Womenfolk Quilt History Collection

Breneman, Judy Anne

November; 10; 2022

An archive of articles from the Womenfolk: The Art of Quilting and Quilts and Quiltmaking Yesterday and Today website.

Collection

51-149-3

Womenfolk 27. The Evolution of Art Quilts and Quilting

Breneman, Judy Anne

2008

This article from the website, Womenfolk.com is part of the Practices in Patchwork Quiltmaking essays. Themes and methods through time including Bible, temperance, feedsack and kit quilts.

Ephemera

51-149-28

Womenfolk 28. The Holy Bible: Source of Inspiration

Breneman, Judy Anne

2003

This article from the website, Womenfolk.com is part of the Practices in Patchwork Quiltmaking essays. Themes and methods through time including Bible, temperance, feedsack and kit quilts.

Ephemera

51-149-30

Womenfolk 29. Women's Temperance Movement Quilts

Breneman, Judy Anne

2003

This article from the website, Womenfolk.com is part of the Practices in Patchwork Quiltmaking essays. Themes and methods through time including Bible, temperance, feedsack and kit quilts.

Ephemera

51-149-26

Womenfolk 30. Mourning Quilts to Remember and Cherish

Breneman, Judy Anne

2001

This article from the website, Womenfolk.com is part of the Practices in Patchwork Quiltmaking essays. Themes and methods through time including Bible, temperance, feedsack and kit quilts.

Ephemera

51-149-25

Womenfolk 31. Feed Sacks Used for Quilts and Clothing

Breneman, Judy Anne

2001

This article from the website, Womenfolk.com is part of the Practices in Patchwork Quiltmaking essays. Themes and methods through time including Bible, temperance, feedsack and kit quilts.

Ephemera

51-149-27

Womenfolk 32. Quilt Labels and Ways Quilts Were Signed

Breneman, Judy Anne

2001

This article from the website, Womenfolk.com is part of the Practices in Patchwork Quiltmaking essays. Themes and methods through time including Bible, temperance, feedsack and kit quilts.

Ephemera

51-149-24

Calico Sunflower Kit

Wright, Roxa

1956

Paragon advertisement in McCalls Needlework and Crafts, Spring-Summer 1956; Article, “Calico Sunflower” by Roxa Wright in Woman’s Day (unknown date); Paragon catalog, Famous Quilts Styled by Paragon Needlecraft, circa 1956

Ephemera

12-91-448

Mountain Mist, Quilted Pillow Slip-Cover, Pennsylvania Dutch

Mountain Mist

1968

The Quilted Pillow Slip-Cover Project from Stearns & Foster. The enveloped kit includes an information sheet, a black and white photo of the finished project. Missing is the pattern page.

Ephemera

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Gasperik 04: Kit Quilts

Waldvogel, Merikay

May; 12; 2005

Gallery

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Decorator's Quilt Spread No. 7182

Home Needlecraft Creations

May; 12; 2005

A kit quilt for an appliqued quilt.

Ephemera

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Playtime Crib Quilt No. 7069

Home Needlecraft Creations

May; 12; 2005

A crib quilt kit.

Ephemera

18-121-113

Morning Glory Design No. 2005

Bucilla

May; 12; 2005

A quilt kit.

Ephemera

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Wild Flower Wreath Design

Paragon

May; 12; 2005

A kit quilt for the Wild Flower Wreath.

Ephemera

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Needlepoint and Quilting Have Staged a Come Back!

The Detroit News

November; 18; 1931

An advertisement for quilt kits from Hudson's Department Store, Detroit.

Ephemera

18-121-980

Sale! Quilts-to-Make!

The Detroit News

March; 17; 1933

An advertisement for quilt-making kits from Hudson's Department Store, Detroit.

Ephemera

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Why Not Make A Quilt?

The Detroit News

June; 6; 1933

An advertisement for quilt kits from Hudson's Department Store, Detroit.

Ephemera

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Hudson's Advertisement

The Detroit News

January; 4; 1934

An advertisement for a sale of kits at Hudson's.

Ephemera

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New Designs in Stamped Goods at Anniversary Sale Savings

The Detroit News

September; 19; 1940

An advertisement for kit quilts at Hudson's Department Store, Detroit.

Ephemera

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Letters to the Editor, Update, Snowflake Quilt Kit Discovered

Gross, Joyce

November; 1986

Ephemera

25-131-351

Kit Quilts

Sikarskie, Amanda Grace

2011

Kit Quilts are pre-marked patterns that were popular in the early 20th-Century, and are still available today.

Gallery

27-138-1

Quilts by Boag: The Most Authentic Quilt Line in America

Boag, George

2011

A circa 1935 price catalog of kits for quilts and pillows. The kits are mostly traditional pieced designs, but some floral applique motifs can also be found here. Pieces are die-cut. Applique quilts include stamped blocks and borders for placement purposes. Some designs are credited to Mary McElwain whose shop in Elworth, WI was not far from Elgin, IL, the home of The Boag Studios.

According to the owner's grand-daughter, Cathy Boag Beyer, besides the mail order business, Boag quilt kits were sold at fine department stores.

She reported, "The company developed dies made of high quality steel, used with a punch press to cut fabric for the kits. The dies may have been melted down during WWII with scrap metal because not all of the original dies survived."

"Some of the original dies and the original catalog design were sold to Hearthside Quilts (Vermont) in the 1980s. Hearthside reproduced the catalog in 1985 with this same colorful cover."

Ephemera

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The Romance of the Village Quilts

McElwain, Mary A.

1936

Romance of the Village Quilts, 36 page booklet, published in 1936 by Mary McElwain Quilt Shop in Walworth, Wisconsin. Photographs of quilt kits, interior views of quilt shop, quilting designs, index and price sheet.

Ephemera

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From The Boag Studios: Quilts Book 46

George Boag

1936

This catalog of quilt and pillow kits was published in about 1936 by George Boag through The Boag Studios, a division of Collingsbourne Mills in Elgin, Illinois. On this cover, three labels for Mary A. McElwain's Quilt Shop cover the references to Boag Studios. Perhaps this catalog was used at McElwain's shop. This catalog contains 39 quilt kits and 22 pillow kits, a few of which are credited to Mary McElwain. Inside the catalog are two (undated)price lists for BOAG quilt and pillow kits. Most of the kits are ready-cut pieced or stamped applique quilts. Catalogs such as these are a rich resource for identifying and understanding kit quilts. See also another version of the same catalog (Quilts by Boag: The Most Authentic Quilt Line in America) which has many more quilt and pillow kits.

Ephemera

33-133-24

Colonial Quilts

Ver Mehren, Hubert

1932

The booklet titled Colonial Quilts was produced by Home Art Studios in Des Moines, Iowa. The company owner Hubert Ver Mehren and his wife designed the patterns and the catalog. It appeared in 1932 when it was distributed through newspapers and department stores, whose names and addresses would be printed on the bottom of the front cover. This one was distributed through the Cincinnati Inquirer.

The booklet opens with an historical overview of quilt history by "Nancy Lee" who was not a real person. The booklet included both traditional and modern designs including the large center medallion star quilts designed by Ver Mehren in shades of pink, blue, orchid and yellow. He offered them as ready-cut quilt kits at different prices ($3.50 to $5.95 for the top) based on the fabric chosen (cleona, gingham, and sateen). A color chart, cutting guide, perforated quilting pattern sheets and stamping powder sold for $1.00. This booklet came out just prior to the 1933 Sears Quilt Contest and several Ver Mehren large medallion quilts were finished in time. Two reached the final round of 30 winning quilts.

Ephemera

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Prize Winning Designs: Many Quilt Patterns Never Before Published

Aunt Martha Studios

1931

Aunt Martha Studio's sponsored a a quilt block contest in 1931. In September 1931, this booklet of the prize winning designs was advertised in Midwest newspapers. Each winning block is numbered and identified by pattern name. Most were traditional patterns, but some were original designs. Modernistic Star is featured in the cover illustration. 13 of the winning blocks were chosen to be sold as kits--$3.98(quilt) and $.65 (pillow). The pattern template pieces and instructions for the 13 patterns are included for those who chose to make the quilt "the old fashioned way." At the back of the catalog are numbered quilting designs to order, many of which are also credited to contest entrants. The catalog was distributed through magazines and other organizations, who stamped their names in the open space provided on the catalog's cover. This example carries the name of a farm magazine: Home Friend of Kansas City, MO.

Ephemera

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Kit Quilts in Perspective

Copeland, Anne; Dunivent, Beverly

1994

From Uncoverings 1994, Volume 15 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group

Ephemera

35-90-185

Marketing Quilt Kits in the 1920s and 1930s

Cord, Xenia E.

1995

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

Ephemera

35-90-194