How To Read A Quilt/ Part 3

For Part 3 on How To Read A Quilt, I will share with you the last 5 quilts from Lenna DeMarco's lecture. All of these are from her personal collection. Broken Star C1900 80" X 81" By the 1900's women were using brighter colors. Beautiful, isn't it! We would use these colors today. Just another example of how what is old becomes new again. In reading Broken Star, you can tell a lot about the woman who made it. She was a very accomplished and skilled quilter. Because of the amount of time devoted, she probably came from a wealthy home, with leisure time on her hands. Turkey Foot or Wandering Foot The pinks and orange almost looks like it could have come from the Hippy generation of the 1960's rather than early 1900's. Lenna asked the questions "Why did she not finish the bottom? Did she run out of fabric? Was she tired of working on it?" By reading quilts we can often tell the person's status within her community. The black and pink Log Cabin probably came from a maker who did not have a lot of money, but certainly knew how to use her scraps well. Gray and black quilts were often mourning quilts. The red centers in Log Cabins represents the heart of the home. Notice one corner piece is a brown block. Another example of how women used what they had. You can read that this quilter had enough money to buy all the fabrics to make her quilt. Have you ever gotten to the end of making a quilt and needed just a tiny bit more to finish the last block or two? Of course the store no longer has any of the fabric left. By the 1900's women started using printed backs instead of plain muslin. C1930 The 1920's and 1930 brought the Colonial Revival, or a romanticized interest in anything Colonial. We began asking "What are our roots?" Palates became much softer, and women began making quilts inspired by desire and not just necessity.

Women had access to kits and published patterns.

Machine piecing became more common.

Thank you Lenna for a wonderful lecture!

I've had several people e-mail me with questions about specific quilts from Lenna's collection. I was just a mere audience member, gleaning from her fascinating lecture How To Read A Quilt. Lenna owns a business restoring antique quilts, and I'm guessing would be more than happy to answer e-mails questions. Lenna DeMarco Faded Glory Antique Quilt Restoration 10753 W. Saratoga Circle Sun City, AZ 85351 623/977-4227 demsing@msn.com Historically correct antique fabric used.