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The Origin of Mountain Mist Patterns

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From Uncoverings 1995, Volume 16 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group

1995

By: Waldvogel, Merikay

Merikay Waldvogel a former member of the Board of Directors of the American Quilt Study Group, is a writer and curator specializ­ing in twentieth-century quilt history. She is the author of Soft Cov­ers for Hard Times: Quiltmaking & the Great Depression and co-author of Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 World's Fair, as well as author of numerous articles.

Introduction:
In 1928, the Stearns & Foster Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio, repackaged its cotton batting and became a potent force in promoting quilts. Through national advertising and company sponsored quilt exhibits, the firm increased sales of Mountain Mist batting and also created a demand for its wrapper patterns. Earlier attempts to research the patterns have been limited to information gleaned from wrappers, pamphlets, and advertisements, since company records had been lost. Newly discovered correspondence between the sales manager of Stearns & Foster's batting department and a professional artist in Tennessee, dating from July 1929 through February 1930, provide insights on the design and production of Mountain Mist patterns, and on the company's efforts to fuel the quiltmaking revival of the 1930s.

​When AQSG added Uncoverings articles to the Quilt Index, they omitted all the illustrations, for lack of permissions. Although the articles found in the QI (1980-2010, 2012-2016) lack illustrations, they link to quilts, essays, special collections, and documentation projects across the Quilt Index, introducing them to a wider audience. The permission issues have since been resolved and in 2024, AQSG completed adding all the Uncoverings volumes from 1980-2023 to the Digital Commons@University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They are completely searchable and include all the illustrations. You can find, Uncoverings 1995, Volume 16, at this link, https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/aqsg-uncoverings/12/.