Before treatment
Pieced Quilt
Attributed to Margaret Gurley Hines, Wayne County, NC
1880-1910
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Cotton and wool
This is a pieced quilt consisting of 30 (29 on the front and one on the back) different checked, striped, and solid cottons and cotton-wool blends in blues, browns, and off-white. The front of the quilt is pieced from 262 irregularly shaped fabric pieces, similar to a crazy quilt, suggesting the use of off-cuts or the repurposing of other textiles. The back of the quilt consists of five pieces of the same large-scale brown, blue and white plaid plain weave fabric.
The quilting is worked in primarily brown cotton thread in a concentric fan pattern through thick cotton batting.
Condition Before Treatment
Overall the quilt was in poor condition, with significant fading and abrasions and structural damage along the edges. It appears to have experienced heavy use.
Mapping
The quilting pattern resembles the “Baptist fan” pattern, a utilitarian pattern commonly used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in church quilting bees. It is not, however, symmetrical. It consists of five columns of concentric fans with a varied number of fan groupings in each column.
This pattern is not clearly visible when looking at the patterned quilt. To highlight the complexity and hand-stitched nature of the quilting, a map of the stitching was created.
Diagram of the quilting as shown on the back of the quilt
Before (upper) and after (lower) treatment details
Condition After Treatment
The quilt is now in good structural condition. Twelve tears along the edge were stabilized using lightweight cotton underlays stitched in place using cotton thread. A light brown cotton was chosen to blend in with the overall tone of the quilt.
All four edges of the quilt were stabilized using nylon bobbinet overlays to prevent further loss and abrasion.
Images courtesy and copyright of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation