Description:
Wholecloth, plain weave worsted wool quilt in a red, green, and brown plaid design, which is made from ten pieces of wool seamed together and bound with twill tape, and with two cutout corner to fit around bed posts; green wool (or wool and cotton) backing; and cotton batting. It is not uncommon to find entire garments remade into quilts in the early 19th century. For example, many quilted petticoats were cut into two and turned edge to edge to create bed quilts (also see quilt, HD 2000.55.1). In the case of this quilt, a plaid woolen cape was cut apart and remade into a bed quilt, which is evidenced by the vertical pocket slits which are stitched shut and are clearly visible along the upper edge of the piece. The quilt is edged in red wool braid on three sides (absent from the top and the cut-out corners). The quilting (6 stitches per inch) is done in a clamshell pattern in brown cotton thread. According to Linda Eaton, Director of Collections and Curator of Textiles at Winterthur Museum (May 14, 2011), Scottish tartens tend to be a twill weave; and she suggested a possble French origin although noting that French quilting tends to have thick batting which this quilt does not have.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2001.39.1 |
