded paper designs to stitch in red for Valentine's Day.The puns on these mid-20th-c valentine cardsmade the most of sewing terms.Hearts & Doves, popular...
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Uh-Oh!
 Quilt from the mid-20th-centuryPattern published long before that.Hexagon Diamond PatternA reader of the Prairie Farmer magazine told Mrs. Munson that she'd been piecing this design for a long time,...
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Silk Quilts in Kentucky: Source of the Silk
 Kentucky quiltSilk in Kentucky seems to have been rather abundant as one characteristic of the state's quilt history is many silk patchwork extravaganzas from about 1840 on. Despite the mountainous...
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Emma Wolfe's Tessellating Quilt
 Silk Quilt by Emma Jane Seipt Wolfe (1855-1922)Like other silk designs pieced over foundations this oneprobably dates from about 1875 to 1910. Documented by the Massachusetts project & the Quilt...
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Time Travel 1938
  Time Travel---Back to 1938Not the best year everbut a good one for the textile collectionat the National Museum at the SmithsonianThe museum in the early 20th centuryAccording to their 1938 annual...
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Unusual Pattern in a Silk Quilt
 Found this quilt dated 1897 a couple ofweeks ago in an online auction. A greatexample of the silk fashions of the late 19th century.It looks like A.P.B. saw a lot of possibilities in the 60 degree...
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Pineapples & Myth Busting
 Pineapple applique quilt in standard red and green colors, about1850.Number 9.74 in my Encyclopedia of Applique was quite popular in album samplersand as a repeat block through the end of the 19th...
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Jackson Forever! 1828 Campaign Fabric?
 Kirsten recently posted a quilt top for the Know-It-Alls to admire.It's full of some 1830s prints, stars set together later, we think, witha late 19th-century red stripe.
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Turkey Giblets - Renamed
 Cooking the Turkey.... it gets clinical---internal parts....The GibletsAccuquilt has a new die for cutting "Giblets" and they asked me for a littleinformation and a few design ideas last month.The...
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Lena Himmelstein Bryant---Fashion Innovator
  Illustration of clothing designer Lena Bryant by Jauna Martinez-Neal for the children's book A Perfect Fit by Mara RockcliffLena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin (1877 – 1951),perhaps a wedding picture for...
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Morris Manor: Best of Morris from Moda, Denniele & Me
 County Roads by Denniele BohannonShe used prints from my latest line of William Morris reproductions......which should be in your shop soon.Denniele, who loves a complex pieced design, hasstitched...
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2025 Raffle Quilts
 Northwest Suburban GuildBarb Jolley QuilterInspired by Lisa Leatham MasonLooking for a quilt show on your phone? Do a search for Raffle Quilt Guild 2025.Forsyth Quilters GuildI like to view what...
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Annette Gero's Show in Australia
 Detail of an English wool quilt, mid 18th centuryDr. Annette Gero, who's been collecting quilts stitched from British soldiers' uniforms for many years, has curated an exhibit at Queensland's Cairns...
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Morris Manor: Arts & Crafts Embroidery or Applique
 Inspired by this antique Arts & Crafts textile I thought I'd do a simplifiedversion for a pillow using my new Morris Manor printsMuch simplified....Sunflower in Morris ManorSee an earlier post in...
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