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Sears Quilt Contest 09: Familiar 1930s Patterns in Contest Entries

Familiar 1930s Patterns in Contest Entries
​A quiltmaking revival was just getting underway when the contest was announced in January 1933.  Newspapers nationwide carried one or two syndicated quilt columns.  Ruby McKim’s patterns and the Nancy Page Quilt Column, penned by Florence LaGanke, were read by millions of quiltmakers.  The Mountain Mist quilt patterns first appeared on Stearns & Foster batting wrappers in 1929.  The contest judges seemed to favor quilts made from familiar patterns especially when they also contained exceptional stitching, and quilting designs.

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Flower Garden
Julia Rowbotham
DeSmeth, South Dakota
1933
Private Collection

This Flower Garden quilt represents the thousands of well-made quilts that did not reach the final rounds of judging.

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New York Beauty
Florine U. Plumb
Jackson, Jackson County, Michigan
1938
Private Collection
 

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State Flower Quilt
Irene Schramm
Gridley, McLean County, Illinois
1933
Private Collection

State Flower Quilt made with Ruby McKim newspaper series published in 1931-32.

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Garden Bouquet
Grace May Bentley
New Haven, Connecticut
1932 or 1933
Private Collection

Second Place Winner in Boston Regional. This Garden Bouquet quilt was made from a Nancy Page Quilt Club design by Florence LaGanke that appeared in newspapers in 1931-1932.

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48 State's Flowers
Edith Simon
probably Chicago, Illinois
1912
Private Collection

This quilt was awarded an Honorable Mention in the contest.

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Garden Bouquet
Irene Vasey and her mother Margaret Wasser
Coleman, Saginaw County, Michigan
1933
Private Collection

Vasey used a pattern she found in the Saginaw News. Her ribbon from the contest is stitched to the upper left corner of the quilt.

Merikay Waldvogel
2011
All rights reserved

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