82-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 17,2001
Quilts Span 200 Years Of American History
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“The Cheddar color in
this quilt shouts the last
quarter of the century,”
quilt experts believe.
A close inspection of the crib quilt, left, dated 1920
shows that fabric was switched at the border indicating
the seamstress ran out of fabric. On the right, the 1850’s
quilt combined applique and piecing techniques.
This 1795 block-printed quilt uses dyes typical of the
era. Roberta Benvin has written a book and helped to doc
ument more than 1,600 quilts in York County.
These novelty quilts, sometimes called crazy quilts,
were popular from 1880-1920. This one is unique in that
the edges uses fabric called tobacco flannels, which were
used to wrap cigars or to line the cigar boxes. The cigar
wrappers were stitched in flags representing many differ
ent countries.
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.)
Most people admire quiets for
their colors and designs. So does
Roberta Benvin, but she sees
much more than outward
beauty. The colors, designs, fab
rics, and techniques reveal the
history of America.
The Spring Grove quilt expert
authored the soon-to-be
released book, “Early 19th Cen
tury Quilts,” and has
professionally restored quilts
and classified them for 10 years.
Benvin recently displayed her
collection of quilts that span 200
years during the Mid-Atlantic
Fruit and Vegetable Conven
tion, Hershey.
While some families have
verbal or written histories on
quilts, many quilts are docu
mented through fabric, dye, and
techniques that reveal the quilts’
ages.
Quilts before 1825 were block
printed. About 44 yards of fabric
could be printed in a day with
the block printing method.
Women and children then drew
in details such as stems.
Bevin said quilts from the
1820-1830$ were large in size be
cause families often slept in one
bed. Another reason is that beds
were placed higher off the floor.
Finer fabrics are traced back
to England, but many fabrics
were hand dyed. Popular were
indigo and Turkey reds before
the Civil War.
The unique color of Turkey
red was named after a technique
developed in the country of
Turkey. Although Americans
tried to duplicate it, their efforts
were often unstable. Bevin said
the process required boiling it in
oil and some unusual ingred
ients for this era.
The color cheddar was popu
lar during the latter part of the
1800 s.
Just like today, fabric and
quilt designs followed the fads of
the era they were made.
“I try to get into the mind of
the quilt maker,” Bevin said of
her efforts to document the ages
of quilts.
This helps her recognize when
fabrics were pieced intentionally
in a design or when the quilter
ran out of a particular fabric and
replaced it with another fabric.
One of the quilts in Bevin’s
collection features fabric flags
around the edges. These flags
from many different countrys
were tobacco flannels, used to
wrap cigars or line cigar boxes
during the latter part of the
1800 s. A thrifty seamstress saw
their aesthetic value and incor
porated them into her quilt.
During the 19205, penny
squares were popular. These
were purchased for a penny
weekly or whenever the family
went to town. The squares were
given to children to embroider.
The mother pieced the finished
squares and completed a border.
Bevin said that 20th century
quilts are generally not as elabo
rate as earlier quilts, although
the Early Revivalists tried to du
plicate them. One of the ways to
differential the eras the quilt
was made is by the batting.
Cotton batting in the early quilts
required close stitching to keep
the batting in place.
In fact, Bevins counted 20
stitches to the inch in some of
the quilts she has documented.
Many of the quilts reveal they
were quilted by different family
members because of the differ
ences in stitching.
Several names are attributed
to the same design because pat
terns were often passed on from
state to state. In Texas, a design
known as the Texas Lone Star is
called Star of Bethlehem in
Pennsylvania.
Quilts made during the 1940 s
featured bigger prints. Not as
many quilts were made during
World War I because women
needed to work while their hus
bands were at war and the
homemakers did not have time
to make quilts. After the war,
bedspreads were being sold in
stores, and quilts lost their popu
larity until the Bicentennial,
when interest in them was re
vived.
“Everything old became new
again,” said Bevins, who herself
combined applique, piecing, em
broidery, and close quilting in
(Turn to Page B 3)
This quilt forms an encyclopedia of fabrics typical of the
1890 s.
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The album quilt was popular during the 1850s-1860s.
The style is influenced by the Baltimore Album quilts,
which were much more detailed.
Crib quilts from the 1840 s are highly prized collectibles
because few survived the daily use.
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