 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
TENNESSEE QUILTS: TRADITION & INNOVATION
When we began the Tennessee Quilt Project in 1984, Merikay Waldvogel and I intended to find out as much as we could about the types of quilts, patterns, fashions, fabric, and techniques of quiltmaking that are associated with the state’s quiltmakers. We soon found that we were learning about the lives and families of the quilters, as well. Domestic life, history on a large and small scale, trade and commerce, and social activities all became part of the study. Our adventures were many. We never knew what the next day would bring, and we were never disappointed. We saw a bed belonging to President James K. Polk, and quilts from the homes of Presidents Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson. If a quilt day was unusually busy, we might miss lunch. Twice we dodged raindrops at our outdoor photography station. Once the roof leaked in the building we were using. Most of the time we remained calm, in spite of confusion or crowds.
The Tennessee survey covered approximately one hundred years, from 1830 to 1930. Rarely did we see bedcovers of expensive hand-printed or roller-printed fabric from France or England, though we were shown a few early quilts brought into the territory from elsewhere. The Pink Palace Museum in Memphis, for instance, has two wool wholecloth quilts, one in saffron yellow, the second in indigo blue, that may have come from New England, or Wales, or who knows where. The donor left no attribution. Without access to the sea, imported and domestic goods came to Tennessee overland and by river transport. The Blair family in Roane County, west of Knoxville, ordered a sewing machine to be delivered by riverboat. The three Blair sisters spent their lives serving the community with products from their sewing and weaving. The loom house on the farm contains artifacts left intact from the nineteenth century. An 1880’s "Basket of Scraps" quilt used in the "Quilts of Tennessee" exhibition contains fabric from a bolt of cloth still on the shelf where the sisters left it. Tennessee is a long, narrow state, 500 miles from east to west, with three distinct types of terrain. East Tennessee is mountainous and has a large rural population. Middle Tennessee has fewer mountains, portions of rich, rolling farmland, and several large cities, Nashville being the cultural center.
The flat land of West Tennessee reaches to the Mississippi River, easy access to the Deep South and New Orleans. Quilts from each of those sections have definitive characteristics. Those from the east show refinement, a regard for style, tradition, and family continuity. They were the oldest quilts, often with fine applique work and quilting. Middle Tennessee was more heavily devastated by the Civil War and endured a long, slow recovery lasting into the twentieth century in some areas. The quilts show less affluence, are darker, more somber, more likely to be utilitarian. In West Tennessee the fabrics were different, perhaps due to the trade with New Orleans. There was more variety of patterns, fewer really old quilts. It, too, was decimated by the war, but had the river traffic to bring commerce back more quickly. Interpreting the survey, we found that pieced quilts were the most abundant, by far, with three pieced quilts to every one of another type. But a simple pieced quilt can become elegant, too, by the addition of fine quilting and stuffing. What is stuffing? When the quilting process has been completed and the quilt is removed from the frame, a more sculptural effect can be given to the surface by the addition of extra cotton forced into certain quilted areas from the back. (The term trapunto, a somewhat different technique, was introduced at a later date and is less accurate to apply to nineteenth century southern quilts.) Stuffed quilts were found in several locations, but nearly all had been made in one region: Rhea County. Its county seat, Dayton (of Scopes trial fame), was at an advantageous place on the Tennessee River. Because Dayton was somewhat removed from mainstream commerce and fashion, the taste for stuffed quilts remained popular there into the beginning of the twentieth century, long after it died out elsewhere. Floral quilts were abundant. Young women often made them as their “bride’s quilt,” for their hope chests. I was asked to appraise a Rose quilt prior to its donation to the Tennessee State Museum, but something about it puzzled me. It wasn’t like other Rose quilts. Studying it carefully, I was surprised to discover that it was pieced rather than appliqued. Looking at the seaming of a block, I could see that it was constructed by joining individual pieces into units and assembling them into a block, rather than by cutting out whole pieces and stitching them onto a background fabric. Once we became aware of this unusual construction, we could recognize it in other quilts. Eventually we noted approximately two dozen quilts in some variation of this Pieced Rose pattern. Several years later Merikay interviewed Margaret Hays, an East Tennessee artist who had designed patterns for Mountain Mist® Company, manufacturers of quilt batting. Introducing a Rose quilt design into their catalog in the 1930s, she and the marketing manager decided to show it as an applique pattern even though it was derived from a Tennessee Pieced Rose. Because of the popularity of the Mountain Mist® patterns this new method of making a traditional pattern became the norm. Another quilt design was known by several names in the nineteenth century: "Rocky Mountain Road", "Rocky Mountain", "Crown of Thorns", and "The Great Divide". Today you will hear it called "New York Beauty". In the 1930s, that title was adopted by Mountain Mist® for an old quilt pattern to be published as a new design. It hadn’t been popular in New York in the previous century, but it was in Tennessee. We saw many variations, compared them with findings in other states, and agreed with their historians that Tennessee quiltmakers had produced the greatest number in a wide variety of interpretations, many with exceptionally fine needlework. Before America had its own textile mills, all fabric was either imported or produced within the home, or in small workshops. And by 1850 domestic manufacture was able to meet the population’s needs for reasonably priced goods. Southern mills took heavy losses during the Civil War, but they resumed production as soon as they were able. Quiltmaking flourished, and newspapers and women’s magazines rushed to fill the demand for new patterns. Regional and state fairs provided opportunities to exhibit and compete for awards and recognition. There was enormous enthusiasm for quiltmaking well into the twentieth century. Wholecloth and medallion styles had given way to the use of large squares cut the width of the material, in four or nine block arrangement. Then, as fabric became cheaper and waste was less important, quilters began cutting smaller blocks for ease of handling. With the availability of printed patterns, there seems less individuality in design. Quilts evolved from one style to another, with tried and true patterns passed down through generations and valued for their reliability. It was comfortable to follow the mode of previous quilters with, perhaps, a few gentle modifications of one’s own. Sometimes a traditional pattern was only a beginning point for taking off in a new direction. Then there are those original quilts made though creative ability, personal challenge, or sometimes, pure chance. Urban centers grew immediately after World War II, more women became employed, and the rural complexion changed. Quiltmaking went into a decline when it no longer seemed to be a necessity. In some locales, though, quilt groups such as the Jolly Dozen never gave up their regular meetings. A combination of the Craft Movement of the 1950s and ’60s, the Bicentennial, the Back-to-the-Earth Movement in the ’70s, and other factors contributed to a revival of interest in quiltmaking in the ’70s that has gone on to create a billion dollar industry for today’s economy. Quilt activity has always been strong in Tennessee. Today the state has its share of nationally known teachers, historians, collectors, artist-quilters, and “just plain quilters” who have contributed to the worldwide phenomenon of 21st century quiltmaking. Bets Ramsey addressed Trust members in Nashville in April. The Quilts of Tennessee: Images of Domestic Life from 1830 to 1930, which she wrote with Merikay Vogel, is still available through book dealers or online. www.quiltindex.org is a fine website that documents the quilt projects of Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Michigan.
|
