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Quilt Pattern No.251-Crosses and Losses

December 1895
Michigan State University Museum; Cuesta Benberry Collection
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
A quilt pattern published by the Ladies Art Company. The Ladies Art Company placed small ads in ladies magazines and farm papers for their catalog. From the catalog, the pattern was ordered and mailed to the customer. The LAC was the first business to offer hundreds of quilt patterns in a mail order catalog. Up until the 1950s the patterns consisted of a 3” pattern card featuring a color suggestion for the quilt block, and an envelope containing full size, tan tissue paper templates (without seam allowance or any markings) of each shape needed to complete the block. (The earliest versions of the 3" pattern cards were hand painted with water colors by the owner's children.) In 1950, the company changed hands and they started producing mimeographed sheets that included fabric yardage, labeled templates with seam allowances and line drawings of a portion of a completed quilt or the full completed quilt and also revised and reprinted the 1928 catalog.

The earliest appearance of this pattern would have been the 1895 catalog. This version was printed after 1950.

This is a quilt pattern in seven pieces.
A. An 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper with two black and white illustrations of a partial quilt. Color suggestions and cutting instructions are included.
B. Stapled to the first sheet is an 8 1/2" x 14" page with a block diagram and full size pattern pieces (including 1/4" seam allowances).
C. A small 3 1/2" X 3 1/2" square of cardstock with a drawing of the quilt block colored in blue and white.
D-G. An envelope, 3 3/4" x 6 1/2", containing three tissue paper pattern pieces for the block (without seam allowances). The front of the envelope is printed with instructions on how to add seam allowances and use the patterns.
Quilt size: 78x96"
Block size: 9x9"
Piecing
2009:9.1.251

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