QUILT INDEX RECORD

18-14-95

DESCRIPTION:

This is likely the first Double Feather Star quilt top Gasperik pieced and appliquéd from a pattern she made with her daughter Elsie's help. It is based on an antique quilt in Marie Webster's book. Compare to #006 Double Feather Star and #045 Double Feather Star. Interestingly, this Gasperik quilt design adaptation Double Feather Star may be the source, rather than the result, of a commercial pattern. Fellow Chicagoan Catherine (aka Katherine) Hamburger entered a quilt which she called Harlequin in the 1942 Woman's Day contest. Hamburger's Harlequin was offered in 1943 as a pattern from Spool Cotton Co. ordered through Woman's Day. Harlequin uses two of the Gasperik Double Feather Star blocks. Note that the orientations of all triangles in the pieced star block and the orientation of feathers in the applique vase block match on this quilt top and the Hamburger Harlequin quilt photographed for Woman's Day. These orientations also match the photograph published in the February 11, 1936, Detroit News of a quilt top which arrived too late to include in the October 1935 Detroit News Quilt Show and Contest. Three of those Woman's Day/Spool Co. patterns, as well as a small newspaper clipping about a prolific and prize-winning quiltmaker named Katherine Webb Hamburger (of 11435 St. Louis Ave, Chicago; thought to be the same woman as the quilt contest entrant described by Woman's Day as "Catherine Hamburger of Chicago"), are among the surviving quilt papers of Mary Gasperik.

ESSAY:

Linda MacLachlan wrote her thoughts in the following 1992 exhibit caption: "a 77 x 100 inch Double Feathered Star top, unfinished. Plumes of off-white percale in 2 different designs appliqued on white on black calico patches. Alternate patchwork feathered stars are in the same calico on relatively rough and heavy off white muslin. This top is similar to Susan's and Doris's in design except that its corners do not contain appliqued single plumes on the muslin corners. I am in the process of quilting it in the same pattern Grandma used on Susan's quilt. I suspect it remained unfinished because the muslin is too heavy to quilt very finely." Susan Salser wondered, ". . . if my grandmother might have selected that heavy fabric to piece and applique this first attempt at a 'Webster' quilt because she understood that Marie Webster used linen to make her own quilts. The kind of linen Mary was most familiar with was the heavy linen her family (and ours!) used as bed sheets. Such material is excellent for embroidery and cutwork (two needlework forms Mary practiced throughout her life), but would have made the Double Feather Star top difficult to quilt successfully."

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Mary Gasperik Legacy Project

Who documented this quilt?

Mary Gasperik Private Collection

CONTRIBUTING INSTITUTIONAL INVENTORY CONTROL NUMBERS: Enter the main control number for this item you are entering.

081

TYPE OF QUILT OBJECT: Choose the best description for the quilt being documented.

Quilt top with unfinished edge

QUILT'S TITLE, IF IT HAS ONE: Many quilts have no title, but contemporary quilters often give a name to their quilts.

Double Feather Star

OWNER'S NAME FOR QUILT'S PATTERN: Enter the name given to the quilt by the owner. This can be the name the family used to refer to the quilt as it passed through different generations, e.g. "Aunt Susie's quilt" or a pattern name that the owner used.

Double Feather Star (Linda)

ALTERNATE NAME(S) FOR QUILT'S PATTERN IN COMMON USE: This is the name of the quilt pattern that it is commonly used among quilt makers and historians. It may be different in different regions of the country.

Feather Star With Applique (Marie Webster)

BRACKMAN NUMBER: If you have used Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Patterns or Applique to identify the pattern, enter the number assigned by Brackman here.

40.42

SHAPE OF EDGE: Choose the best description for the edges of the quilt.

Straight

SHAPE OF CORNERS: Choose the best description for the corners of the quilt.

Straight

PREDOMINANT COLOR(S): Enter all colors that are found in the quilt.

Black; White

OVERALL COLOR SCHEME: Choose the best color scheme description for the quilt being documented.

Two color

OVERALL CONDITION: Choose the best description for the quilt being documented.

Unknown/Not Rated

COMMENTS OR NOTES ON QUILT'S CONDITION OR REPAIR HISTORY: Some quilts have had extensive or unusual repair work done. Please use this field to describe anything that didn't fit in the previous fields.

Quilt top by Gasperik is being quilted by grand-daughter.

TIME PERIOD: Choose the time frame that best describes when the quilt was made. The date does not have to appear on the quilt to enter it in this field. This can be your best guess based on family stories or your own knowledge of quilts.

Timespan

DATE BEGUN: Enter the date the quilt was started.

probably 1935

DATE FINISHED: Enter the date the quilt was finished.

1993

FAMILY/OWNER'S DATE FOR QUILT: If there are family stories that indicate a date when the quilt was made, enter that date.

quiltING begun by granddaughter in 1993

OTHER EXTERNAL OR PROFESSIONAL DATE ESTIMATION: If the date was estimated by an antique dealer, quilt historian or appraiser, enter that date.

c. 1935

OTHER DATE ESTIMATION BY WHOM: Enter the name and/or title of the person who estimated the quilt's date for field 23d.

Merikay Waldvogel

LAYOUT FORMAT: Choose the best description for the layout (or set) of the quilt.

Block pattern

NUMBER OF QUILT BLOCKS: This field only applies to quilts with a block format. Some blocks are harder to count than others (e.g. Storms at Sea, Double Wedding Ring). If needed, describe how the blocks were counted or if there are half blocks/corner blocks

18 whole blocks, 10 half blocks

ARRANGEMENT OF QUILT BLOCKS: BLOCK ORIENTATION: This field only applies to quilts with a block format. Choose the best description for how the quilt blocks appear in the quilt.

On point or rotated on 45 degrees

SPACING RELATIVE TO OTHER BLOCKS: This field only applies to quilts with a block format. Choose the best description for how the quilt blocks are set together.

Side by side

NUMBER OF DIFFERENT BLOCK PATTERNS PRESENT: Enter the number of different block patterns used in the quilt.

3

NUMBER OF BORDERS: Borders are the strips of fabric that are added after the blocks (and sashings) are put together. They appear on the outside edges of the quilt. Quilts often have multiple borders. Enter the number of borders on the quilt.

1

BORDER DESCRIPTION: Describe the style of the borders (i.e. pieced, appliqued, stenciled) and the width of each border, from the inside to the outside.

One white border on four sides. Unlike quilts 006 and 045, there is no applique feather in each corner of the border.

FABRIC FIBER TYPES USED IN QUILT TOP: Choose all the types of fiber that are used to make the quilt top.

Cotton

FABRIC TYPES USED IN QUILT TOP: Choose all the types of fabric that are used to make the quilt top.

Broadcloth; Muslin

FABRIC PATTERNS, STYLES, MOTIFS, OR PRINT CATEGORIES USED IN QUILT TOP: Choose all the types of prints that are used to make the quilt top.

Print; Solid/plain

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES USED IN QUILT TOP: PIECING TECHNIQUES: Choose the piecing method used to make the quilt.

Hand Piecing

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES USED IN QUILT TOP: APPLIQUE TECHNIQUES: Choose the applique method used to construct the quilt.

Hand Applique

OTHER FABRIC FIBER TYPES USED IN QUILT BACK: If you chose Other, please describe the fiber used in the quilt back.

paisley print selected and attached by quilt owner Linda MachLachlan ~1993

DESCRIPTION OF BACK: Choose the best description for the back of the quilt.

Same fabric used throughout

QUILTING TECHNIQUES USED: Choose the technique that best describes the way the quilt layers are held together.

Hand quilting

ANY OTHER FEATURES OR NOTES ABOUT THE QUILT'S APPEARANCE, MATERIALS, OR CONSTRUCTION: Describe anything about the physical appearance of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field.

The off-white fabric Gasperik chose to use in this top is so heavy and stiff as to be probably unquiltable. Such a mistake may reflect Gasperik's lack of experience in quilting at the time she pieced and appliqued this. Had she been a member at the time she started this, it is likely that Tuley Park Quilting Club members would have advised her to select a different fabric. The choice that she DID make was perhaps intended to capture an 'antique' look, which she may have sought because she was copying an antique quilt (Figure 35 in Marie Webster's book). Gasperik's fabric is somewhat reminiscent of heavy Hungarian linen, although I do not know exactly what the fiber is.

QUILT TOP MADE BY: Enter the name of the person(s) who made the quilt top.

Gasperik, Mary

QUILTED BY: Enter the name of the person(s) who quilted the top.

MacLachlan, Linda Krueger

CITY: Enter the name of the city where the quilt was made.

Chicago

COUNTY: Enter the name of the county where the quilt was made.

Cook County

STATE: Enter the name of the state where the quilt was made.

Illinois (IL)

COUNTRY: Enter the name of the country where the quilt was made.

United States

HOW WAS QUILT ACQUIRED BY OWNER: Choose the best description for how the owner acquired the quilt.

Inheritance

DETAILS ON HOW THE QUILT WAS ACQUIRED:

Selected by daughter Elsie during a division of quilts after Gasperik died in 1969. After Elsie's death in 1988, daughters Karen, Linda and Susan divided her quilts. Linda selected this one.

QUILTMAKER'S REASONS FOR MAKING THE QUILT: If the quilt was made for a specific purpose, choose the reason from the list.

Personal enjoyment

QUILT WAS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED TO BE USED AS: Choose how the quilt was originally used.

Unknown

QUILT IS PRESENTLY USED AS: Choose how the quilt is being used by the present owner.

Keepsake/memento; Other

OTHER PRESENT USE(S) OF QUILT: If you chose Other, please explain the quilt's present use.

Mary's grandchildren regard her quilts as a unique collection to be preserved and appreciated.

SOURCE OF QUILT'S MATERIALS: Choose how the quilt maker acquired the fabric for this quilt.

Purchased new; Unknown

QUILT TOP PATTERN SOURCE: Choose where the quilt maker found the pattern for this quilt.

Other

OTHER TOP PATTERN SOURCE(S): If you chose Other, please explain where the pattern was found.

Gasperik (with Elsie's help) made her own pattern from a photograph of a section of an antique quilt in Marie Webster's Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them.

QUILTING DESIGN PATTERN SOURCE: Choose where the quilt maker found the pattern for the quilting design used in this quilt.

Another quilt

ANY ADDITIONAL NOTES OR STORIES ABOUT THE QUILT'S DESIGN OR MATERIALS SOURCE: Describe anything about the design of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field.

Grand-daughter Linda MacLachlan backed the quilt and, in 1993, began finishing it, following the quiltING pattern Gasperk used on #045.

OTHER RELATED ITEMS: List other materials that exist about this quilt like oral histories, wills, diaries, or patterns.

Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them, Marie D. Webster, Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc., 1928, quilt photograph facing page 66.

The Detroit News, February 11, 1936, page 24, "There are 1467 Pieces in This Charming Top", by Edith B. Crumb. Has a photograph of this Gasperik quilt top. Almost all of this significant article is about Mary Gasperik. It presents this top (which arrived too late to appear in the October 1935 Detroit News quilt show), mentions a red and white version that Gasperik was currently working on (quilt #006 which was shown at the 1937 Detroit News quilt show) and a Bridal Bouquet quilt which she is "planning to give it to her niece as a wedding present" (quilt #074, donated to the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art by that niece in 1972). It is unlikely Gasperik herself ever saw the article. The Detroit clippings which survive were ones she brought back from the quilt shows she attended. There was no Detroit quilt show in 1936.

Family photograph taken of the quilt top in the Kruegers' Chicago apartment at the time the Krueger sisers divided Elsie's quilts (ie before sister Linda embarked on her plan to quilt it). That is the photograph presented with this quilt record.

Instruction sheet from Alice Beyer, Director - Art Crafts, Chicago Park District reads, in part: "The clubs are organized according to the needs and requests of the neighborhoods and are carried on by skilled Park instructors. These instructors act as leaders, and, in turn, develop club members in the groups. The Clubs meet for two and a half hour periods, twice a week. However, some of the Clubs, having volunteer leaders, meet for several hours at a time." A photocopy of this instruction sheet was sent to Susan Salser by Barbara Brackman. The leader of the Tuley Park Quilting Club was named Virgie Stewart.

AVAILABLE SOURCES FOR QUILTMAKER: List other source materials about this quiltmaker such as photos, oral histories, book or newspaper publications, fame for some other reason or event.

Merikay Waldvogel and Barbara Brackman. Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, (Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1993)102-103.

Merikay Waldvogel "One American Dream Comes True", Quilters Newsletter Magazine, March 2008, 46-49.

OWNERSHIP OF THIS QUILT IS:

Private

NAME OF QUILT OWNER:

Linda Krueger MacLachlan

QUILT OWNER'S COUNTRY:

United States

AUTHOR/INTERVIEWEE'S RELATION TO THE QUILT:

Author/researcher; Blood relative of quiltmaker

OTHER RELATIONSHIP TO SOURCE: If you chose Other, for the relationship to the source, describe the relationship here.

Grand-daughter

OTHER INFORMATION ON SOURCE PERSON TO QUILT:

Grand-daughter Susan Salser began this research effort in 1991, after she and her two sisters divided up the quilts which belonged to their mother (Elsie Gasperik Krueger) who died in 1988. Her ongoing research has been fruitful and interesting.

QUILTMAKER'S MAIDEN NAME:

Mihalovits, Maria

QUILTMAKER'S GENDER:

Female

QUILTMAKER'S BIRTH DATE:

01/25/1888

DEATH DATE OF THE QUILTMAKER, IF APPLICABLE:

05/25/1969

QUILTMAKER'S ETHNIC BACKGROUND:

Hungarian

QUILTMAKER'S EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND:

Elementary School

QUILTMAKER'S COUNTRY OF BIRTH:

Hungary

IN WHICH KIND OF ENVIRONMENT DID THE QUILTMAKER GROW UP?

Rural

CITY WHERE THE QUILTMAKER LIVES/LIVED:

Chicago

COUNTY WHERE THE QUILTMAKER LIVES/LIVED:

Cook

STATE WHERE THE QUILTMAKER LIVES/LIVED:

Illinois (IL)

COUNTRY WHERE THE QUILTMAKER LIVES/LIVED:

United States

QUILTMAKER'S FATHER'S NAME:

Mihalovits, Istvan

FATHER'S BIRTHPLACE:

Hungary

FATHER'S ETHNIC BACKGROUND:

Hungarian

QUILTMAKER'S MOTHER'S NAME:

Mihalovits, Vidoszava

MOTHER'S BIRTHPLACE:

Hungary

MOTHER'S ETHNIC BACKGROUND:

Hungarian

SPOUSE'S ETHNIC BACKGROUND:

Hungarian

SPOUSE'S OCCUPATION:

Milk Dealer/Grocery Store Owner/Butcher

NUMBER OF CHILDREN:

3

NUMBER OF FEMALE CHILDREN:

1 (Elsie 1909-1988)

NUMBER OF MALE CHILDREN:

2 (Elmer and Stephen)

HOW DID THE QUILTMAKER LEARN TO QUILT?

From guild or club member; Self-Taught

WHEN DID THE QUILTMAKER LEARN TO QUILT?

Age 40-49

WHY DOES/DID THE QUILTMAKER QUILT:

Pleasure; Other

OTHER, WHY THE QUILTMAKER QUILTS:

Mary Gasperik made quilts because it was her life passion and greatest talent. As opportunities arose, she entered contests and exhibited them publicly. She also made special quilts for her family.

NAME OF QUILTING GROUP: If the quilt maker belonged to a group, enter the name of the group.

Tuley Park Quilt Club and Detroit News Quilt Club

LOCATION OF GROUP:

Southside Chicago and Detroit MI

SPECIALIZED ACTIVITIES/EVENTS OF QUILTING GROUP: Enter activities the group participated in.

Chicago group met to quilt and held periodic quilt shows; Detroit group held national exhibits and contests.

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF QUILTS MADE BY THIS QUILTER:

more than 50

DID THE QUILTMAKER SELL QUILTS?

no

DOES/DID QUILTMAKER TEACH QUILTING: Is the quilt maker also a quilt teacher?

no

PHOTO CREDIT:

Krueger sisters

ACCESS AND COPYRIGHT IS:

Restricted

HOLDER OF COPYRIGHT:

Susan Salser

Details