Civil War Quilts

You may recall this signature quilt featuring the name of

Caroline Boston.

See posts about the quilt and Caroline's role as a Civil War nurse at the Benton Barracks here:

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2015/06/quilt-recalling-benton-barracks.html

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2015/06/james-and-caroline-bostons-civil-war.html

Her post-War story gives us a little insight into American life after the Civil War, a personal story illuminating a national history. The information here is gathered from her family's research and my own with help from Suzanne Antippas.

In the summer of 1864 James and Caroline Boston joined thousands of other Civil War veterans in homesteading land west of the Missouri River. They arrived in Pawnee County, Nebraska Territory, about a year after Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, which offered 160 acres to farmers who would settle on the land for five years.

The Pierce family at Sand Creek, Nebraska

Photo by Solomon Butcher

Nebraska Historical Society.

Photographer Solomon Butcher documented Nebraska

homesteaders in the 1880-1910 decades.

Ada Blaney sewing on her land, about 1900,

Solomon Butcher

Nebraska Historical Society

Pawnee City, Nebraska

The Bostons farmed near Pawnee City in eastern Nebraska for about thirty years.

Nebraskan Charles H. Morrill remembered the weather disasters in 1893 and 1894:

"Crops in Nebraska were almost totally destroyed by drought and hot winds.... Farmers were obliged to ship in grain and even hay to feed their stock; many sacrificed their live stock by selling at very low prices.....the entire state was almost in the grip of actual famine."

New York Stock Exchange in a panic in 1893...

a familiar scenario

As in the Depression of the 1930s, terrible weather and financial panics combined to create misery.

"In Lincoln [Nebraska] all banks with the exception of three went out of business or failed. Farmers could not pay interest on their mortgages; land could not be sold at any price; foreclosure of mortgages was the general order...the price of land fell to almost nothing....No one desired to purchase while almost everyone wished to sell."

The Bostons were early victims of the 1893 depression. Their farm was foreclosed and sold to pay their debts. The couple, each about 60 years old, moved west with their 8-year-old granddaughter Samantha Buswell to Smith County, Kansas in 1894. Several of their seven children were Kansas farmers in the area.

Smith County is the green square on the left, Pawnee County, the

rectangle on the right along the Kansas/Nebraska border.

The Bostons bought a farm in the Dewey community.

The financial and climate cycles of the 1890s inspired a good deal of social change. One was the passage of a Civil War veteran's pension for the disabled, signed by President Grover Cleveland in 1890. The GAR had been lobbying for this pension for years.

1888 Petition from the WRC requesting a pension for

Army nurses. Collection of the National Archives

The GAR's women's auxiliary, the Woman's Relief Corps, lobbied for a similar pension for army nurses, authorized in 1892.

As a former nurse experiencing financial need Caroline Boston soon applied for a pension. Her request was refused because of a lack of records. Six years later she re-applied, citing a clerical error in the first form and was awarded $12 a month. The money was paid retroactively from her first application which must have been a boon to the family.

The pension application required that Caroline attest that she was disabled and that she provide some record of her service. Her disability was cited as rheumatism and advanced age. Her husband was also disabled, having lost sight and hearing.

Her family still has an 1899 letter attesting to her service. George W. Knapp, a Justice of the Peace in Brook, Indiana, who'd been a Lieutenant in the 68th USCI, wrote:

"I became acquainted with Mrs. Boston, not intimately, about July or August 1863. As Ward Master she and others came under my immediate supervision and for this reason I cannot be mist(aken?)... for I entered Ward E as a very sick man in April 1863 and did not leave the ward until sometime in Feby. or March 1864 as already stated. My duties as Ward Master kept me busy all the time, and my relations with the Nurses were such that I can never forget them. They were very kind and attentive to the Patients always ready to perform their whole duty. To be more specific, I should Judge that Mrs Boston is now near sixty five years old."

A reunion of the 57th Colored Infantry after the war.

The USCI was the United States Colored Infantry, founded at the Benton Barracks in the winter of 1863-4.

Smith Center about 1910

Smith Center is the largest town in the county.

Topeka State Journal

April 10, 1915

In 1915 veteran Caroline Boston of Smith Center was invited to attend the laying of the cornerstone of the Red Cross building in Washington. The Red Cross succeeded the Sanitary Commission as aides to military troops.

President Woodrow Wilson speaking at the ceremony in Washington.

Ex-President Taft sits at the right. Caroline Boston is somewhere in the crowd,

perhaps in an honored spot for Sanitary Commission nurses.

Smith Center about 1910

The Bostons remained in Smith County for the rest of their lives. Caroline Gerlach Boston died on February 3, 1922. James Boston died in October 2, 1924. From his obituary:

"Uncle Jim Boston, for nearly a third of a century a highly respected and universally liked resident near Dewey, passed away, Thursday, at the advanced age of nearly ninety-one years. He was indeed a grand old man, always full of courage, optimism and love for his family and friends....Besides his children there are left to mourn seventeen grandchildren and twenty-four great grandchildren..."

Both James and Caroline are buried in Fairview Cemetery.

Another benefit that Nurse Boston qualified for

was a regulation army tombstone similar to her husband's.

The family has a larger stone with a portrait of the couple

and a chip that tells their story to your phone.

Fairview Cemetery

Bettina Havig,

reproduction star using a black novelty print

Becky Brown, same repro print different colorway

Star top from about 1900-1925 with the black novelty or neon prints

at the top.

Amidst all those monochrome prints in the 1890-1925 era you

sometimes get a glimpse of color in the blacks.

Early-20th-century catalogs called these novelty prints.

1895 Montgomery Ward & Company catalog describing "an unusually attractive novelty. For a dark effect it is one of the most stylish things we have ever seen..."

The 1896 Sears Roebuck & Company catalog sold: "Fancy dress skirts of black novelty goods."

1895 Montgomery Ward catalog sold: Cacheco Fast Black Novelties, solid black grounds with colored printing...heliotrope, gold, blue, green...."

We tend to call them neon prints.

Black novelties or neons---they are a good clue to an early-20th-century quilt.

"an unusually attractive novelty"

Doll quilt with note "About 1901."

"My mother made this 'top' for doll quilt

for me to learn 'feather stitching.'

about 1901"

Look for hot pinks, purples, bright blues and emerald green

floating in black backgrounds.

Vintage quilt about 1910

Vintage Prints

Color and black---always dramatic.

Swatchbook from the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Sylvia's pinterest page

You get a whole new appreciation of 1915 fashion

if you imagine the black and white portraits

in color---lots of color.

Reproductions

Reproduction star by Bettina Havig

Years ago Terry Thompson and I did a Moda

line called Ragtime full of neon prints.

Reproduction star by Becky Brown

We based some repros on a star quilt I have.

Bobbi Finley, Morning Star

Reproduction of the star quilt from about 1910.

Original showing some of the neon prints.

Three prints from Ragtime

These reproductions are hard to find. Here are

two from a recent line called Turn of the Century

If you can't find any neons in your stash or store you

could use a black and off-white print and say it's a faded neon.

See below.

Bettina Havig still has some of this reproduction print

that Pilgrim & Roy did a few decades ago. A lot of the neon

prints seem to be reproductions of early 19th-century styles

but done in bright colors.

What to Do With Your Stack of Stars?

Copy this vintage quilt.

We've started with a different block but we can get a close interpretation by sashing our 6" stars with 3" finished sashing.

Above a very scrappy look.

Below more controlled.

66" Square

To piece the sashing strips which finish to 6" x 3"

EQ7 Says:

A - Cut 2 dark squares 2-5/8" and cut each into 2 triangles with one diagonal cut.

(You might want to add an 1/8th of an inch and make these larger to trim later.)

B - Cut a 3" light square for the center. Add the triangles around this squares

C- Cut 2 rectangles of light fabric 2" x 3-1/2" and add to either side for each sashing strip.

D - Cut the cornerstones of light fabric 3-1/2" square.

With 25 stars your starry field will be 48" square

54" square

Add a border of dark squares cut 3-1/2".

Add two more strips finishing to 3" to make a checkerboard and it's 66" square.

One More Thing About Neon Novelty Block Prints

We often see these at their bright best in tops and blocks.

They fade when washed.

The more they're washed, the more they fade.

Doll quilt date-inscribed 1911 with a washed-out neon

print on the top row here.

They don't seem to be tub-fast, as one might have phrased it 100 years ago. It's not the black that's fugitive, it's the color.

Quilt date-inscribed 1912

Some times a well-washed quilt will have

a black and white print where just a suggestion of

color remains in the white, maybe a pale, pale green or yellow.

Was it once a bright novelty print?

Illustration of period prints from Making History

Read more about black novelty prints in my book Making History: Quilts and Fabric 1890-1970.

Our time machine has dropped us into 1915. Next week we'll go back a hundred years or so.

Fairbanks Sanitary Commission Quilt

About 1863

The Vermont Historical Society owns this

quilt with a Sanitary Commission stamp

It was made in Windsor County, Vermont, attributed to Caroline Bowen Fairbanks. The quilt was apparently donated to the Union hospital service organization, where it received the official stamp of the Union soldiers' aid society.

The quilt is well documented by the museum.

http://vermontcivilwar.org/units/3/d2032.pdf

Caroline alternated simple patchwork blocks with plain blocks inked with Bible verses.

Caroline Bowen Fairbanks (1842-1943)

About 1860.

The story with the quilt says that Caro made it soon after her December 25, 1863 marriage to Luke Fairbanks who was home on leave after being injured in the Battle of Lee's Mills, Virginia

Luke was a Captain in the Third Vermont Infantry

by the end of the war.

Caro Fairbanks lived to be almost 101 years old.

The Fairbanks farmed in Vermont, Kansas and Minnesota,

settling near Austin, Minnesota where they are buried.

Another version of the pattern from about 1900

Caro's pattern of alternating blocks is a bit spare.

She seems to have used just one print with plain white.

Her goal was to frame the inked inscriptions.

Different shading effects make a more complex design.

A reader asked what the Sanitary Commission stamps looked like.

I've got photos of four versions.

One from the Fairbanks quilt above.

Another version

from the Fiske quilt

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-fisk-sanitary-commission-quilt.html

They seem to be similar.

From the Ladies of the Fort Hill Sewing Circle quilt, a double outline

Detail of the 1864 quilt made by the

Fort Hill Sewing Circle. Barbara Knapp Trust

http://worldquilts.quiltstudy.org/americanstory/node/6213

And from a quilt displayed at the Wadsworth Athenaeum in 2012

The stamps are all oval and differ mostly in the center with

half saying U.S. and half having a line there.

Amy A's repro star could be described in many ways.

This week we'll consider the fashion terms

sprigged muslin and Indiennes.

The Time Warp is going back a century or so from 1900 last week to 1800 this week.

Sprig muslin star on chintz

by Becky Brown

Whether your regency reading is textile history or Georgette Heyer's romances you've seen the words Sprig Muslin before.

Sprig or sprigged muslin refers to a fine white cotton, embroidered or woven with a pattern. The design was often white on white as in the ruff collar worn by Miss Lockhart Alexander, portrait by John Hoppner.

But a contrasting color on white was also popular.

Emma Corbett Making Childbed Linen

During A Voyage At Sea (detail)

There is much discussion in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey about Catherine's "sprigged muslin robe with blue trimmings," perhaps resembling the dress in the 1794 illustration of the fictional Emma Corbett.

Ackermann's Repository

featured a swatch of block-printed

sprigged cotton in an 1813 issue.

Printing cotton was all about imitating more expensive fabrics so there was a large market for block-printed, sprigged muslin that imitated embroidered cotton.

Fine muslin with printed sprigs from the Copp

Collection at the Smithsonian Institution

We've discussed these cotton prints before in different categories. The technology is wood block printing; the set design is often a foulard/diagonal grid. But the style terms are sprigged muslin or Indiennes.

See woodblocks here:

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2015/07/stars-in-time-warp-25-wood-block-prints.html

Foulards here:

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2015/04/stars-in-time-warp-12-foulards.html

Ackermann's Repository showed "Muslin Patterns"

in 1815.

Muslin to us is an inferior weave, but in the early days of cotton clothing in the West, muslin referred to a fine, light weave. It was often a synonym for cotton.

This week we'll consider early prints in terms of style---No one in Jane Austen's novels ever mentions a block-printed, cotton foulard, but sprigged muslins come up frequently. Sprig refers to a simple, small floral---"a sprig of lavender." These prints initially were imported to the west from India, so another name refers to their origins: Indiennes

Swatches of Indiennes, "Toilles de Cotton" imported through

Marseilles, France

1736

The word Indiennes initially meant any printed cotton from India.

And then came to mean cotton printed elsewhere in imitation of Indian style.

Detail of a British quilt, 1820s

From my book America's Printed Fabrics 1770-1890:

"... a small isolated figure set in diagonal repeat. Figures fall in a half-drop repeat with rows aligned in staggered fashion, giving the over-all effect of a diamond grid. The figure may be a flower, leaf, paisley cone, or motif so abstract it is identified only as a mignonette (little fancy). The print style with its diagonal, neat design is also known as an Indienne, a copy of an Indian-style print."

Reproductions

Chintzes and sprigs, reproduction hexagons

by Georgann Eglinski

Repro block by Becky Brown

A multicolored sprigged muslin as background.

The set style is a floral trail.

Sprig Muslin Star by Bettina Havig

Repro by Bettina Havig

A tossed set in a sprigged muslin as background.

A grid set as background by Bettina.

All these sets are variations of Indiennes and sprigged muslins.

The Indienne style is still an important category of fabric design today. Here are three new prints from Moda, coming out in November, 2015, that aren't being marketed as reproduction prints, but of course they are. These basic figures have been printed in thousands of subtle variations over the centuries.

What to Do With Your Stack of Stars?

Piece Them Into a Garden Maze.

Quilt from about 1830.

Stars set in a pieced sashing

we call Garden Maze.

Collection of the International Quilt Study Center and Museum

#1997.007.0540

Despite its complexity, the set is found in early quilts.

Johann Kimmel painted a quilt with a garden maze set in

his 1814 picture The Quilting Party.

There might be X patchwork blocks barely visible,

or the blocks could be unpieced...

like this mid-19th-century quilt from Ruth Finley's collection.

Quilt date-inscribed 1830.

A green calico star from the end of the 19th century.

Pook and Pook auction house sold this beautiful

mid-19th-century example in 2010.

I could tell you how to make a quilt much like this for 6" stars.

But Dawn Heese has already done it.

Her Pathways quilt with 25 six-inch stars finishes to 66" x 78"

The pattern is in her 2014 book

Autumn Splendor

One More Thing About Sprigged Muslin

"denying me a fmall fum to purchafe a piece of fprigged muflin"

Problems in a marriage 200 years ago---

related to fabric purchases.

"La, if you have not got your spotted muslin on!"

Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

Other names include

"Spotted Muslin"

And "Book Muslin"

Swatch number 4 (lower right) in this page from Ackermann's Repository in 1809 is captioned "Printed book muslin for evening wear," according to textile historian Florence Montgomery. She discussed muslin in Textiles in America, 1650-1870. Book muslin was another name for the same stuff, but referred to the way it was folded for sale---similar I guess to our words flat-fold today.

See a preview of Montgomery's book with a muslin discussion on page 304 by clicking here at Google Books:

https://books.google.com/books?id=1emELgbrnS0C&pg=PA307&dq=book+muslin&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCUQ6AEwADgKahUKEwjvwbnfk5zHAhUM04AKHTjiDEg#v=onepage&q=book%20muslin&f=false

Log Cabin quilt inscribed in the center 1865

79" x 80"

Collection of Minnesota Historical Society

The Minnesota Historical Society has photos of this Civil War quilt in their online collections page. It is dated May, 1865, a month after the war ended. If this is indeed the date it was made, it is one of the earliest surviving, date-inscribed Log Cabin quilts.

The fabrics are wool.

The inscription: "L.L.L. #352 Du Quoin, Illinois. May. 1865"

See the quilt at their website here:

http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10335600

The quilt was pictured in the Minnesota quilt project book Minnesota Quilts:

"L.L.L. are presumably the quiltmaker's initials, but the rest of the inscription remains a mystery."

The museum's catalog entry links the initials to a woman's Civil War organization:

"The Loyal Ladies League was an auxiliary of the G.A.R. Quilt belonged to Watson I. Lamson, who was in the Civil War. The quilt was made by Lucy Lee Lamson (1820-1887) in Homer, Minnesota (Winona County)."

I found a Lucy Ann Lee Lamson, born in 1820 in Mount Washington, Massachusetts, who died in 1888 in Homer, Winona County, Minnesota. Her husband was William Lamson. She had three sons: Adelbert Arthur, born in 1842, Watson Irving, born in 1844, and Livingston, born in 1846. Her last child Mary, born in 1847, died at about 7 years old.

The family left Massachusetts in 1851 for Rockford, Illinois, where they lived for three years before moving to Winona County. She and members of her family are buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the town of Winona.

The area around Winona is known for its scenic landscape.

Winona is the red arrow at the top of this Google map.

Lucy and her family lived near this Mississippi River town for much of their lives after spending three years in Rockford (the middle arrow.) The quilt refers to Du Quoin, Illinois, the red pin at the bottom of the map, south of St. Louis.

There are several questions associated with this quilt:

Did LLL stand for Lucy Lee Lamson or Loyal Ladies League?
What did Lucy Lamson have to do with Du Quoin, Illinois?
Why would a quilt made in Minnesota refer to a town in Southern Illinois that is over 500 miles away?

As the earliest surviving date-inscribed log cabin quilt it's an outlier in the data, over a decade earlier than other date-inscribed versions. Was it actually made in 1865?

We can discuss the last question first. I just don't think the quilt was made in 1865.

I would guess the tan flag stripes and the initials were once red.

The thread has faded over the years in a manner typical of

late-19th century synthetic red dyes.

The style and pattern of the patchwork (wool log cabin) and of the embroidery (fancy filled letters)
causes me to think that the piece is a late-19th-century quilt.

We find several Log Cabin quilts dated in the 1870s.

This silk example is inscribed 1879,

again in faded thread.

Wool log cabin dated 1876 in cross-stitch by Susan Messenger

Patriotic log cabin dated 1876 from

the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection at the University of Wisconsin,

perhaps made for the Centennial celebration.

Silk log cabin dated 1887

The central panel on the LLL quilt is embroidered

in a very typical 1880s style

with a graphic flair often seen on crazy quilts.

Was the date above once bright red?

Here's a red that's lasted, probably red wool

rather than silk or cotton.

The Minnesota Historical Society also has questions about that 1865 date. At one place in the catalog they list the creation date of the quilt:

" Not earlier than 1883 - Not later than 1892."

They base the estimated date 1883-1892 on the year for the founding of The Loyal Ladies League, which "was organized as an auxiliary of the GAR in Denver, Colorado in 1883." More about that organization next week. Where they get the late date of 1892 I can't figure out.

Lucy Lamson died in April, 1887 or 1888, so she might have made it during the '80s, but I'm beginning to doubt that she put a stitch into it.

More on what LLL could mean next week.

Becky Brown's repro block with

a Provincial print in primary colors.

Wendy's foulard block.

The yellow floret in grid format

could also be called a Provincial print.

Evelyne's chrome yellow reproduction.

About 1800 European printers began developing

sophisticated techniques to combine primary colors.

Early 19th-century quilt with multi-colored roller prints.

Red, blue, yellow and green---all applied with recent technology.

Mills got quite proficient at combining colors in roller-printed cottons.

Vintage print

Customers must have been thrilled with so much color

so well-registered and so color fast.

Swatches in Provincial-style, primary colors

from the Stoffdruckmuseum in Mulhouse

Foulards set grid fashion were a favorite set.

As were stripes.

These imported prints appear in

American quilts from about 1820 to 1870.

Americans were partial to the multi-color prints with red grounds. Quilts pieced of red Provincial prints became a fad about 1840 that lasted for decades.

Reproduction star from Bettina Havig

Catherine Fried's block (about 1850) features a Provincial style

print in green, yellow and brown on a Turkey red ground.

The brown spots are rotting due to the iron mordant,

leaving holes showing the quilt's white

cotton batting.

The popular red prints fit into several categories, classified by dye, technology, set and style. Catherine's red cotton might be classified as any one of the following:

Turkey red prints (dye)
Early roller or cylinder prints (technology)
Foulard or grid sets (set style)
Provincial-style (overall color and design style)
Indienne-style (figure and set style)
Mignonettes or small, simple florets (figure style)

Small florals were also printed with fancy machine grounds.

requiring a halo of color between the figure and the fancy ground.

Vintage early quilt

Various technical detail dictated the halo,

Current Souleiado print

a characteristic that has become part of the French Provincial style

although it's no longer necessary.

Reproductions

Elizabeth D's repro block.

Primary colors, a definite grid set.

Savonnerie is one of Sandy Klop's many Provincial reproduction

collections for Moda.

She included a stripe.

Repro from William Penn's Vision---halo and all.

The print Barbara S has used to alternate with her stars.

Ann's version of Di Ford's pattern

Mount Mellick really captures the multi-color, primary palette

Gladi's been setting her stars.

She is sticking with a primary palette

that echoes the multicolored prints.

What to Do With Your Stack of Stars?

Alternate with a Pincushion Block.

32 stars

32 alternate blocks

48" square

We've gone way back in time so we might want a set inspired by

early patchwork.

We could alternate this block with the stars.

The Orange Peel, Pincushion or Melon block is

one of the early-19th-century block designs.

Early 19th-century quilt

Collection of the Helen F. Spencer Museum of Art

at the University of Kansas

I made a small interpretation of that quilt

for an AQSG Study several years ago.

The fabric was the Spencer Museum

collection that Terry Thompson and I did for Moda.

I appliqued my Orange Peels; placed the

centers on the background.

Blocks on point in this early quilt featuring a dark ground

floral trail print and a stripe. These are probably pieced.

Vintage quilt, about 1840-1880

From the Quilt Index

I thought the star/pincushion combination above would be more dramatic with just

one star in the alternate blocks.

Piece or applique the pattern below.

How to print the pattern:

Create a word file or a new empty JPG file that is 8-1/2" x 11".

Click on the image above.

Right click on it and save it to your file.

Print that file out 8-1/2" x 11". The straight side of piece B should measure 6" on the dark sewing line.

Adjust the printed page size if necessary.

One More Thing About Provincial-Style

They still print in the Provincial style in France.

From French company Pierre Doux

Contemporary prints from Souleiado

Souleiado Fabric of Provence

Last week I posted an argument that this log cabin quilt date-inscribed May, 1865, was made after the Civil War years, perhaps dating to the 1880s or later.

I asked several questions many concerning the inscription.

L.L.L.

No 352

Du Quoin

Illinois.
May 1863

The Minnesota Historical Society links the initials L.L.L. to the Loyal Ladies' League

The Loyal Ladies' League seems to have had several incarnations. Early references were to a Union organization founded in 1863. The history of the Springfield, Illinois, chapter tells us about the evolution of their goals.

"The 'Loyal Ladies' League of Springfield' was formed on May 13 [1863] after an advertisement was published in the Journal on the twelfth calling for "all loyal ladies of Springfield" to meet ... "for the purpose of forming a Ladies' Union League." At the meeting, each prospective member was required to sign a pledge promising unconditional support to the national government. Though the organization was at first designed only as "an associated expression of loyal sentiment," its members — numbering several hundred — quickly adopted the goals of aiding the families of soldiers as well as aiding sick and wounded soldiers....The league also worked in close fellowship with the Soldiers' Aid Society, sometimes joining them in projects to aid the soldiers, such as purchasing potatoes to send to Illinois soldiers in the field and giving picnic lunches for the soldiers at Camp Butler."

A Currier & Ives lithograph certifiying membership in

the Ladies Loyal Union League

(another organization?)

During the War the word "loyal" signified strong Union sentiments in Northern states where many proclaimed Southern sympathies. Towns in southern Illinois like Du Quoin were home to sectionalism that divided neighbors and families. Perhaps the date of May, 1865, refers to the organization of the Du Quoin chapter of the LLL. However, I can find no online references to that chapter other than in the quilt in question.

The badge has the initials F.C.L at the top, further confusing the issue.

1864

There are references to a Loyal Ladies League encouraging women to wear economical clothing during the last part of the Civil War. Presumably, wearing imports was unpatriotic and dressing to excess showed little sympathy for soldiers. Above a reprint of an article from a Boston

paper suggesting:

"the organization of 'a grand Loyal Ladies' League, composed of women who are willing to pledge themselves to maintain, while this war lasts, a decent economy in their attire.' ....The Merrimack Print Works are about to resume operations, so that calico will once more be cheaper than delaines. These printworks have been closed nearly two years."

Harper's cartoon satirizing an Army contractor's wife

dressed to the nines and buying diamonds and gold.

After the War ended several women's organizations maintained patriotic and relief activities. Dissension eventually occurred between the LLL and another large women's group. The LLL confined membership to wives and families of veterans while the competing Women's Relief Corps (WRC) welcomed all women. In the 1880s (a variety of dates are given in various sources) the Loyal Ladies' League changed its name to the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic.

A WRC badge from 1882

The WRC became the official Auxiliary of the largest Union veterans' organization, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR.)

In Reading, Pennsylvania in 1885 The Loyal Ladies League

"chanced off" a red, white and blue quilt, presumably

to fund the organization's upcoming State convention.

In 1946 the "Loyal Ladies league met at the church basement

Friday afternoon and finished a quilt"

in Heppner, Oregon.

Did the loyal ladies evolve into a group to support World War II veterans?

Detail from the Currier & Ives print

I found few answers as to what the Du Quoin quilt's inscription meant. The history is bound up in the complexity of Reconstruction, fraternal organizations and post-war politics. Loyal also implied Republican party allegiance after the war.

The Military Order of the Loyal Legion---for men

Badge for the Loyal Legion of the GAR---a men's group

The Loyal Legion of Loggers & Lumbermen

(from World War I?)

That's enough!

I doubt the quilt was made by the woman with the initials L.L.L.---Lucy Lee Lamson, whose son donated it. I'm guessing it was made some time after 1880---

Donor Watson Lamson lived into his 90s, dying in 1935. A veteran of Company B 7th Minnesota Infantry, he may have purchased this quilt at a fundraising raffle, a reunion or it may have been a gift. The possibilities are vast.

Reunion of Watson Lamson's 7th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry

in 1905, collection of the Minnesota Historical Society.

Lamson died in 1935 so was likely to be in this photo as a man about 60 years old. A county history tells us: "Socially he is connected with the Grand Army of the Republic."

So I can come up with nothing but the quilt in patriotic

colors would have been quite appropriate possession for

the Lamson family. Who made it, exactly when and exactly why

remain a mystery.

For more information about the Union or Loyal Leagues see this post at the "Opinionator" at the New York Times:

"The Rise of the Union Leagues" by Christopher Phillips:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/the-rise-of-the-union-leagues/

Read more about the history of the Loyal Ladies League:

http://camp22.suvcwmi.org/kin_lll.html

The quilt at the Minnesota Historical Society website:

http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10335600&websites=no&brand=cms&q=quilt&startindex=176&count=25

And read more about other postwar quilts from women's organizations at this post:

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/03/ladies-auxiliaries-gift-quilts.html

Storm prints and cloud prints in Becky Brown's

repro block. We have three more weeks to go in our

Time Warp QuiltAlong.

Variation on a cloud print in the background of

DdwGram's Prussian blue repro star

Storm print in the center of SF's repro block

Front and back of a pieced pocket.

The color and detail in the prints here define them as early-19th-century roller or cylinder prints. The look wasn't possible until roller technology developed after 1810 or so.

Machine for engraving the detailed designs on cylinders,

from Crookes's 1874 printing manual

The invention of cylinder machine printing changed the efficiency of printing as well as the style. We've discussed examples such as eccentric prints and rainbow prints.

A French sample book

Detail, fine registration of many colors, and an expanding retail market created fashions in figures. Several of these trendy patterns had period names, which we'll discuss in the last few installments of our Time Warp.

Cloud Prints

The Broad Oak Mill by William Linton

About 1850 Benjamin Hargreaves, who ran the British mill Broad Oak at Accrington, wrote his memoirs in which he remembered William Sykes as a talented designer:

"He had been brought up [as an apprentice] designer, and had attended a night-school there when a youth, … one of the finest and most successful of his designs being the celebrated cloud pattern, as it was called, which displayed both the skill of the artist and the engraver, Potts, in an eminent degree."

Hargreaves recalled the popularity of the cloud pattern when he introduced it 1823:

"Not less than 30,000 pieces were printed."

But he did not tell us what it looked like.

Was Hargreaves referring to this style of print, swatches shown in an 1825 French mill book?

This style is often seen in early 19th century quilts.

They seem to be variations on the eccentric prints discussed in week 20 here:

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2015/05/stars-in-time-warp-20-excentric-prints.html

Is that a cloud print at the top above (1317), a curvier, more natural play on the eccentric geometric (1320) at the bottom?

Two reproductions by Nancy Gere

Clouds?

Storm Prints

Another popular style, according to Hargreaves:

"Freedom and elegance were manifested in one called the 'storm' pattern, from its appearance...waving moss blown by the wind: they still attract our admiration."

Like this print in a quilt from the Winterthur Museum

A hexagon block featuring "waving moss blown by the wind"...

Feathers or waving moss?

Collection of Old Sturbridge Village

The French mill book

The combination of a rotating swirl with stars or wheels

was quite popular in the 1820-1840 era,

perhaps related to the concurrent fashion for chintz palm trees

Note the pale blue storm print in the center of this photo showing

a detail of the Austen family quilt in the collection of Chawton Cottage.

Storm prints seem to have been revived in the 1880-1910 period.

Storm print, late 19th century.

Another version about 1900

Hargreaves’s memories are useful in dating quilts. We can conclude that “cloud” and "storm" prints date to after 1820 or so.

Reproductions

A storm print from my Hartfield collection

Storm prints are popular in reproduction prints and I see you readers have quite a few already.

Amy A had one in her stash when she was making a green calico star.

As did Penny L. for her shirting star

And Here'sLucy

Judie Rothermel in Old Sturbridge Village III

What to Do With Your Stack of Stars

Check Out Other Time Warper's Ideas

Barbara S.

~~Cynthia at Wabisabi Quilts~~

Gladi is appliqueing a border

Debra tried out a toile

Nancy S has finished the top with a small striped sash.

Rosemary had a celestial set in mind

And she has enough leftover to combine with her

Lucy Boston blocks

Terry dressed up one set inside another star.

And alternated with a fence rail

The Kentucky Historical Society has 20 embroidered blocks

meant to be stitched into a redwork quilt.

Read more about cracked ice here:

http://www.tokyojinja.com/2010/10/08/japan-a-mania-cracked-ice-and-crazy-quilts/

Reproductions

A stripe from French General

You may have some reproductions that imitate woven pattern,

forms of the shawl print

Stick prints and cracked ice are going to be harder to find.

From Terry Thompson's Louisa line a few years ago.

From Moda's Mill Book 1852.

Cracked ice?

SF's star center fits right in here.

These last categories are going to be in short supply in your stash or your shop.

But now you have new shopping goals.

What to Do With Your Stack of Stars?
Use Them for Sashing

Sandy Klop and her Oh! My Stars quilt.

Here's an ambitious plan.

You could set all your six-inch stars into sashing for a larger star.

Above: An antique quilt

(All I can find out is that it's attributed to Camden County, New Jersey.)

Below: Sandy's pattern for American Jane

94" x 94"

This amazing pattern has won quilters

some prizes since Sandy published it a few years ago.

http://www.americanjane.com/patterns.php

Scroll down to the middle to see the pattern.

Here's Patricia Dear with her Best in Show.

A little Photoshopping

You could take 117 of your 6" stars and turn

them into the same sashing for a 24" star. You might want to choose

a simple star for that large star.

My EQ7 sketch shows you how to piece the sash.

Each red square is a 6 finished star. Cut the light colored

sash rectangles 2" x 6-1/2"

You'll be making strips that finish to 24" x 6."

Use a 6" star for the cornerstones between sashing.

This sketch is a little out of scale but each red square is

a 6" star. I drew it up in EQ7 and it tells me the finished

quilt will be about 127" square.

Sandy used a smaller setting star since her finished quilt

with its dog tooth border is 94" square

Maybe you have more use for a quilt that's about 84" square.

But this one only uses 52 of your 6" stars.

You could set everything on the square grid.

Nine big stars finishing to 24"

and 88 small stars finishing to 6".

It's ONLY 90"

You could also reduce the size by omitting the little sashing strip on the original.

Piece three 6" stars together into 18" finished sashing strips.

Your large star would then be 18".

Each of those small squares is a 6" star.

I think you are still using 117.

98" x 98"

Another option: set 2 stars in strips that sash finished 12" stars.

One Last Thing About Early Roller Print Styles

Nine patch from about 1890

Notice the lilac cracked ice in the center strip at left and right.

Designers have been reproducing old looks for a long time.

The 1870-1910 era is full of repro styles in new shades.

Next Week: More Sets

The Metropolitan Fair in Manhattan, 1864

Had you been to the 1864 Metropolitan Fair

you might have been able to tell us more about an intriguing item

listed in the catalog. In one of those displays pictured above:

"956. Bed Quilt. Made by ladies of Baltimore for

Jefferson Davis. Intercepted on its way to Dixie. W. P. J."

The stolen quilt seems to have been shown with the "Flags of the Fifth N.Y. Vols (Duryee's Zouaves.)

Founder of the Fifth N.Y Abram Duryee

standing right with zouave pants.

Duryee's Zouaves charging into battle from Harper's Weekly

Duryee's Zouaves at the end of the century, wearing their characteristic

uniforms.

Perhaps they confiscated this quilt meant for the President of the Confederacy in their campaign in Maryland in 1862.

Let's hope someone's saved it.

The reference:
Catalogue of the Museum of Flags, Trophies and Relics Relating to the ...

By New York (N.Y.). Metropolitan fair, 1864.

See the catalog here at Google Books:

https://books.google.com/books?id=FoYvAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA98&dq=ladies+baltimore+quilt+jeff+davis&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mcffVJzPDqfnsATl4IC4CA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=ladies%20baltimore%20quilt%20jeff%20davis&f=false

Stars in a Time Warp by Becky Brown

84" x 84"

Thanks for all the nice comments last week. I enjoyed writing the weekly Time Warp posts, collecting together things I'd written about fabrics years ago and getting some new insights.

Penny's Clouds and Storm Prints

I also enjoyed seeing what you readers found in your stashes. I can see we have been buying the same fabrics for years. Now you know why it looks authentic. It's always better to have a name for a style than just a gut feeling that it looks "right."

Els G - Provincial

It will be exciting to see what kind of sets the star-makers come up with.

Terry had a stick print---or is it cracked ice?

Many thanks to super-model makers Becky and Bettina.

I had intended to make stars too but I'd rather write than sew and and they did sew, so, sew much better a job than I would have.

Below is a free pattern for Becky's set.

She used 113 stars:

- 64 dark framed stars

- 49 light framed stars

As she sewed stars every week she framed each

so that her finished star blocks are now 7-1/2" square.

"Adding frames is a really nice way to show off each little block - also a nice way to adjust for any variance in size of the block."

“Each block was framed with 2 short and 2 long strips. I alternated light and dark frames. When you lay them out in preparation for sewing, alternate the long side of the dark and long side of the light frames to avoid seams butting to seams. When sewing the blocks together, I pressed toward the dark fabric.”

The intersections

Cutting the Block Frames:

Here is Becky's method. She cuts large and trims.

“The finished frame width is 3/4". I cut the strips oversize (1-3/8") and after carefully pressing the seams AWAY from the star block, I trimmed each block to 8". The finished size of each block with frame is 7-1/2 inches“

· Cut 2 strips 1-3/8” x 8-1/2” for the top and bottom.
· And 2 strips 1-3/8” x 6-3/4” for the sides. Trim as you go.

Some technical editors think you should cut exactly. If you'd prefer to cut exact measurements....

· Cut 2 strips 1-1/4” x 8” for the top and bottom.
· And 2 strips 1-1/4” x 6-1/2” for the sides.

Cutting Exactly

Border Edge

“I wanted some kind of border without making the quilt too much bigger. Adding a strip in the outside triangles give it a bit of a zig-zag look without increasing the size of the quilt.

The frame along the edges is slightly wider and all dark fabrics.

Cutting the Border Triangles
You need 49 edge triangles (C) and 4 corner triangles.

"The cut size of the strips is 2" - the outside triangles are cut so the edges are on the straight of grain.”

Here's a JPG of Becky's instructions for the edge.

Side Triangles

A - Cut size 2" x 7".

B - Cut Size 2" x 8-1/2".

C - Cut 5-1/2" square. Cut into 2 triangles.

Corner Triangles

Strip - Cut 8" x 2"

Triangle - Cut 4" square. Cut into 2 triangles.

Becky's instructions above are summarized in two JPG files below that you can print.

How to print:

Create a word file or a new empty JPG file that is 8-1/2" x 11".

Click on the image.

Right click on it and save it to your file.

Print that file out 8-1/2" x 11".

JPG for Block Setting.

JPG for edge instructions.

Attention Volunteer Technical Editors: If you notice any errors in our (MY) instructions let us know. We appreciate the free-lance correctors.

Silk Crib Quilt from the collection of flag collector

Morris Offit

This small flag quilt looks to be silk from the way it reflects light and the way the red has faded to a peach. The gold figures in the white border look to be eagles.

The center field manages to fit 32 stars into the field.

After Minnesota became the 32nd state in May, 1858, the official U.S. flag included 32 stars for a year until Oregon became a state. 33 stars became the official count on July 4, 1859. States were added so fast in the pre-Civil War years that actual flags with 32 or 33 stars are rare.

A 33 star flag---official between 1859 and 1861

Is the number of stars a clue to date in a quilt?

Occasionally the number of stars is based on all the stars the seamstress can fit rather than an accurate official tally. It may be that the crib quilt is from 1858 or 1859. It might also be from the Civil War years when 34 stars celebrated Kansas's statehood from 1861 to 1863. West Virginia was symbolized with 35 stars from July 4, 1863 until after peace in July, 1865.

Or the star arrangement is an attractive pattern that fits the blue field in question.

See more about Morris Offit's flag collection here:

http://jeffbridgman.com/html/articles013.htm

Barbara S has made 190 stars in all.

About 95 stars from the other Barbara B.

http://bbquiltmaker.blogspot.com/

In lurking about the blogosphere I notice a lot of people counting their stars.
And a few are making plans.

Jeanne's stars pinned to a curtain.

She keeps various projects on various curtains and hangs them on a

closet rod while

she's working on them.

http://spiralj2.blogspot.com/

Victoria C is alternating with an X block.

http://victoria-carroll-parkhill.blogspot.com/

Gladi has her doll quilt done.

https://gladiquilts.wordpress.com/

She's quilting on her crib quilt and planning her large quilt.

Keep checking our Flickr Group for stars and sets.....
https://www.flickr.com/groups/civilwarquilts2011/pool/with/23056377689/

And I'll keep lurking.

Did Barbara S. make the most stars- 190 (4 a week) ? Can you beat her record?
http://barbaradschaffer.blogspot.com/

Bed-sized quilt from Stephen Score Antiques in Boston

Crib Quilt from the Offit collection

After writing last week's post about a silk crib quilt with gold eagles in the corners I remembered where I'd seen that quilt before.

Not exactly the same---but a relative.

The full-size quilt at the top of the page has these 31 stars arranged in the central field.

The crib quilt has 34.

Several flag quilts have similar arrangements, so it's not so much the similarity in the stars that struck me.

Quilt made in Belfast, Maine in 1864

Quilt by Ivy Purcell documented by the New Jersey project,

photo from the Quilt Index.

It's the gold eagles that caught my eye.

Above on the large quilt.

Below on the small.

The small quilt is silk, the large looks to be cotton.

The large quilt is embroidered “Hope of our country” “The Star of Freedom: “M.W. L to C.M.L” It's attributed to a member of the Lewis Family of Boston and Saint Louis.

Read more about the large quilt here at a post I did several years ago:

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2011/01/interpreting-old-quilts.html

I'm looking for more quilts with those gold eagles.

Cynthia has 70 stars, set and bordered:

A cheerful quilt full of clear, bright color.

I squared up Dorothy's picture. 9 x 11 = 99.

Very traditional, very lovely.

Here's a label for the back of your star quilt.

The label itself is about 3-1/3" wide and 5" long so you have room (about 3" square) to write on it.

To Print:

Create a word file or a new empty JPG file that is 8-1/2" x 11".
Click on the image above.
Right click on it and save it to your file.
Look at print preview.
Adjust the printed page size if necessary.
Print that file out onto treated fabric.

Center block with "Gens of C.S.A."

Memorial Quilt dated 1866

Kentucky Museum

Gift of Henry Porter Brown

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned this silk hexagon quilt pictured in Mary Washington Clarke's 1976 book Kentucky Quilts and Their Makers. The caption attributed it to the Kentucky Museum, which is at Western Kentucky University. I didn't see it then in their online catalog.
Here's that post.
http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2015/11/civil-war-memorial-quilt-1866.html

The quilt is in fragile condition.

Suzanne Antippas contacted Curator Sandra Staebell, who got right back to her and said they did indeed still have that quilt, the Porter quilt, although it hadn't yet been uploaded to their digital catalog.

"The quilt measures 90.5 x 72 inches and is composed of hexagonal blocks and hexagonal pieces that are arranged to form a six pointed star with a medallion-effect center. Small diamonds frame the points of the star and provide a border or outline effect to the piece. The fabrics consist of silks and velvets and the backing is a black and white checked silk. The quilt is hand quilted in a diamond grid pattern that measures approximately 12-14 stitches per inch. The rest of the top is pieced from panels of varying lengths and widths, and the batting is cotton."

The pink hexagon is in the lower star point. The names:

Jackson, M. Moore, Lou Cage, B Scott, M Winans, Fannie, S.G. Caruthers, Richard, Clara, Dr. Combs, Mallie and A. Strange.

The unusual stitch (all by the same hand?) is not a tiny cross stitch but perhaps little dots

or knots.

The similarity between the Kentucky Museum quilt and the silk hexagon

quilt at the Museum of the Confederacy (above) is striking.

Above a block with Generals of the Confederacy.

See the quilts at KenCat the Kentucky Museum Library Special Collections site:

http://wku.pastperfect-online.com/35749cgi/mweb.exe?request=jump;dtype=d;startat=1

And the Porter quilt is now up there with many photos:

http://wku.pastperfect-online.com/35749cgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=6EA9C5E3-7F17-4EF8-A737-644148126220;type=101

Thanks to Curator Staebell for the photos and information on the star quilt---and to Suzanne for contacting her.

Judith writes:

"I've attached a picture of my quilt, Sleeping under the Stars. It has 225 4-inch star blocks."

225 is a lot of stars.

I think Judith wins the unannounced contest for over achievement in the star category.I am sending her a package of fat quarters from Alice's Scrapbag.

And Barbara S. gets a runner-up prize for 190.

As does Jill who also made about 190.

In the comments last week she said:

"I loved making these stars. I learned so much and had such a great time looking through my fabric. I decided to make four of each as well....it was a good hand piecing project for the year. I got behind during the summer months but I am almost caught up with only about 10 left to stitch. I haven't counted yet, but I should be at the 190 mark.

Some of the weeks I had so many fabrics to choose from that I think I might have made some extras. I have decided to use them in two quilts...Sister Quilts I am calling them. The layout will be the same with different setting fabric (same print just different colorway). And I think they will be for my two girls.

I can honestly say that if I hadn't decided to hand piece these stars I would have never got them done. It was so easy to sit down in the evening, watch a little TV with the family and make a block or two."

Let's hear it for hand-piecing!

Caroline Boston After the Civil War

Stars in a Time Warp 41: Neon Novelties

The Fairbanks Quilt & Sanitary Commission Stamps

Stars in a Time Warp 42: Sprigged Muslins & Indiennes

LLLLog Cabin Quilt

Stars in a Time Warp 43: Provincial Prints

LLLLog Cabin: More Questions

Stars in a Time Warp 44: Early Roller Print Clouds and Storms

Pewee Valley Confederate Home Blocks

Stars in a Time Warp 45: Corals & Seaweeds

Civil War Memorial Quilt 1866

Stars in a Time Warp 46: Shawl, Stick Prints and Cracked Ice

Stolen Quilt for Jefferson Davis

Time Warp Stars: Becky's Set

A Silk Crib Quilt with 32 Stars

Counting Stars

Crib Quilt Relative

Time Warp Label & 2 Finished Tops

Memorial Quilt, Kentucky Museum at Western Kentucky University

A Lotta Stars