Nancy W. (Rutherford) Fisher 1891 Quilt in Display in DC

Nancy W. (Rutherford) Fisher 1891 Quilt in Display in DC

On October 1st 1891, Mrs. S. J. Vernon was presented this quilt, by her mother, who was aged 76.  Her mother was Nancy W. (Rutherford) Fisher.  Members of her family gifted the quilt earlier this year to the Smithsonian, and it will be on display until the end of this year at the National Museum of American History, in Washington, DC.  Unfortunately the lighting is not great, it’s behind glass, and there are a lot of flashing lights from the Batmobile display nearby – given that, here are some images I took while there.  The 73-inch by 79-inch quilt is a single block – radiating from the center, with additional scraps pieced around it, giving it a swirl design.  The quilt had remained in the family until this year, when Carol Nordquist and Howard Burl Hunt, Jr, great-great-grand-children of the maker donated it to the museum. 

The quilt had its start in Missouri, then traveled down to Texas  to the home of Sarah Jane (Fisher) Vernon in 1891.  It is quite possible that the fabrics used to make the quilt were obtained from the dry goods store Nancy’s nephew worked at in St. Louis, Missouri.  He was a merchant for the wholesale house Morrisse Lace and Embroidery Company.  From Texas, the quilt made its way to California, and now finally to its permanent home in Washington, DC.

The Family Connection:  Nancy W. (Rutherford) Fisher -- Sarah Jane (Fisher) Vernon -- Edith Anna (Vernon) Quattlebaum -- Nina Evelyn (Quattlebaum) Hunt -- Carol (Hunt) Nordquist & Howard Burl Hunt, Jr.  And now millions of visitors from all over the world can admire the handiwork of Nancy W. (Rutherford) Fisher!

Gilbert & Sullivan Calicos and Cheaters

Gilbert & Sullivan Calicos and Cheaters

At least three of the fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas were immortalized in quilts.  The H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor opened in London, on 25 May 1878.  A pillow in a private collection and a crazy quilt found at the MET museum have pieces of a cheater patchwork depicting scenes from that opera.

The quilt also has some patches from G&S’s 1881 production, Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride.  The opera is a satire on the aesthetic movement and was first performed at the Opera Comique in London, on 23 April 1881.  There are some patches of  the “Rapturous maidens“ with their musical instruments as they await Bunthorne.

“I’ve got him on my List” is from the The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu from the ninth comic opera, that opened on 14 March 1885 in London, and was documented in an 1885 Dyer's Notebook of fabric made by Cocheco Print Works.  This cheater crazy patchwork fabric has been found on several quilt backs.

Notes and sources:
The HMS Pinafore fabric pillow was found at http://www.quilthistory.com/study/nov24.htm
The label incorrectly identifies the print as being from the Mikado.

The Dyer’s Notebook can be found at https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18575229/images/
There are several notebooks located at the Cooper Hewitt site if you want to view some.

The full view of the MET crazy quilt can be found at https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/19724

The Aesthetic Kitchen – Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Patience – Oscar Wilde

The Aesthetic Kitchen – Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Patience – Oscar Wilde

As early as the spring of 1882, ads for aesthetic cretonnes and calicos  started appearing.  The Gilbert and Sullivan comedic opera Patience had opened a year earlier in April 1881 and the main aesthete Oscar Wilde arrived in America in January 1882.  Ladies had already been exposed to embroidery images of the aesthetes in the October 1881 issue of the Art Amateur and placed them on crazy quilts.  Gilbert and Sullivan productions  must of had a close association with fabric printers as several  of their early operas were featured on printed cotton – HMS Pinafore, Patience and the Mikado – and used in quilts.

In the fall of 1882, and continuing trough the summer of 1883, nearly identical articles describing the Aesthetic Kitchen were found in newspapers  throughout the country describing a chintz, bearing figures form the opera of “Patience” in soft aesthetic colors to be used for curtains.

The fabric in the article may be the same one found on my Oscar Crazy Quilt and in the two museum crazy quilts featuring the same fabric.

The image above features the appliqued Oscar from my CQ, plus images from the same fabrics used in CQs housed at the Met and  BFA museums.  Ads offering Aesthetic Cretonnes and Calicos.  An aesthete holding a pot of flowers, from another one of my CQs, and the embroidery design found in the Art Amateur.  An excerpt from the Aesthetic Kitchen.

April & May 1882 – Ads for Aesthetic Cretonnes & Calicos The Portland Daily Press, Portland, Me. Page 3, April 11, 1882
West-Jersey Pioneer, Bridgeton, NJ, Page 4, May 11, 1882

The Aesthetic Kitchen 1882-1883

Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Thursday, October 12, 1882
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri , Saturday, October 21, 1882
The Cresset from Clay Center, Kansas, November 4, 1882
Cherryvale Globe and Torch, Cherryvale, Kansas, Friday, November 3, 1882
Chautauqua Springs Spy, Chautauqua, Kansas , Friday, November 3, 1882
Saturday Evening Mail, Terre Haute, Vigo County, November 11, 1882
Aurora Daily Express, November 25, 1882
Los Angeles Herald, December 29, 1882
Pacific Rural Press, March 10, 1883
Juniata Sentinel and Republican, Mifflintown, PA, Wednesday, July 25, 1883
The News and Herald, Winnsboro, SC,  Thursday, August 9, 1883

Excerpts from  the Aesthetic Kitchen:

“Say, is not my kitchen pretty?”  It was indeed, prettier than I ever imagined a kitchen could be made,  Pretty china was displayed on shelves, brackets, and in a tiny corner cupboard Japanese scrolls, fans and plates hung on the walls, and there was nothing about the room suggestive of cooking except an innocent-looking little "Florence Favorite" oil stoves, which stood on a box curtained with chintz, bearing printed figures from the opera of "Patience" in soft aesthetic colors.  A breakfast table stood at one side of the room – which was little larger than a hall bedroom – a pretty dressing-case occupied one corner, a washstand stood in the other, and the only remaining corner was filled by a small wardrobe.  “But where do you keep things?  Where are your kitchen utensils – your kettles, tins and broilers?”  With a smile my friend pulled aside the curtain which hung below the oil stove, and there in a box were all the utensils necessary in cooking.  Further investigation revealed the fact that the dressing case was only used to hold groceries, while the washstand concealed the tin dishpan, soap, etc.  Market baskets, tea, towels, work aprons and the like were stowed away in the wardrobe. 

Another publisher released a Crazy Patchwork booklet for 25 Cents

Another publisher released a Crazy Patchwork booklet for 25 Cents

S.H. Moore, established his publishing business  in 1879 and married Myra Drake, who was active in music an literature.  The Crazy Patchwork booklet was published by S.H. Moore, and copyrighted in 1884 by G.W. Richardson and Co.  Richardson of Boston, Mass., published a monthly called Richardson’s Musical Hours, established in 1876.   Moore’s magazines, The Cricket on the Hearth and The Fireside at Home merged into The Ladies’ World, which was sold to McClure in 1911.

In 1886 S.H. Moore & Co. offered Stamping Outfits for free with a subscription to his publication The Fireside at Home and The Ladies’ World (ads in The Cultivator & Country Gentleman, 1886; and The Ladies’ Home Journal and Practical Housekeeper, Vol 3-4, respectively).

The cover of the Crazy Patchwork booklet was used for the Crazy Work and Needle Art Show, managed by Mr. Fred Kyle, and held in the Horticultural Hall on March 16, 1885 in Boston, Mass.

A Crazy Patchwork Outfit was offered in the December 1885 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal for 25 cents.  The image in the ad is the same as the 1995 T.E. Parker booklet, Ornamental Stitches for Embroidery.

Strawbridge and Clothier ran ads in numerous publications for their 1884 Crazy Patchwork book, offered free to subscribers, or sold for 25 cents.  The 1884 version has 6 full size block patterns, several that were also published by Weldon’s in their Practical Patchwork series.  An ad in 1887 mentions 12 large full page transferable designs; but alas, I have not found that version yet.

Below are the Instructions for Crazy Patchwork found in this booklet:

Crazy Quilt Color Studies and Crazy Patchwork Stitches

Crazy Quilt Color Studies and Crazy Patchwork Stitches

Here are some examples of crazy quilt designs in color from around the 1884-5 time frame, the height of the crazy quilt era.  As you can see, there is no 'color palette' or 'theme' in the color schemes - just random colors of the day tossed together in haphazard fashion.  Sometimes the trade cards were printed in more than one colorway.  Not all of them had crazy patchwork stitch designs on the back side.  Some were specific to the product they were selling, others were sold as 'blanks' so advertisers could have them printed up with their specific information.

 

The silk thread manufacturer, Brainerd and Armstrong had trade cards, art needlework and color study books, along with a sheet of stitch designs that was sent out with their waste silk embroidery thread packages.

 

Dry Goods stores and other companies provided complementary fliers with quilt designs and stiches.  Most had stitch designs similar to the Weldon's Practical Patchwork Series booklets.

 

Here is a listing of the items pictured above.  For the most part, they are all part of my quilt ephemera collection.

 

The Patchwork Ladies – a series of 4 trade card designs, featuring young girls surrounded by crazy patchwork, to be personalized by businesses. [A]

 

Crazy Quilt Series – Trade card advertising Attractive Stationary with a crazy quilt design. [B]

 

Turkish Delights cigar box labels, featuring a young Turkish girl surround by crazy patchwork. [C]

 

100 Crazy Patchwork Stitches Trade Card, most widely recognized for its ad image of Singer Sewing Machines. [D]  The center front can also feature a girl or other business info. [E]

 

150 Crazy Patchwork Stitches Trade Card, Singer Sewing machine -  stitch designs on the back looking more like the Brainerd & Armstrong designs. [F]

 

Brainerd & Armstrong dancing spools – set of two designs, with the same stitch patterns on the back. [G]  Also the Crazy Patchwork Stitches tissue insert from the Waste Silk Embroidery package. [H]

 

Ladies Art Company had two version of stitch pages in their catalogs, both share similarities to Brainerd & Armstrong designs. [I] and [J]

 

Oversized promotional broadsheet/ads were given complimentary to customers – Barr Dry Goods (Sapolio) [K], R & J Gilchrist Dry Goods [K], Durkee Select Spices [M], and American Chemical Mfg & Mining Co. [N]

 

Weldon’s Practical Patchwork Series [O] also used the ‘stitches on line’ layout, as do  many of the ads and trade cards of the period; many use the same format and stitch designs. 

Eva Niles 1884 book, Fancy Work Recreations have the same stitch designs.